Originally Posted by
okie
Binance has the lowest fees right now, and Uphold is the only exchange left that will still sell XRP to Americans. HitBTC is to be avoided at all costs!
Never forget the cardinal rule of not investing more than you're willing to lose. When you buy crypto, just consider it gone. Some people describe it as buying an insurance policy. That said, I would say now is as good a time as any to buy. It might go lower, but it might not. If it continues its bull run, it could go well over 100k, and could be years before there's another opportunity. Now that there's institutional money and mass awareness of its four year cycle, it may not follow its previous patterns.
Whatever you do, hold your own keys. For BTC, which should really be the majority of your portfolio, Coldcard is the best. It's a steep learning curve to do it right, but I can guide you through it if you need help.
Ledger is a good overall hardware wallet for storing a variety of coins, but it's nowhere near as secure as Coldcard. But it's extremely convenient. What I do is send my coins from the exchanges to my Ledger, then from the Ledger to the Coldcard. By using a new receive address every time this also kind of launders it so it can't be easily tracked to you. That's another reason to avoid Coinbase, besides the high fees, is because they keep track of who buys what.
In terms of its long term outlook, what you have to understand about crypto right now is that its being used as a source of quick speculative income for publicly traded companies, as well as banks and hedge funds.
The way the economy is supposed to work is that banks make money lending to people, but since the economy is dead and adrift and no lending is happening, banks have turned to derivatives to make a quick buck. And the companies they're trading, like Tesla, are using crypto to make a quick buck, in place of selling products and services.
So it's all highly speculative, and built on nothing. Unless the government just starts printing gobs of money and giving it away, I don't see how it can end well. It's definitely not sustainable without ever increasing rounds of stimulus on a permanent basis, and each round will make the underlying problems worse, and make it harder to stop. So even if the government does increase stimulus payments, which doesn't seem likely based on the scuttlebutt, it's still not a sustainable solution.
That said, I do see long term value in BTC, and maybe intermediate term utility in things like Ripple. BTC is the apex predator in the entire financial system right now. Digital gold doesn't even begin to describe it. Quite frankly, I will be amazed if it doesn't become the top feeding reserve asset.
One thing to keep in mind is that BTC doesn't have to scale. What you need in a reserve level cryptocurrency is simplicity and airtight security. That comes with a proof of work model that, while expensive, is nowhere near as expensive as traditional banking. Especially if you're talking about shipping and storing gold (ask Germany how that's going for them). As far as normal everyday banking, that can all take place off chain. You don't need BTC level security if you're not moving millions. So for example, the various central bank digital currencies are going to provide the needed utility for everyday transactions.
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