Core Question

I'll be aiming to explain my crypto strategy and why I chose it.

What tokens am I accumulating?

My strategy revolves around few main tokens. Those are PAXG (Pax Gold), BTC, and sPOL (the official Polygon lst, or liquid staking token). I plan on HODLing (Hold On for Dear Life) over a minimum period of 4 years (so until about september 2030), but realistically much longer than that.

Why PAXG?

There are multiple reasons I chose PAXG. The first is that before I started getting into crypto, I was a stacker. A stacker is basically the name we have for people that buy up precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium to hedge inflation, have growth, have a secondary savings account that is hard to impulse spend, physical wealth only you have control over, or to have a sort of emergency stash that is off grid. 

I still am a stacker, and so PAXG seemed like the obvious choice to have gold but on Solana (I'm not using the original Ethereum PAXG because of the high gas fees). What is unique about PAXG is that they charge 0 storage fee. Other tokenized gold versions can take anywhere from 0.05% to 0.40% and beyond. That means that the issuer takes that percentage of your tokens or value every year as a fee. PAXG operates via an extra transaction fee on all transactions, which is drastically cheaper.

Why sPOL?

I chose sPOL because it is the official liquid staking token of the Polygon network. This gives a bit more credibility and trustworthiness over a random 3rd party. 

I was looking at native staking, but I didn't like the fact that you have to move your Polygon to Ethereum chain, and then pay a transaction fee to stake your tokens, another fee to claim your rewards (they don't get auto reinvested), and pay another fee to restake those tokens. And guess what, another fee to unstake, after waiting for a few days. LST was a good choice, as the cost savings outweigh the risks. As much as I dislike using bridged or wrapped tokens (this is sort of a wrapped token, it represents a claim on a native token, and a custodian holds your native token), this was the best way, since staking is mandatory when you HODL, otherwise your share of the network gets diluted through annual inflation, so staking allows to to keep up and gain.

Of course some of you will ask why I even get polygon in the first place. Well, that is because while it is trading at only about 12 cents ($0.12) per token with no max supply and a 2% inflation (though there is a fee burning mechanism), I believe in something way more important: the Agglayer. The Agglayer is what Polygon was built for. It allows different networks to send a crypto between each other without using swaps, risky 3rd party bridges, or other risky methods. It does this through ZK proofs, which is a mathematical proof that you have the funds without exposing data. This allows the protocol to execute your bridge in under one second, while settling on Ethereum and being irreversible in about 15 minutes. Also, when I say risky bridges, I say it that way because Agglayer is a bridge, but a more convenient, easier, and drastically safer one. 

So say you wanted to send 50 USDC from a Polygon CDK chain or other compatible chains like zkEVM to another like OKX's X layer, you could do so without any reliance on other tech besides cryptography. A CDK chain is basically a chain that a company has created using Polygon Chain Development Kit or another stack like OP stack. Companies must do this because Polygon operates via a sort of hub and spoke model. The hub is the main Ethereum, and spokes are the CDKs. However, securing the network (polygon is PoS), is done entirely in POL, and you must pay for the cross-chain interaction with Polygon, while your fees are paid in your own token or POL, whichever you choose. 

And, Polygon averages nearly 5 million daily transactions, which is more than than Ethereum layer 1. I just think it has great potential to keep steady/appreciate, even though it is down hard from its peak $2.90 as MATIC and $1.29 as POLYGON.

Why BTC?

This is the most intuitive and straightforward answer. BTC has the largest marketcap, the most adoption, the most recognition, and the largest demand. However, I will not be HODLing too much, due to a few things.

Why not more BTC?

By this point, you've most certainly wondered why I'm not HODLing more BTC, as it is the king of wealth preservation. The reason is that while I do view BTC as important, I don't think of it to be too safe. This may be my stacker personality coming in, but I just view gold as safer, even though the maximum supply is unknown. I also prefer gold because it is the most battle proven asset, holding its value through thousands of year and through a bunch of different market conditions. 

For example, in 1925 (before 1929 Great Depression), a $20 gold coin had a face value of $20 and a gold value of about $20. In 1925, that could buy you about 90 gallons of gas. Fast forward to today, even with high gas prices due to Strait of Hormuz being restricted, I can get about 900 gallons of gas for that coin's gold value. This shows that gold outpaced inflation by nearly 225x over 1 century because I can only get about 4 gallons of gas for the $20.

That is one of the core reason I prefer gold. Yes, BTC has had a higher growth, but it is not even 20 years old yet. Gold is just more proven, which matters for HODL, where you set and forget. I don't want to deal with any "what ifs" at night. 

Any other tokens?

I will be somewhat using other tokens, but they serve a function rather than being an investment. These include USDC on Solana, USDC on OP, POL, and Solana. I will not be getting Ethereum (which is necessary for gas for the USDC on OP), as I am using Rabby Wallet's gas account feature for USDC on OP, POL, and sPOL, while using Solflare for any Solana based tokens. That includes USDC on Solana, BAT, PAXG, and Solana. These wallets will only have a small part of my crypto, with the rest being in a hardware wallet for maximum security.

What is my split?

My target is split is 70% into sPOL, 25% into PAXG, and 5% into BTC. This allows me to have a gold-backed emergency fund/savings if I need emergency money and we are in a crypto winter. Meanwhile, I can let sPOL regain its footing, and regain its value. And the measly 5% BTC is for any more upside, diversification, and having a scarce asset. 

There are many different paths.

When it comes to crypto, there are a magnitude of paths you can take. You can go full out BTC, have memecoins, lend out tokens, stake or whatever you please. This is just what I find rewarding and like to do. 

And if you decide to change your strategy, go ahead, because I changed my strategy multiple times. I originally wanted to lend out USDC, then I transitioned to using SOL, BTC, and USDC lending, then only BTC, to Digibyte, and now this. I am quite content with my current strategy, and unless something big happens, I'm very unlikely to change. If something does end up changing, that will probably be BTC allocation either being decreased or increased.

My final advice

My final advice that everyone should abide to is that you need to have fun. Maybe you think having a 100% BTC allocation is technically best. And that's fine, but I would recommend to maybe put some money into tokens you really want but don't fit your strategy. This can include anything. If you have fun, then you will have a much more enjoyable experience and will be more motivated to keep doing what you are.