How Much Should You Invest in Bitcoin?
I often get asked privately if Bitcoin is worth an investment. My answer is a whopping yes….invest your time. The price fluctuation of Bitcoin is certainly fascinating, but how cryptocurrencies (and blockchain, more on that soon) will affect you, your job, your business, and humans collectively is far more lucrative. The financial (and in turn, geopolitical) institutions are about to go through what the media (music, books, TV, newspapers, cinema) industry went through since the rise of social media during the past decade.
Your investment in time learning about blockchain uses will far outweigh the investing of your $ € ¥ £ etc..

“Isn’t it just digital money?” No. The exchange of money is just one use of blockchain.
Blockchain is the underlying technology which makes Bitcoin transactions secure. Exchanging money is just a form of communication. Blockchain allows us to securely exchange more than money: legal contracts, identity, votes, deeds, health records, and much more. The significance of blockchain is more important considering Bitcoin may get overtaken as a standard by some other cryptocurrency. Watch this non-technical explanation of how Bitcoin uses blockchain technology.
Here are some real examples of blockchain uses:
Blockchain Company Helping Syrian Refugees, Delivering On The United Nations Vision
How blockchain is used in media and advertising
Spotify acquires blockchain startup Mediachain to solve music’s attribution problem
Ethereum is helping London’s homeless with St Mungo’s and smart contracts
A bank replaced a fax machine with blockchain. Was it worth it?
Trust Your Odometer? Blockchain Test Aims to Turn Tide on Car Tampering
“Cool story, bro. Where can I learn more from real experts?”
Tim Ferris podcast episode: The Quiet Master of Crypto Currency — great high level intro to cryptocurrency.
The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos — a collection of speeches that explain Bitcoin uses way beyond money. I went with the audio edition.
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari — although this book spends little time on explaining where the value of gold and currency came from (hint: it’s the same as Bitcoin), it gives a very high level view of humanity’s history. Currently my favorite book to recommend.
Twitter Lists — follow these folks to get a better understanding of what’s happening in cryptocurrencies. In the late 2000s, we had the first great marketers and communicators of social media explaining how-to on Twitter. Currently, the big names in crypto are the developers. Back in the 2000s we didn’t have the communication platforms that they were building; crypto currency developers do. You are still very early to the game.
Many of these individuals can be found on Medium: Santiago Siri Kyle Torpey Jameson Lopp zooko Naval Ravikant Vinny Lingham.
CoinDesk — online publication focusing on cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Ticker — app for tracking the price of cryptocurrencies of your choice
Coinbase — one of many wallets to buy and exchange cryptocurrencies…IF you decide to go that route. Coinbase is easy to use and a good starter wallet.
RadioLab episode: The Ceremony — this episode goes into how Zcash securely started. Amazing story.
Cryptocurrency quiz — invest at least enough time to answer these questions:
What’s the difference between Bitcoin and blockchain? What is ethereum? What are “smart contracts”? Why are there so many cryptocurrencies and what is the difference between them? What is an ICO? What are micropayments?
The truth is that no one really understands Bitcoin. It may seem clear 20 years from now, but for now, it has unlimited potential worth exploring.
Thanks for reading — Mike
