What a great contest for all us writers and crypto analysts on Publish0x. Thank you BitYard. It also feels like quite a timely contest given the recent dip in crypto prices. BitYard, for those that don't know, is an exchange for trade of crypto currencies.

Bitcoin is the marker and commander-in-chief of the crypto assets. Bitcoin has risen in the twelve months just gone but it has returned now to a level no higher than a year ago. Its unstoppable rise has come to a halt (again). Where are we at with crypto now?

As an investment option Bitcoin (BTC) remains fairly good, its chief threat probably being technology outrunning its robust system and causing a double spend or two. Buying the dip is an option here. Now would be, I think, a good time to buy, selling when the next period of crypto hype begins to expire and drop. Strangely, this is not investment advice. Bitcoin's price should rise again and probably venture beyond its all-time high once more. Yes, that's the point when selling makes sense so you're looking at most at a profit equal to that you put in should it double in price from here. With risks attached it's not that appealing a gamble but it is a fair investment option still.

What do alternative crypto-currencies offer? The future will be very bright for some but which one will lay the golden eggs? Who would have foreseen the incredible profits of Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) two years ago? Solana (SOL)'s rise was more predictable, based on sound fundamentals, but still a surprise. The assets that see huge profits will come out of left-field once again. Ethereum (ETH) has struggled to capitalise on the market it largely created, having to cede much of its work in effect to sub-chains like Polygon (MATIC) and Polkadot (DOT). None of the tokens in the top twenty really strike me as buys outside of Bitcoin. Solana is interesting. It's fast and is being pushed by parts of the industry with clout (high finance requires a fast blockchain network) but issues with its capability are now impacting on its price.

When will Banano finally ripen in price? There's a big community there, a positive ethos, early players in NFTs with CryptomonKeys and yet... its price remains static and very low at $0.01 a BAN token compared to $37,500 a Bitcoin. Of well-known tokens Banano looks a good bet. Its upside is still there.

2020 was the year of DeFi in the crypto industry and 2021 was the year of NFTs. Non-fungible tokens, despite the name, didn't prove all that difficult a concept for people to get their head around. Deeper understanding reveals that NFTs are not so much cards to collect (like Pokemon) as they are community clout in some way; identities that prove membership of a club - clubs and gangs that get together on social media (Twitter, Reddit, etc) with the curious aim of making their members rich. GM Bored Apes and friends! This community membership aspect of NFTs is important. The price for membership of some clubs (the afore-mentioned Bored Apes Yacht Club) is higher than it is for others (the afore-mentioned CryptomonKeys). DAOs came along too in recent times with the means to codify in the blockchain executive powers to members.Crypto now encompasses or amounts to a $2 trillion industry and as with any industry of that size it's a wide field. Playing the macro-perspective and betting the ups and downs of individual tokens is tricky. There are a lot of trends pointing to where crypto is heading, most notably from the NFT communities. My non-investment advice to crypto enthusiasts new and old is to specialise. Find a community, token or NFT asset you like and get into it. Support that community on Twitter, YouTube and Discord. Read up on it, learn beyond the basics, engage on social media. Even if the asset/token should fall in price you're likely to take enough benefits and windfalls from your involvement to come out with a profit.

Other options on today's crypto scene include the mining of tokens. It's an interesting development to see home computer users establishing their own set-ups for all manner of weird coins and strange iOT devices. It can also pay quite well for the as yet relatively small numbers of home users willing to invest in such tech mining or streaming kit. Blockchain economics and particularly NFT token projects have big questions to answer regarding their environmental footprint. It's an issue that requires further exploration, study and ideally, if unlikely, transparency. Any community/tech-related project that can discover something worth (data) mining with computer power that could help the environment could be a money-spinner (Tesla's electric cars being a great example of what a little vision can do). There are some blockchain projects pursuing noble goals and many more, I imagine, that like to pretend they are.

And finally... I'm nearly done here... the metaverse. I don't know how long this strange term will stick around for but we all know again what it means. It used to be called Virtual Reality. Big tech companies (Facebook, Microsoft) are hitting it with a bit of PR and investment. What will it really mean? Something that is quite possible is that the metaverse will divorce from the blockchain concept (the two are separate constructs and not dependent on one another). Decentralised computing (the blockchain concept) still has much to offer a global internet of social communication where privacy is not at all guaranteed and where there can be profit in the widescale abuse of everyday ethics (not reading other people's mail). There may be innovations in tech, however, that make the blockchain less neccessary for resolving these issues. VPNs, for example, are not government-proof but they do hide your IP address from family, friends and even (maybe) Google.

Is crypto still a way to make a quick buck? I'm not sure. Some luck is needed, I think, and work, focus and time helps that luck to flourish. Focus, research, specialise and enjoy. You might make a great trader, programmer, writer, community leader or innovative hero scientist for the (physical) environment. Or you might level up and become rich and famous for your abilities in some strange metaverse NFT game. Ready player one...

Oh and a shout out to The Giving Block who are doing great things helping enable non profit organisations to accept charitable donations in cryptocurrency. They're all about people in the real world, a place I recommend you come back to now and again.