Metacoin

Covering Bitcoin, the Blockchain, Altcoins, and Fintech

Crypto.com

3 Coins You Can Buy on Crypto.com

Following a little on the theme from a couple days back — and you can see it here where we talk about the investor dude’s 5 Coins to 5 Million project — we’ve decided to start analyzing coins you can actually purchase (if you’re an American) on Crypto.com. (THAT IS AN AFFILIATE LINK; we may be compensated if you open up an account there.)

A couple reasons for going this route:

  1. If you’re new to crypto — as many are — you might not be ready to go through a laundry list of steps to access the coins that *could* pop;
  2. You’re not getting into this to “flip” coins or day trade (95% of the visitors to THIS SITE, at least, are ones who are less interested in trying to get in and out of coins and more interested in long-term strategies like the ones you can read in last year’s popular post: Playing the Long Game);
  3. You DON’T WANT TO MESS WITH THE LAW.

That third piece is really important: you do not want to get into the business of investing in a foreign-domiciled altcoin that could be hunted down by the US SEC. You want to use companies that have been blessed in the US and have projects in their platforms that are okay with American regulators.

Only two ways to do this: Crypto.com (AFFILIATE LINK AGAIN) and Coinbase (ALSO AN AFFILIATE LINK).

We’ve decided to study this in a few parts; today, we present a deeper dive into three of the coins that you could, conceivably, buy right now.

1. Fetch — $FET — Possible Low Market Cap Gem

Fetch sounds really compelling, especially in light of everything that is happening in the world. One of the use cases is the type of thing that we’ll hear about as manufacturing either shifts toward making ventilators, or ramps back up when the auto and aircraft manufacturers start making their products again:

In the video (which you can watch below) the CEO talks about a consortium of steel mills that are already using the platform. More discussion is on the “Use Case” page of the Fetch website.

Fetch CEO Humayun Sheikh

The market stats for Fetch are definitely in line with what the 5-coin guru says: low market cap, really good use case, could take off.

Potential “unicorn?”

Tease this out as a potential unicorn for a second: if its market cap goes from here to $1B, that is a possible 96x from here. AGAIN, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.

2. Celer Network — $CELR — eSports Platform on a Blockchain

Actually, that subhead to describe Celer probably could be a cocktail napkin pitch. “Hey, let’s power eSports, but do it on a blockchain!”

If eSports turns into a larger industry than it currently is — and, in 2020, with people not leaving their homes, the odds are it very well might do just that — CELR is on the cusp of something huge.

Applying the stupid-simple “Potential Unicorn Math Process” (also known as “PUMP” because you need to be wary that any of these could explode AND then dump just as quickly), you could potentially go 169x with your money.

(Also time for us to repost our DYOR sign: Do Your Own Research.)

3. Origin Protocol — $OGN — “The Blockchain Platform for Building Decentralized Marketplaces”

If the future will be decentralized, a bet on Origin could turn out to be a smart one.

Screengrab from Origin website

Origin is betting that (1) people will start (or continue) hating on existing peer-to-peer platforms like Uber and Airbnb and (2) the growth of peer-to-peer marketplaces will be decentralized.

This looks like it could be a really wise bet.

Using the PUMP metric, you could go 155x your money if this project goes Unicorn from here.

More Caveats

We’re not telling you to run out and spend hard-earned cash on these projects. You need to Do Your Own Research (there’s that acronym again) and don’t get in over your head.

But, to the extent that you want to take a chance on a coin that could pop, or you have extra cash sitting in a drawer that could be put to use, an investment in any one of these could — again COULD — potentially pay off.

Good luck.

‘Congratulations, You’ve Only Lost 13 percent!’

When the first Financial Crisis hit, we discovered the brilliant Australian satirists Clarke & Dawe. Their take on the European Debt Crisis is worth a watch.

The perspective from Clarke’s character is a propos for today’s post: only losing 13% on a portfolio of crypto assets is, with all that is going on, not too bad.

Choppy Waters
Strap in, #Crypto traders

The Balance Portfolio is Kinda Sorta Hanging in There

We created our Balance Portfolio as an alternative to the BRED Portfolio (more on the 2020 version of that below). We didn’t create it as a panacea to cure market woes from the Coronavirus, though; as we discussed yesterday, we think it may very well get worse before it gets better.

Given all of what is going on, 13 percent isn’t bad, right?

Balance Portfolio as of Today

Down so far…but not as bad as you’d expect

Granted, lots of green numbers appear on the screen today, so had we done this yesterday, it would possibly have looked 5 to 7 percent worse.

(One of my personal faves is VeChain (VET); note that it’s also the worst performer in our portfolio. Still bullish on this one, though.)

But, for a pleasant surprise, check the BRED performance so far this year:

BRED Portfolio as of Today

Better performance; slightly surprising.

DASH is slightly ahead of BSV as the winner here; though, with all of the noise that accompanied BSV and its founder — who claims that he’s Satoshi or something — BSV could drop any second now. Plus, the percentage at stake is tiny when compared to DASH, which started at 25% of the portfolio and is now more than one-third.

What Can We Make of This?

Probably not too much, yet. There’s a chance for more of a pullback, or there’s that possibility that the “flight to safety” will happen, still.

The question that remains: are crypto investors whistling past the graveyard, or — like the guy who did the webinar I watched who thinks he can make you rich; maybe he can, maybe he can’t, we don’t know — are there gems that will still pop (just not immediately)?

If You’re Bullish, Here Are a Couple Picks

We made the bearish case yesterday — just for Bitcoin which, possibly, will drag the rest of the market downward with it — and it’s time to make a bullish case for a couple coins that we’ve picked up recently.

  1. We still like VeChain. In fact, we *think* it was one of the “high market cap/under a penny each” coins that was touted by the same investor guru referenced above;
  2. We also like Harmony — ONE is its ticker — and this one has a low market cap (around $10m at last check).
  3. Don’t forget about PAXG, which is tied to the price of gold; each coin is backed by an ounce of gold. (AFFILIATE LINK: You can get it on Crypto.com and we may be compensated if you make a qualifying purchase.)

Here’s to strapping in for the very choppy waters.

Loving Bitcoin in the Time of Coronavirus

Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote Love in the Time of Cholera in 1985; it’s a book whose title format will be used and overused during the next several months. We shall do the same here, in the interest of being clever, of course, but also because it does lead us to a question that needs to be asked.

(It should also be noted that I have never read this book but I do remember that it figured prominently in the film “Serendipity.”)

Here, the question at hand:

“Should you love Bitcoin with *everything* that’s going on?”

And that leads us to another question:

“Why love an asset now if it’s probably going to drop by 50% or more in the next couple months anyway?”

Good questions, these. Let’s dive in.

They do look delicious, though.

ONE THING BEFORE WE PROCEED: Sites like these rely in no small part on AFFILIATE LINKS — and, given the goofiness that’s out there, if you’re so inclined, folks like us appreciate the assistance.

  • Here’s an AFFILIATE LINK to Crypto.com <— we can get compensated if you sign up for an account and make a qualifying purchase.
  • And here’s an AFFILIATE LINK for Coinbase, same deal there.
  • 3HqMK9T2Xzy6CnLeJ5sx1xDgGcqz4Qtmj6 <— that’s our BTC address if you want to send a tip.

Loving Bitcoin…But at a Distance

Here’s a theory: the ride will continue to be wild as heck, based mostly on the fact that Bitcoin is an unproven asset.

Most investment professionals we’re following are looking for analogous events to try to figure out what might happen next. Two examples that come up the most often — remember the cognitive biases, though, that are driving people’s thinking here — are the Financial Crisis of 2008-09 and Sept. 11, 2001.

If you follow that financial markets got worse, then much worse, then better right after that, then you can apply this same logic to Bitcoin (which we’ll use broadly as an example of the crypto markets).

So, let’s look at the 52 weeks that just passed for some price history — this will give us at least a basis for making some sort of prediction.

Bitcoin price chart from past year
The Year That Was

Let’s assume this was an average year for Bitcoin: wild swings and a price that tripled in less than four months, then dropped back to Earth, then dropped even more, and is now at near its 52-week low. And this was with nothing really crazy going on in the world: no financial crises, no major shocking events like Sept. 11, and certainly no global pandemic.

When *I* look at the chart, and being totally honest (and paranoid) here, I look at the high from July and where we are today; then I assume that today is going to be the 52-week high for the next 52 weeks.

That’s Right. I Could See a Huge Drop.

If you do the math on my little theory, here’s what that means: a drop of 60.5% (from $13,073.24 to $5163.92), or all the way to $2039.75.

I’m not alone: one foreign friend who takes advantage of Bitcoin options trading has loaded up the “stink bids” that will profit from huge price drops. (I can’t trade Bitcoin options since I’m an American.)

But Why the Drop? Shouldn’t It Just Be a Bull Market from Here?

I honestly don’t think so…

  • We’re in completely uncharted territory
  • The US is considering sending every American adult a check for $1000
  • And the average American is going to use that on things like food, the mortgage, rent, car payments, diapers…you name it.

BUT if you’re already in the game, here’s a recommendation — NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FUTURE SUCCESS OR FAILURE — to do the dollar-cost-averaging thing.

Wait, a Bitcoin “Pundit” Saying We’ll See a Price Drop?

Yes. That’s what I think. Uncertainty, coupled with an un-tested asset that isn’t yet “digital gold,” and we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Et Tu, Crypto?

It’s March 15, 2020. I’m trying to answer a whole host of questions. Some are serious:

  • Are we going to stay away from this virus?
  • How will bloggers, writers, and entrepreneurs like me make a slowdown work financially?

Some are less than serious:

  • What is the best recipe for a “Quarantini?”
  • And what about a “Cryptotini?”
Glass of mysterious alcohol, plus an orange peel, and some ice.
“Just throw some liquor, an orange, and few ice cubes in a glass…and hope for the best.”

But, in the spirit of this blog (“making sense of crypto” is kinda the mantra), the questions we’ll ask today — and attempt to answer — are all Bitcoin and crypto in nature. Here goes:

Have We Hit “Bitcoin Bottom?”

Price swings in Bitcoin from March 12.
It wasn’t THAT bad, was it?

Well, to answer the question in the caption, it WAS that bad. Like REALLY bad, actually. THAT IS A 43.3% DROP.

But to answer the bigger question…

Nobody knows. $4185.21 might appear to be a bottom — FOR NOW — because, as of this writing, we’re at $5373.35. We’re bouncing around in the $5100-$5500 range for the past day. There’s some stability. But there’s also that “flight to safety” question that we asked forever ago: Is Bitcoin Digital Gold? (And yeah, forever ago was two weeks back.)

Is What’s Happening Outside Really Impacting Crypto Prices?

One theory — not my theory, had been espoused elsewhere, most notably by vagabond entrepreneur and crisis investor Doug Casey — is that prices aren’t impacted by anything other than rogue traders (Chinese? North Koreans? Both?) who are dumping their ill-gotten gains for cash.

Another theory — probably works in parallel to the above — is that whales are using the drop to dump their Bitcoin and Ethereum on unsuspecting noobs. Then they’ll buy the same coins back at lower prices, with a plan to lather, rinse, and repeat as the days go by. (And as people get less and less certain of what’s to come.)

What’s a Crypto Investor — or ANY Investor — to Do?

Hey, here’s where we can go back to the basics. And these basics make sense for ANY investment — you are entering an uncertain time. You don’t know what will happen next, none of us do, and that’s okay. Consider the following as advice that is worth the paper it is printed on.

  1. Remain calm. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there — and, if you’re Norm Peterson from Cheers, you’re wearing Milk-Bone underwear — and having a steady hand is going to help a ton.
  2. Assess where you are and where you’re going. Some may need money immediately and don’t have time to play the game of market timing (as has been said often, nobody rings a bell when you hit the bottom). Some may have a little extra to set aside for crypto projects. It all depends on where you plan on being in a month, in six months, in six years.
  3. And, if you can, play the long game. We wrote about that a while ago and we’re still there: playing the long game is going to get you farther than anything else.

Links to Help You…

These are of course AFFILIATE LINKS and if you use them to open an account and make a qualifying purchase, we’ll get a commission. But two long-game tools we’ve been using are…

  1. Coinbase. Dave’s Affiliate Link. They have recently started letting you make regular purchases to “dollar-cost average” your way into crypto. 50 bucks or so, a couple times a month might be all you need to get your feet wet.
  2. Crypto.com. Dave’s Affiliate Link. We have more in this account of late than in our Coinbase account, partly because of the nifty debit card option.

In any event — prices up, prices down, rock bottom, Moon, etc. — we’re here to help. Stay Sanitized.

How to Get $50 worth of MCO – Crypto.com – for Free

free crypto
Always a couple strings attached, though. Plus Affiliate Links herein. Rock on!

If you’re new to this site, welcome! One of the things we’ve done throughout the past couple years of our crypto journey is to check out a wide range of freebies, sites that hope to amplify your investments, and “airdrops” that give you free coins that could turn into something of value.

We’ve had some luck with these, and we’ve also failed rather miserably.

To wit, visit the following posts for either a laugh or a tear or a combination of both:

  • We reaallly got hosed on a couple of the passive income HYIP – “high yield investment programs” – such as Control Finance and other names and…yes…we hate to admit… Bitconnect.
  • We *did* have luck with a couple airdrops — including ones that gave us the nickels and dimes to leverage into our investment in the Megacryptopolis game.
  • And, of course, we — like just about everyone else on the planet — continue to reap the rewards from our AFFILIATE LINKS (WE CLEARLY MARK OUR AFFILIATE LINKS SO THERE’S NO CONFUSION) from places like Coinbase and Einstein.

In The Spirit of the Last Bullet, Here’s What You Need to Know

There’s a really unique opportunity here. Monaco used to be the name of the MCO token — you can read a year-or-so-old post here from Investopedia explaining what was going on last year — and then there was a purchase of a web domain called Crypto.com for 12 Million smackers.

It appears (to this reporter) that the plan all along was to use a referral system and credit card-meets-crypto wallet marketing campaign to get users on board. It appears to be working.

How to Get Yours

So, here you go. CLEARLY MARKED AFFILIATE LINK is right here for Crypto.com. It should auto-populate and ask you for your email address, then you can complete the process.

I’m still cloudy on how and when you actually receive your $50 for signing up, and how and when you can actually receive your $50 for referring, too.

There’s an element of this that is pretty cool, though: they want you to stake your coins — read: park them and don’t touch them for a while — and that’s so that you can start using their crypto-based credit and debit cards. They’ve got all the banking licenses to do this in the US, which will make this INCREDIBLY INTERESTING TO FOLLOW.

Yes, I said that in all caps — with all the questions around things like securities and ETFs and crypto taxation and the like, we Americans aren’t as fortunate as folks elsewhere who can roll with Bitcoin options trading and make mad bank.

But, if you want to start crypto and you’re not sure how, Crypto.com might be a good starter pack. THERE’S THAT LINK AGAIN – we’ll get something for signing up, and you’ll get free crypto.