Five years ago, I was a complete stranger. Blockchain was some foreign language that I couldn’t even pronounce. I had no idea what a digital wallet looked like and Bitcoin sounded like internet money for the dark web, only used for criminal activities.
Honestly, the list of stupid things I’ve done in crypto is never ending and you will surely know them all after you read this.
But there is something more to what the price and the market cap is showing, it is a reflection of the underlying movements. Every single one of us that are in this game, regardless if we use crypto for trading, investing or simply to participate in DAOs, has gone through trials and tribulations, learnt a great many things and emerged a little (or a lot) wiser. And today, five years on, I wanted to share a few things I’ve picked up along the way, things I wished I knew on Day 1.
The market doesn’t care about logic. It just moves to what’s going on. It doesn’t matter what seems like a perfectly logical reason for the market to go up, the price can go down and vice versa.
There is absolutely nothing we can do about this and the sooner we accept it the sooner we can stop focusing on what “should” happen in the market and focus on what “is” happening in the market.
The days of spending hours trying to make some form of sense of the moves the market is making can be a lost opportunity for learning or investing in things we actually understand, because to be frank the market can sometimes do exactly the opposite of what is rational.
The top investors aren’t the cleverest of traders – they’re the patient. The reality is most day traders that start out end up losing more than they make. The top performers are almost exclusively those who buy assets they believe in and hold them for years.
They’ve been through multiple bear cycles.
They have diamond hands for projects they have strong convictions about. They simply aren’t interested in trying to time the market. I’m no longer trading; I’ve simply moved on to buy and hold. It may sound boring, but it has proved to be very effective for my own personal financial journey, without much of the emotional roller-coaster that comes with trading.
In the beginning, I’d listen to every person that said anything vaguely related to crypto. Influencers, Youtube commentators, anonymous forum members on Telegram, the works! If anyone said their crypto would go to the moon, I'd take that word for gospel and throw my money in.
Eventually, after several painful lessons, I stopped and began doing my own due diligence.
I taught myself about the fundamentals of Blockchain, read the whitepapers of different projects and developed my own method of identifying credible projects from the next scam that inevitably would take all my money. Today I never take anyone’s word at face value. It requires time and effort but is worth every bit of effort as you can avoid unnecessary losses in crypto.
The fear around crypto is over blown. I have lived through enough crashes and corrections to realize that the sky is rarely falling, at least not in the way we sometimes feel that it is in our panic. Whether it is a crash in Bitcoin price, a stable coin collapsing or exchanges failing, they have all come and gone, the industry continues to move forward.
The sentiment and fear, although scary, often represent fantastic opportunities to acquire undervalued assets that will appreciate once the herd comes back around.
The crypto fear is always amplified, and the wise use these moments to accumulate.
When I first began dabbling into the world of cryptocurrencies and the associated ecosystem, I immediately rushed to tell all my friends and family about my new exciting endeavour. I’d sit down with my dad and attempt to explain blockchain technology, I’d show my mom graphs and charts, I'd try to educate my friends on the benefits of decentralisation. To say the least, it was met with skepticism, a mixture of disbelief and a great amount of eye rolling, particularly from my dad.
Five years down the line, with my crypto assets doing much better than my retirement fund was (back then, anyway!), they now sometimes ask me for a bit of advice, not much, of course, but more than they were willing to listen back then.
One thing I've learnt is, you don't chase people in crypto; you let them come to you.
I first started dabbling in crypto because I was lured by the promise of quick riches, the dream of getting out of my boring 9-to-5 job and escaping to a tropical paradise. I was solely focused on the money, the potential of huge returns, the fantasy of early retirement. The longer I have spent in this space, however, the more I've realized that crypto represents much more than just monetary gain.
It’s about the creation of alternative systems, it's about economic freedom, it's about empowering the individual.
I still care about making money (it pays the bills, right?), but the real motivation now lies in the pursuit of something bigger. It’s about being part of a global revolution, contributing to the creation of a fairer financial system for everyone.
Five years later, I am still standing. Three bear markets, a few significant crashes, and countless hours spent on doxing fraudulent projects. It’s been quite a journey so far and as exciting and as wild as the crypto space can get, this is the time to start understanding that as we continue, the benefits will surely outshine the setbacks. This is how far I have come in five years.
The crypto market is like a marathon, not a sprint. If you are just getting started, take things slow, be patient and focus on building something that will endure for a long time. It’s quite an experience!
So what has your crypto journey been like so far? Do share your stories, thoughts and any interesting lessons learned in the comments below!
