Why do People Invest in Crypto?

Updated
Here's a little info on the reasons for investing and the types of people in investing crypto currently.

Crypto was first introduced in the year 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis, as a way for people to control their own money rather than the banks and the government. So, this is the first perception, humans want to feel in control, they desire ownership. Owning a slice of the financial market is how our brains compute owning crypto. Consciously or unconsciously, we are all the same.

At first, many people were skeptical regarding whether to invest in crypto at all. The whole sector was considered highly volatile and faced considerable fluctuations in prices. And still does to this day, however, some countries like Australia and Switzerland have smoothed the way for investment in cryptocurrency by introducing laws and regulations to make payments through crypto easier for day-to-day use.

The issue is some others have been actively trying to ban and stall them. China, India, and Saudi Arabia are prominent among countries where cryptocurrency trading is prohibited or where payments cannot be made using cryptocurrency. This will slow the overall market growth as crypto needs mass adoption to thrive and mass adoption requires a global use case.

In terms of a use case - Bitcoin’s user base has increased from 120,000 users in 2013 to 45 million users as of 2020. So, we can clearly see the interest.
Most people still see Crypto as fraud – it really does not help with activities in the market, scam artists operating amongst the genuine projects, you only need one fly in the ointment as they say.

Ok so, the types of people who either use, trade, or invest in Crypto are;

1) The faithful – early adopters and believers of the tech, no different to people wanting to save the planet buying solar panels for the home, or electric cars.

2) The People who are scared for the economy, Government, and banks are evil. Owning our own slice of pie makes sense. (have you ever thought, how it’s odd why the NSA can’t crack where it originated from? To make the argument more interesting we are talking about an immutable ledger-based technology.)

3) Developing countries – where the lack of trust in the government out ways bar room moaning, countries such as Nigeria and Columbia are amongst the list of countries where Bitcoin trading is the highest.

4) The Cool kids – owning crypto is the new done thing. Ask Paris Hilton or Elon Musk.

5) Large-cap investors; this one is interesting for me. Most High-net-worth individuals who entrust money managers to make investment decisions now want exposure to crypto. The issue is, it’s all old money (well mostly) and the money managers are still 30 years behind on average. So for these guys, it’s either Buzzword-Bingo or entry to BTC as that is the one that looks less risky.

6) The get rich quickers – due to the postman telling them he knows a guy who got rich trading crypto, jump in and buy – usually with crazy leverage and often at market peaks. If it was a pyramid scam, these are the guys you find at the bottom. Often losing out and late to the party, jumping on the promise of getting rich as it beat the 9-5 job.


The crypto volatility is the appeal to most humans, it’s appealing to get a sense of thrill. People have likened the feel of investing in the crypto market to being in Vegas.
s3.tradingview.com/snapshots/h/hwnYC5hd.png

Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century (a similar distinction was earned by Chicago in the 19th century). Population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85.2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In Vegas, there is always something happening, unlike the stock market.

Then you have the young people, especially those who like playing video games, find the same adrenaline rush in crypto as they do, playing the latest COD game (Call of Duty, for those of you not up on gaming). They are attracted to high-risk investments makes perfect sense. Possibly as it’s a virtual feel to it also???

Back to Vegas - During the 1960s, corporations and business tycoons such as Howard Hughes were building and buying hotel-casino properties. Gambling was referred to as "gaming", which transitioned it into a legitimate business. Much like crypto becoming mainstream.

Ask yourself these couple of questions, who controls Vegas? Who is often getting rich in Vegas? Who often loses at the tables?

A lot of new “traders” wish to hit it big, just like the tables in Vegas. These people have invested whatever savings they had from other sources into crypto & are hoping the value will eventually rise, and their over-leveraged positions won’t get margin called.

snapshot

Such people are influenced by stories of other regular people who became rich by investing in Crypto & are desperate to join the club.

Just like any profession or industry, if you want to become an expert. You need to dedicate the time, do the homework, learn the ropes. If you make it overnight, it does not mean you’re a good trader, it means you got lucky. People like Elon Musk can afford a paper loss (drawdown) and still sleep at night, when your account is over-leveraged, and you have no clue of the next move, it will cause sleepless nights for many coming to crypto hoping to strike gold.

And that is the point for most new investors, traders, speculators – the gamble is the thrill on the hope of hitting it big.


Take it easy, investing should be for the long run - ask any professional trader, fortunes can be made and lost in a day. The trick is staying in the game...

Disclaimer
This idea does not constitute as financial advice. It is for educational purposes only, our principle trader has over 20 years’ experience in stocks, ETF’s, and Forex. Hence each trade setup might have different hold times, entry or exit conditions, and will vary from the post/idea shared here. You can use the information from this post to make your own trading plan for the instrument discussed. Trading carries a risk; a high percentage of retail traders lose money. Please keep this in mind when entering any trade. Stay safe.
Trade closed: target reached
Lovely short move; looking to buy the dips next. ;-)
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