Bitcoin Investment: A Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted

image: cbinsights.com

I want to apologize upfront for the possible perceived severe tone of today's post. It is a reflection of the pain I feel when people bandy incomplete information and present them in ways that help put money in their own pockets. I get too many adverts and spammy messages on joining the bitcoin investment train and I have decided to speak up.

My practical experience with bitcoins date as far back as 2014. I even made posts on it before. I have used it to buy stuffs online and even pay for one of the installments of my MBA school fee.  You can read my June 2016 article on My Experience Using Bitcoin and my March 2014 article on I've Joined The Bitcoin Revolution (where I got an unfair jab in the comment section). I use it when my Nigerian Mastercards are rejected and bitcoins are accepted.

Number 1: Bitcoin is not an investment.
It is purely currency speculation. Bitcoin is a currency. I have seen it go up and down, and even been caught in the middle of its volatility a couple of times. The reason it has been rising lately is because of ransomware. The cyberattacks that lock you out of your PC (work or personal) and demand payment in form of bitcoins. A few high profile companies got hit last year and then a lot of companies took as part of precautionary measures to stockpile bitcoins as backup plan if they must pay the ransom to get their operations back up in the likelihood of an attack. That drove the price of bitcoin up. Then with the increased use of it on the dark web and by fraudsters (including perpetrators of ponzi schemes) the rise is being sustained. All these factors will not always be there. 

Number 2: Bitcoin exchanges are notorious for getting robbed and wiped out 
When you buy bitcoin, it involves a bitcoin exchange. You don't get the bitcoin physically shipped to you. They have vaults, digital vaults, and sometimes digital custodians of the bitcoins. So the same way that a bank can get robbed, those vaults too get robbed. But the worse thing is that the vaults are usually concentrated so it's like all the branches of a bank getting robbed at once. The damage is usually massive and often leads to the exchange closing down with people's money irretrievably wiped out. There is no NDIC guaranteeing you some of your money nor even a physical office to complain to. Like smoke all is gone. The money you worked for and the promise of high returns. 

Number 3: Herd mentality
History has consistently shown that those who have a weakness for being herd around get fleeced. Even if it were a sound investment, the fact that it has gotten to fever level here in Nigeria means you are more likely going to get fleeced.


If you still want to go ahead. Well, I am not going to wish you any good luck.