I am in a ton of Facebook groups of female business owners that I frequent, and comment after comment, I see women talking about cryptocurrency and their immense successes with it.
Top important things I noted from my conversations with these women…
- It has been a very successful passive income for many
- They seem to make anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand a month
- Most are investing and trading as opposed to mining
- Most started off with $100 investment and kept re-investing
- Top tip has been to never use money you can’t stand to lose.
- I see more comments about it when the price of bitcoin goes up; however, most women seemingly invest in diverse digital tokens
- I have not seen one comment suggesting failure or loss though the risks are there
- Equally, I’ve seen women who invest in the stock market and/or both
What is cryptocurrency?
I’m no expert on this subject to be making up definitions of things for you. I get more into how I perceive the whole idea later, but for purposes of here,
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority.”
Oxford Languages
Decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation”
Basically, you invest in digital tokens such as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). You can use those to buy things from people who accept those as methods of payments. Or you can sell it for cash.
What do I mean by a digital token?
This part is the confusing part if you are unfamiliar. Are we talking something like Vbucks? Or Robucks? Similar. But it’s not from a video game. It’s just a lot like it. You get ‘imaginary’ money, and we all just decided it’s real money.
This is why so many businessmen think it’s a stupid idea because it’s kind of fake money. But you can trade it out for real money.
The important thing to note is the IRS does consider cryptocurrency a capital asset, and you have to pay taxes if you manage to turn one bitcoin into two bitcoins.
Why do people find it valuable enough to trade it for real money?
It’s a similar concept to baseball cards and pokemon cards. You buy the cards. You trade the cards. You can try to find the valuable cards and sell them. Except with bitcoin, all of the coin has value. Not just the special holographic ones. But that’s why it works. The same reasons a baseball card has value, or a postage stamp, because there are people out there who are willing to pay cash for those things. So therefore, it has value.
Why would anyone do cryptocurrency or want it?
For the most part, people want a deregulated, global currency.
It’s as if someone who was into world trading was sick of figuring out how much something was in other currencies. You know how you see like £45? It’s like how much is that in dollars? $61.27. Wouldn’t it just be nice if there was a flat rate that worked everywhere?
Only problem is that 45 GBP would be like .0013611 BTC. But the idea is there.
It would be even cooler if say, the U.S. Government didn’t try to manipulate it by printing more.
Even better if the banks kept their nose out of the currency too.
And the technology for it is cutting edge, possibly the future. People believe at the very least, if Bitcoin doesn’t make it, the technology behind it will still be harnessed for other things because it is amazing. Blockchain technology is a way to record transactions (or any data) without the ability to change it or alter it. It can also be used for any system that tracks information such as voting.
And the best part, it’s open source money. Like it’s owned and operated by the public.
Read more about bitcoin and what it is here.
What about trading and investing?
Cryptocurrency, currently, has a volatile nature to it. The worth is ‘perceived.’ So it fluctuates. A lot.
With that level of fluctuation, you can win big. Or you can lose everything. And you can even do both in the blink of an eye.
It’s as if a Las Vegas Casino and Wall Street had a baby.
A slight history of Bitcoin value in 2021–
- In December 2020, bitcoin was worth $20,000 per coin for the first time.
- By February 21, 2021, it was worth a little over $58,000 for a couple days and fell back to $45,000 by the 23rd.
- March 13th, it hit over $60,000.
- April 13th, $63,000.
- April 18th, $55,000.
- April 23rd, $50,000.
- May 23rd, $31,000.
- June 22nd, under $30,000.
- July 26th, above $38,000.
- August 8, $45,000.
- –> From The Times Money Mentor – Should You Invest in Bitcoin?
Things affect these prices, like Donald Trump says ‘it’s a scam,’ boom it drops. Amazon says they are considering accepting it as a method of payment, and price goes up.
So in essence, right now, even if you don’t want to shop with bitcoins, you can still invest in it. Had you bought a bitcoin in December 2020, and sold it in April 2021, in four months, you would have made $43,000. But if you would have bought one in April of 2021, sold it in June 2021, you would have lost $33,000.
Cryptocurrency’s Value – my take
One evening, I was visiting my Uncle Danny who majored in Economics. I really value my Uncle’s opinion on Economics. He uses the term “utils.” For utility. He’s a complete econerd.
His neighbors were over. One guy was retired from owning several car dealerships. The other guy works for Public Debt.
I figured I was in good company to ask what they thought about crypto.
The two boomers, my uncle and car dealership guy, were not too familiar with Crypto. So the Public Debt guy explained it to them. He exclaimed that it was fake money. It’s not real. And that it was stupid.
But then my Uncle brought up that our American Money is technically fake due to the fact that we left the gold standard.
And while that pretty much shuts down any argument about “fake money” never being a real thing, I suddenly had an epiphany with thoughts.
Think about it. What really defines an economy? The money. Right? But what really defines that money in the economy. What is the heart of the process?
And I think the bottom line is, it’s the supply and demand. The exchange of goods and services.
It doesn’t matter if you use paper money, monopoly money, special stones carved by an artist, or cryptocurrency. As long as there is a demand, it has worth.
And the idea of cash as we know it, ‘legal tender,’ based on a fiat system, that has to have a government backing it up for the most part for it to be ‘legal;’ like that only works because we were told that is money. It’s really no different than cryptocurrency. I don’t understand how people think the US Dollar is better simply because you can hold one that might of been in the asscrack of a stripper 2 weeks ago in your hand.
There are other ways people have bartered in the past that weren’t so legal.
Because, remember, it’s about the exchange. Supply and Demand. The exchange of goods and services. That’s the heart of money, economy, and the system.
For instance, during prohibition, many people traded alcohol for goods, services, and cash. I believe in Pennsylvania, it was noted of a time where you could buy a loaf of bread with moonshine. You just had to go to the guy who accepted moonshine as a payment.
Today, if you find a kilo of cocaine, would you really leave it there? or turn it into the authorities? Because you really found anywhere from $13,000 in cash to $30,000 with that. Most people I know would try to flip that because to them, it’s the same as finding $15,000. Or more. The possibilities.
In the end, everything and anything can be a form of cash. If you can sell it, liquidate it, and turn it into cash, then it’s cash.
Note. I’m talking about concepts here. In real business and economy, they really like to separate cash from value. Those are two totally different concepts according to economists and business majors. But theoretically and real life, the two go hand in hand. Because it’s about exchange.
So when you have a system for cash, such as the gold standard, which if you think about it, why is gold valuable? Because we decided it. But when you have a system for cash based on perceived value of the masses, you are in essence taking something intangible, such as the value of things and the utility of things, and making it tangible and measurable.
The exchange process. The system. Is about taking something intangible and making it tangible.
Like say you want to go out for the night with your husband, so I babysit your kids. My services provide a utility for you. You value my effort. How do we measure that? How do we exchange? Because at this point, the value you find in my babysitting service is intangible. So we give it a dollar amount, and you pay in dollars, and it’s more than just picking a number. It’s also a number that is in line with the cost of living and other economic variables.
To me, it feels like cryptocurrency is a legal version of an illegal tender. The concept is the same. It has value that you can convert rather easily into cash, a little easier than you can convert cocaine, and for a value more measurable than you can with cocaine (as in you know your bitcoin is worth X dollars as opposed to you might flip it for somewhere between y and z dollars). But it still has potential and opportunities cocaine has, as in if you hold on to it (instead of consume it), or if you reinvest it, you can turn X dollars into possibly 2X dollars, but at the risk of losing it all to the feds.
Just please never refer to crypto-trading as slangin, despite this metaphor.
What does Warren Buffet say about it?
What does rich, successful men have to say? Because they didn’t get rich and successful being stupid right? I think it’s possible, but I get it. A lot of people value what successful people have to say to better their chances when it comes to filtering advice.
Honestly, you need to know what these guys have to say for transparency reasons. I kind of just assume if you’re reading this, you’re somewhere in the back of your mind trying to decide if you want to get into crypto.
In 2014, Buffet said, “You’re going to be a lot better off owning productive assets over the next 50 years than you will be owning pieces of paper or Bitcoin.” – Business Insider
For the most part, Warren Buffet hates cryptocurrency, and recently, circa May 2021 Annual Meeting for Berkshire Hathaway, his BFF Charlie Munger really put some things into perspective with it.
“I don’t welcome a currency that’s so useful to kidnappers and extortionists,” Munger said. “I think the whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization.”
From Forbes
The two have referred to cryptocurrency as “artificial gold,” and in previous sentiments, really hold on to the idea that it has no value, that it just sits there and does nothing. You know, a CEO accusing money of sitting there and doing nothing.
For the most part, it seems financial gurus like Buffet are against cryptocurrency, and celebrities like Snoop Dogg are for it. Bill Gates fluctuates with his public opinion.
My little commentary…
I think what isn’t said that Buffet’s somewhat implying, and this is probably the more important takeaway because if this is what he means, then he wouldn’t be wrong, is that a company is something worth investing in because it has real people working for them, and they do something, and they provide value and utility to the social whole, complete with a ledger of assets minus liabilities to give you a real net worth, and therefore have worth.
In that sense, it would be wiser to invest in companies, especially for the long term. Additionally, if you wanted to have a real sense of moral duty beyond self, you would also invest in companies you believe in, or companies that output something you believe in such as clean energy. Whatever it may be.
But as far as a currency, the American Dollar really is not far from different except that governments generally like to regulate (and thereby control) the money. Cryptocurrency would really be a thorn in the sides of the people, the big players, who manipulate economies and control the way money operates, such as setting the interest rates. You can pretty much guarantee every billionaire on the planet has a hand in that kind of control, and worse, they have friends who they need with hands in there as well. While they aren’t going to say, “We can’t let the regular people have a say in things,” they will say, “It allows criminals to do, gasp, criminal acts.”
A lot of people love the freedom and lack of regulation with crypto + the amazing technology that comes with it. Sure criminals can use it, but they use dollars too. We didn’t get rid of the dollar because Al Capone did we? To me, the criminal bit is not an argument. It’s manipulation.
Also keep in mind that investing in a currency that is maintained by the general public instead of governments and banks is investing in people.
My take on Cryptocurrency…
So long story short, as most articles suggest, it’s a high-risk investment, and while no one should be putting their life savings into it, you can, however, invest what you can afford to lose no different than any form of gambling.
I don’t think it will ever disappear only because there will always be people wanting it. If it were to disappear, we’d replace it with something similar. If it pops, it will pop like Facebook. It will still be there, but the rules and the easy money might change. Of course, this is just my theory. I could be wrong.
I am with Warren Buffet on the idea of investing in companies that have assets or a net worth. This idea goes beyond investing. You’re better off spending money on assets rather than crap. Like save up to buy land or a house as opposed to blowing money on things you can’t sell. And even from a business standpoint, if you own your own business, especially if you want to eventually find investors or bank loans, you would look better to men like Warren Buffet if you have assets.
But that’s just the voice of reason to keep you close to shore so you don’t get swept out to sea. You want hard assets that you can touch with your hands.
I am not going to edit that despite the phrasing.
But I also believe in diverse portfolios just the same as having diverse income sources, and a little spending money that you might have blown at a casino could be more fun to invest in Crypto.
You can convert crypto into actual cash at this point, and it’s crazy to me that people ignore that. But I wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket. You still want other investments. Your goal should be to make your taxes so complicated with investments that you have to have a CPA do it.
Further Reading Off the Blog
- How to Make Money with Cryptocurrency – Stilt
- What are the disadvantages of cryptocurrencies? – Prescouter
- Should You Invest in BitCoin? – The Times . co
- Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: What’s the Difference? – Investopedia
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