Let’s face it, whoever has seen the rollercoaster ride Bitcoin has been doing since its inception, most certainly had thought of it to be a ‘get rich quick scheme. After all, anything worth a couple of dollars five years back rising to a couple of thousand dollars isn’t a thing you see every day.
And a lot of them thought of investing in it because who doesn’t want to be rich? However, reality doesn’t work that way, and even if we say that one person really benefitted from this rollercoaster ride, investing in lows and selling in highs, it is not a sure-footed step.
Moreover, the majority of the people did not believe in cryptocurrency, especially in trading it, due to a lack of underlying assets. Back then, a lot of them considered cryptocurrency as a replacement to the physical money we use daily. However, fast forward to today, and we know how versatile blockchains are, the baseline of cryptocurrencies.
Not only that, but cryptocurrencies don’t face the scrutiny they used to a few years ago. But that’s not the question I’m trying to answer today.
The question is: Will investing in Bitcoin make you rich? Probably yeah. Will investing in it make you rich in 10 days? Most certainly not. Moreover, the question also points out a bigger problem about how we think of cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies aren’t and shouldn’t be taken as ‘get rich quick’ schemes.
Hard fact! There’s no way of getting rich quickly. And especially in the case of investing, irrespective of whether it is equity markets or crypto markets. Anything that goes up quickly in these markets can also go down the same way.
Basically, high-risk high-high-rewards. This is more attenuated in cryptocurrencies since their volatility is much higher. A single crypto coin and skyrocket in a single day and crash the next day. And if you don’t believe me, see the charts of DOGE from January till now. But why is it so? Why do cryptocurrencies rise and crash much higher and much faster?
Since crypto markets are devoid of rules and regulations unlike equity markets, their movement is much higher.
In many equity markets worldwide, there are several restrictions to companies if their shares start to move “violently”. Many of the regulatory commissions have set limits around the movement of different types of shares. This is to avoid market crashes resulting in a lot of losses. This is also done to prevent the market from crashing completely.
However, crypto markets don’t have a hard-and-fast rule regarding this. Although global crypto exchanges have started suspending crypto coins/tokens that see a violent movement or are ‘rug pulls’, chances of that happening are few and far between.
Crypto markets are highly “speculative-driven”. Equity markets aren’t that much “speculative-driven”. Moreover, while deciding to invest in any company’s stock, you look at its performance in its respective industry. You need to check the company’s vision which plays a major role in determining whether to invest or not.
However, things are changing as newer companies focus on providing a solution to perennial problems industries face. People can use this as an indicator for investing in their crypto coin/token.
Crypto markets have resemblence with equity markets, they are higher rewarding but at a higher risk too.
Let’s get back to the question: If you’ll invest in Bitcoin, there’s a high chance that it will reward you in the future. More than that, if invested today, many crypto coins can reward you very well in the future. However, there’s a catch. They come at a risk, too, a big one.
Cryptocurrencies can crash very quickly and can literally erode your investments. And due to a lack of regulation, there’s no way of recovering your funds.
Moreover, looking at crypto markets, you should not invest in any cryptocurrency just because it rises and crashes very quickly. Instead, investing in any crypto coin should be a research-based and sensible decision, just like investing in equity markets.
There are a lot of companies that aim to provide solutions to problems we face today. Many companies aim to provide another way of monetizing creative content compared to the present-day systems. Whether it is equity or crypto, your investment in any market should be backed by the research and vision of the company and not because of its high volatility.
This doesn’t mean that there are no risks in equity markets. There are, and sometimes, even significant risks too. However, they aren’t risky compared to crypto markets. On the other hand, they aren’t rewarding, too, when compared to crypto markets.
The best decision would be to divide your portfolios in both the markets, researching in both of them and determining according to your need. Want more rewards and willing to take risks? Shift your portfolio towards the crypto market. Want fewer rewards but less risk? Shift your portfolio towards equity markets. This way, you’ll earn a good amount of rewards in the high days of the markets and prevent substantial losses in the low days of the markets.
More specifically, my answer to the question is: If you want to invest in Bitcoin, invest in it due to its characteristics, its performance, its attributes, and how you see it in the future. Then, it’s a sensible decision rather than relying on its volatility.