I Wish I Knew This Before Investing in Crypto!! - December 5, 2021

Hey Guys,

There are many things that I have learned since I began my crypto journey. Things that had I known about them when I first dove in, I could have saved a lot of time & money.

Some of these facts are pretty obvious to us now but not so much for those newbies jumping in the market today. However, there are some misconceptions and falsehoods that I still see people making even though they may have a lot of experience in the markets.

In my video today, I take you guys through many of the things that I wish I knew before I got into crypto. Everything from balancing risk to adjusting expectations and choosing reliable sources of information. Methods of doing research and screening for coins while avoiding common and costly pitfalls.

It was one of the more interesting videos I have done recently. One that brought a great deal of nostalgia to my crypto journey. So, I hope it benefits you folks. You can watch it here!

📊 Portfolio Update 📊

Given the massive fall that we saw on Friday / Saturday, I could not help but to buy the dip. There are many reasons as to why I think this is just a temporary shakeout (see below).

I bought some more ETH, BTC & MATIC with fiat. The first two are obvious given my view on the long term potential of Ethereum & Bitcoin. They still are and will remain staples of my portfolio. When it comes to MATIC, the sheer development taking place on Polygon makes it hard not to be bullish and I will be doing an updated video on the project in due course.

I used my UST in order to pick up some more FTM & ATOM. When it comes to the former, I explained the potential I see in the project in my video on Fantom a few weeks ago. In terms of the latter, Cosmos’ SDK is the backbone of many crypto projects and as an interoperability play, it cannot be ignored.

I have also recently had an allocation of XDEFI released to me as I partook in a private sale a few months ago. For full transparency, I will update my portfolio as tokens like this are unlocked and vested.

Updated portfolio:

ETH 32.10% | BTC 22.23% | SOL 13.55% | DOT 9.56% | ATOM 4.40% | FTM 2.82% | HNT 2.75% | PAXG 2.74% | RUNE 2.40% | ADA 1.99% | INJ 1.70% | MATIC 1.66% | AR 1.05% | LINK 0.78% | XDEFI 0.25%

📈 Thoughts on Market 📈

Exactly one month ago, Real Vision founder Raoul Pal said to “expect the path of most pain” in December, and here we are! The recent shakeout took a lot of people off guard, and I attribute this to the widely held belief that we will see an exact repeat of 2017.

Make no mistake, although history does rhyme, it does not repeat. I knew months ago that we would either see a shorter or longer bull market, and for a long time I was leaning towards an earlier bull market. This is because of all the bullish updates that were scheduled for September.

When I made my recent video about swing trading however, it became clear that the charts were pointing to a much longer bull market that extends into early 2022. This lengthening cycle theory is a view that many of my favorite crypto YouTubers hold, namely Benjamin Cowen and Bob Loukas.

With all that said, you’re probably wondering what the hell crashed the crypto market last week. As always, it’s a mix of factors, and what they all have in common is uncertainty. As I mentioned in my emergency market update on TikTok, both the crypto market and the stock market tend to do a good job of pricing in good and bad news. It’s the uncertainty that really messes things up.

The first uncertain factor is the Federal Reserve’s plans to accelerate their taper. In case you missed the memo on that one, if the Federal Reserve tapers, interest rates go up, anyone who borrowed too much has to sell, and the market crashes as a result. The thing is that it's not known for sure whether the Federal Reserve will actually accelerate their taper.

The second uncertain factor is that damn omicron variant. Some experts are saying it’s the end of the world (again), and others are saying that it’s nothing more than a bad flu. The truth is we won’t know for sure for at least another 2-3 weeks, which conveniently corresponds to the December 15th-16th date when the Federal Reserve will reveal their refined taper plans.

The third uncertain factor is good old regulation. If SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s comments about Bitcoin being a competitor to the US banking system wasn’t bad enough, the CEOs of the largest crypto companies are scheduled to be grilled to crisp by US politicians next Wednesday. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens there, and I might just cover it in a video.

Last but not least, we have liquidations from all of those traders who thought that BTC would see a clean move to 100k in December. As I mentioned on Twitter, over 2 billion dollars of overleveraged longs were liquidated (had their positions automatically sold), and this caused even more liquidations, causing more liquidations, all the way down to 42k. Cascading liquidations in the crypto markets are a massive problem.

The good news is that the slate is clean now - all the moonboys are out, and only the strong hands are left. BTC balances on exchanges continue to drop, suggesting that people are holding and not selling. Best of all, crypto holders are currently experiencing extreme fear, and you know what that means… buy the f*cking dip! (Not financial advice).

🏢 Real Estate Developers 🏢

It seems that NFT mania has now started to flow over into the virtual real estate space. Last week saw more than $100 million in virtual land sold. It seems that the vast majority of this is coming from demand within the Sandbox ecosystem.

For example, Tuesday saw Republic Realm buy a plot of land in the Sandbox for $4.3m from Atari. They have become akin to virtual real estate barons as it is claimed that Republic Realm owns over 2,500 across 19 different metaverse worlds.

Just a few days ago, someone actually paid $450k in order to buy the plot of land that exists next to Snoop Dogg’s in the Sandbox. For those that don’t know, he is building a replica of his West Coast mansion within the Sandbox.

So, the question is: What’s driving this hype? And is it sustainable in the long run?

Well firstly, let’s look at the underlying demand and value of land. Virtual land is an NFT that I view as having some of the most extensive utility in the crypto space.

Not only do you have the “Fun” aspect where you can play games & socialise with others on this land in the Metaverse, but holding land also comes with additional financial benefits. It can be monetised or rented out. You can charge advertising fees for others to use your land. There are also some Metaverses (like Netvrk for example) that allow you to earn a cut of all land sales in the ecosystem. This is something I briefly talked about in my video on the Metaverse this week.

Then of course you have the scarcity angle. As is the case in the real world, land in the Metaverse is limited. For example, in the case of Axie Infinity, there are only 220 Genesis plots and it can be extremely difficult to get some land in these genesis mints.

Finally, given that it is non-fungible, this land can eventually gather an identity that makes it that much more valuable. Much like the case with NFT collectibles that have rare traits, land in more favourable “districts” or neighbourhoods attracts a higher sale price. This is why someone would pay $450k to “live” next to Snoop Dogg. But beyond that, the land itself garners value based on its ownership history. Much like the esteem of owning a famous house in the real world, this is what drives valuations in the digital one.

Now, while there may be some elements of hype around some of these well established projects, I happen to think that the underlying demand drivers are going to propel virtual land well into the future. I am currently working on a video that dives deeper into land ecosystems and I plan to develop our own Coin Bureau land in the metaverse.

🔭 Some Perspective 🔭

Crypto crash got you down? Join the club!

I’ve been in crypto for a couple of years now, and I’m still not used to these occasional downturns. What’s crazy is that even if I’m consciously fine with a 20-30 percent correction, subconsciously I can tell that I’m not (e.g. restless sleep, react more aggressively to small things that don’t matter, etc.).

I’ve often said that when you’re in doubt, zoom out (specifically on the price). If you’ve ever done this though you’ll know that this doesn’t always help when your portfolio is in the negative. If this is how you’re feeling now, then you need to zoom out even further - beyond price, beyond your holdings, beyond all of the bullish and bearish announcements on the horizon.

Bitcoin was created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Since the first Bitcoin block was mined in 2009, BTC has gone from literally zero to what will inevitably be a seven figure price. Why? Because cryptocurrency is ultimately an alternative to the current financial system. It’s worth everything if it can deliver on this promise, and worth nothing if it can’t.

The last two years of government stimulus have made 2008 look like child’s play. Because of the lockdowns, millions of people were sitting at home with nothing better to do than watch the news and YouTube. I reckon most of them realised how messed up our current financial system is, especially when the stock market continued to rise as they all lost their jobs.

Meanwhile, institutional investors who have been watching this play out for years are realising that the good times are slowly and surely coming to an end. They know the entire economy is built on debt, and there’s only so much you can borrow from the future before that monthly debt payment becomes too big to bear.

In sum, everyone knows what we have now is unsustainable, and they are desperate for an alternative. This alternative is what Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are supposed to be, and though not all of them succeed, it’s becoming clear with each passing day that a few of them will not only succeed, but succeed (in the royal sense) their equivalents in legacy finance.

So, when the crypto market crashes by 20-30 percent and you’re feeling like crap, ask yourself this: Are you going to bet on the crumbling financial infrastructure that has arguably caused most if not all of our social, environmental, or economic harm? Or are you going to bet on a revolutionary technology that is evolving faster than anyone could have possibly imagined?

You know the answer as well as I, and anyone else who has seen their purchasing power disappear, their financial freedoms taken away, and their free speech eroded by centralised social media platforms. In my mind, there is only one way out of this mess, and that’s where I am personally placing all of my bets.

🔥 Deals of The Week 🔥

📈 Top Crypto Exchange: Some people saw a crypto crash. Others saw an opportunity.

Personally, I bit the bullet and converted some of my stablecoins to increase my crypto exposure. But which exchange did I use?

Well, I did most of my crypto dabbling on FTX, which is literally the fastest growing, major exchange out there.

There are over 250 cryptocurrencies on the shelves, amazing fiat currency support for most major currencies and you can deposit via bank, card and crypto.

There are also a plethora of other exchange features - which I get into in my dedicated FTX exchange review!

Also, I have been able to secure you guys a real special deal over there too. If you sign up through the Coin Bureau, you’ll get your first $30 in trading fees for free and a 10% trading fee discount for life!

👉 Sign up to FTX & bag that deal!

Are you based in the US? Well, you’ll want to check out the US version of FTX. I cover everything you need to know in my FTX US deep dive!

🎄Crypto Christmas: Are you feeling festive? Or are you wondering how to spread the word about crypto in a fun Christmas gift? Well, my merch store is stocked to the rafters with those crypto themed gifts you need!

The team at Coin Bureau also wants to thank you for all your support over the last year. It turns out that Macey had a brainwave on how to get you guys some extra Christmas goodies.

🎁 Prizes up for grabs: Free crypto, crypto books, extra crypto merch, some of my personal crypto artwork or VIP tickets to my event in London.

To enter, all you need to do is to buy some crypto merch from my store between now and the 12th of December. Do that and you’ll be entered into a prize draw and the lucky few will get those prizes! It’s that simple!

For full details on this promotion then watch my short TikTok - where I give you all the details!

👉 Get those crypto Xmas gifts now!

🔮 Video Pipeline 🔮

• Top 5 Crypto Podcasts
• Grayscale Metaverse Report: My Take
• Polygon update: MATIC Still Have Potential?
• Near Protocol Update: Where’s NEAR Headed?
• WEF cryptocurrency report: what are their thoughts?
• Top 5 Virtual Land Ecosystems
• Institutional Adoption Marches On

🏆 What's New At CoinBureau.com This Week? 🏆

✅ Blue Chip Crypto Performance vs S&P 500 in 2021

✅ How to Launch your Blockchain Career Today!

✅ The Lightning Network Electrifies Bitcoin

✅ Play-To-Earn and NFTs: The Future of Gaming? What you NEED to Know!

That’s about all I have time for in this newsletter. It’s been a week since the Coin Bureau Christmas party and I’m already well back into the swing of things. Although you may have seen some of the antics on our social media, there were some hidden stories you didn't know about. I detailed them in my clips vid here!

Honestly, when we first started the channel in my living room years ago, I would have never imagined that it would have been possible to have built up such a great team and to be able to treat them to such a wonderful experience. All that is thanks to your support. So, I would like to thank you on behalf of the whole team for that!

No rest for the wicked though. We are raring to and bring you the best crypto content we can over the Festive Season!

Onwards and upwards,

Guy your crypto guy