Back in the fall of 2008, well before crypto even was well-known, the U.S. stock market decided to go down the path of what later was known as the Great Recession or real estate bubble pop. In that fall, much of it happening in November 2008 and ultimately reaching the bottom in March 2009, the Dow dropped from a very lofty 14,000 range to a brutal 6,000 floor, more than half of the capital value gone into nothing. That Recession effectively lasted until 2013 when things finally came back and we started our insane climb to the levels seen today with the Dow above 34,000. However, going through the losses at the time during that winter, no one was thinking about seeing everything come back.

I remember taking a break at the gym during lunch just watching the financial charts dive, dive and keep diving more. It got to the point day after day no one was exercising. They were just standing around the TVs talking about what had been lost, retirements wiped out and so one. Then came the foreclosures. They stopped watching TV after that. Nobody could afford the gym anymore.

chart source: Wikipedia, 2021.

Had anyone loaded up on stocks during the trough that lasted through March 2009, they would have effectively doubled their holdings and then some across an entire portfolio by the time 2013 was reached, an amazing and almost unbeatable portfolio return in five years. Of course, with everyone bleeding money and cash at the time, losing homes to foreclosure and banks closing, those lucky souls were few and far between. That said, the return was amazing; one just had to be patient. Even crazier, not only where things restored in 2013, the Dow kept going up, and up, and up to what we see today. In those days a 300 to 500 point drop was cataclysmic. Today, it's like, "Meh. It's a down day."

chart source: Wikipedia, 2021

We're having our own meltdown, and this is my first one for crypto. I'm down an average of 30 percent across my coins, just like a lot of folks. However, I haven't bailed out. Instead, I've just been using various cash flows and my tax refund to pick up bargains on the big coins. In retrospect, we're basically where crypto values where in December 2020. It could even go further, we could go down to last summer. Would I bail? Nope. I'm still in the black thanks to the FORTH airdrop earlier this year, so I have no reason to bail out. Instead, I'm doubling down where I can and riding it through the trough. Why? Because of the fundamentals.

chart source: Staff, Insight, BitcoinKE, May 20, 2021.

2020 and 2021 produced a paradigm shift. Both years have shown that crypto is real, it's a viable form of financial payment and asset, and the network is robust enough to make it available anywhere. This was the primary reason the major institutions finally got into the game; they knew it was time for them to have a piece of the action.

Crypto has also produced a very noticeable shift of value from big whale holders in the U.S. to international holders around the globe. Why do I say that? If anyone was paying attention, one would notice that the markets would go up during the day U.S. time, and then would drop from 9pm to 2am almost daily. Even with the massive rise in prices, the crypto bump and take cycle kept repeating itself every night. It was clear as soon as the markets reached the eastern Pacific, positions were being sold for real profits and that money came from Europe and the U.S. That also bothers institutions because it's real dollars going out of their institutions and to the far east. Is it really any surprise now that Binance and others are getting massive scrutiny from U.S. finance regulators?

photo source: Wikipedia, 2021.

The point to all of this is simple. Sit back, let the fray happen, and hold your position. Yes, it could drop more. Crypto values could go half of what they are right now in May 2021 and bleed more. But my bet is, they will come back and double up or even triple. The fundamental model of crypto currency is sound and proven. It works, it produces value, and it changes lives financially. That has the power to reshape people, communities and even countries. Why in the world would that disappear if not outright banned? It would grow organically and will continue to do so because for almost everyone involved, crypto is a win-win. Yeah, crypto may be "rat poison" for Warren Buffett, but the same naysaying was also said about the Internet and the cloud and going to the moon decades before. Welcome to the future.