A brief introduction on why I am creating this podcast and what the listener can hope to get out of it. I have 6 years experience in the crypto space and hope to teach the listener the ins and outs of getting into crypto. This is not financial advise!!
A brief introduction on why I am creating this podcast and what the listener can hope to get out of it. I have 6 years experience in the crypto space and hope to teach the listener the ins and outs of getting into crypto. This is not financial advise!!
Hello, and welcome to crypto craze, where we dive into the world of cryptocurrency. Please take note. This content is in no way. Financial advice. It is only intended for me to share my experiences and opinions. Contact a licensed professional financial advisor for financial advice. I welcome you to this inaugural episode of crypto craze. A podcast where people new to the crypto space can ease into it.
And those with more experience can compare their own research and notes with mine. My name is mark. I am a teacher by profession, but I'm also someone who gets obsessed with certain subjects and then most learn as much about that subject as is possible. Trust me, my wife will tell you that because I found out about forging for Morel mushrooms in the Northwest New Jersey area, where I live about 10 years ago. And since then I have become obsessed with that subject.
I have found eight spots in the mountains where I live and I'll walk aimlessly for eight to 15 hours a day for a three week stretch, finding every Morel I could possibly find. Yes, I do get obsessed. My obsession with cryptocurrency started very small and really not much of an obsession. It was December of 2017, new year's Eve.
And we are at my cousin's house and excited to see him and visit with his family. All he could talk about was Bitcoin and Ethereum. I was confused and a little bit annoyed because this was not something I was prepared to just spend my entire time with him talking about. A few days later, we're home now and it's been kind of digesting in my mind and I thought, all right, maybe I should check out if there is something to this Bitcoin. My research quickly led me to download a Coinbase wallet where I put $50 in. Within a week or two, my $50 was worth $58.
And I thought, okay, there may be something to this. Flash forward a few months later and my $58 was now valued at 11. And to tell you that I had no more interest in learning about Bitcoin is an understatement. I did not open my Coinbase wallet for two and a half years. It was November of 2020 COVID was rampant.
And as a teacher, I was home all day. We didn't go to school. I taught my two classes virtually and then had hours and hours of free time to investigate. And that is what I did. I did everything I could to learn about Bitcoin and crypto. I really started to dive into the Coinbase wallet. I began to invest money into many different projects, really experiencing what's known as FOMO.
Sure. Most of you know, that's fear of missing out. And I was certainly suffering with that. I didn't want to miss out on any crypto. And I really, at that point did not have the understanding of exactly what was important in crypto, how to research crypto. Uh, and really went to buy and sell crypto.
I had no idea of any of this. But I did have one experience early on that really led me to become even more obsessed and probably act a little faster than I should. Uh, I found a survey site because at the time I was researching every possible way to get free crypto or at least not to have to put money into it and get crypto.
So instead I would invest some time. They were gaming sites. I found there were free faucets. I found and survey sites and one such survey site. Gave me $30 worth of doge coin. And within a two month stretch, doge blew up. My $30 became worth over 4,000. And to tell you I was shocked and excited is an understatement. But at that time, I just thought, well, I guess it's just going to keep going.
I didn't know, pull your money out, take your profit, all sorts of terms that we're going to discuss. This episode and future episodes of crypto craze. But what I did learn from that was there was potential for massive, massive growth. And I really spent the better part of the next year. Probably mostly unwisely investing money, taking chances, experiencing some positives, experiencing some negatives. And not understanding the cycle that is cryptocurrency and. There is for sure a clear four year cycle that Bitcoin runs on.
And I guess you would say it's mostly ruled by the Bitcoin halving, which at this point. On this date of recording this, which is April 3rd, 2020 for the Bitcoin halving is now 19 days away. And after that it's anybody's guess as to what will happen, but I didn't know about the cycle. I didn't know when to buy when not to buy, when to sell or any of that stuff.
And I really didn't know where to do my proper research. I started to hear stories about people making huge money from this website or huge money from investing in this coins, through this particular wallet. And I went through a number of difficulties. Coinbase wallet. Very easy to use. Very easy interface. But I got into other wallets trust wallet. Met a mass crypto.com wallet.
And there were pros and cons to all of them. But to tell you that some of them were downright difficult is an understatement. I am at this moment of 51 year old male, not very computer savvy was a chef for a huge part of my life. And nine years ago made the switch to become a teacher of culinary arts in a vocational high school. And I love my job.
I love what I do now, but in no way, am I a great investor, a great investment mind numbers, truthfully, didn't always work out well for me. But what I am is a researcher and what I hope you will allow with this episode, with this show and in the future. Is learn from my mistakes. Learn from my research, do your own research because of everything I could tell you, that's probably the most critical thing you can learn in the cryptocurrency space. You need to decide what is best for you to invest in, you know, your life, you know, your goals, you know, your financial situation you have to do what's right for you.
And that starts and ends with you doing your own research. We'll talk in very, very soon. We'll talk in episodes that are coming up about ways that I've discovered to do the research. And I hope that will lead you to change your own methods of research. Improve upon them. Uh, maybe you already have great methods of research that work well for you. That's the key though.
You can't listen to other people. They may have ulterior motives. They may have misinformation. They may have a project that simply is not designed for you. And you want to make sure you're comfortable with what you're investing. The other great piece of advice. I'll always tell you, do not. Invest money. That you cannot afford to lose what anyone says.
It's their opinion. This is gambling. Make no bones about it. Cryptocurrency, the stock market investing it's speculation. And it is a form of gambling. So if you put this month's mortgage or rent into a crypto and think, oh boy, I'm going to triple it. And suddenly lose it. You can't be surprised because that's the world of crypto. It is volatile. It's somewhat unpredictable. And it can be scary.
It can also be downright rewarding. And the potential and the possibilities are in credible. Uh, there's one investment somebody made where they bought $8,000 of a crypto called Sheba enou 400 days or so later that $8,000 turned into $5.7 billion. Yes. That's B 4 billion. Um, I was blown away when I read it. This person took a chance. They had some. Intuition some feeling into this and they became one of the wealthiest people on the planet in 400 days. Those stories are obviously not super common, but there are great stories out there.
There are also a horror stories. I will one day tell you, as I watched one of my wallets, literally get drained before my eyes. I had about 25 different crypto on their valued at about $4,000. And it was drained before my eyes. Is that a horror story? Absolutely. It impacted me greatly, but it also taught me a valuable lesson and I will not make the same mistake twice.
And I will not allow you to make those mistakes as well. Where we're at now in the crypto cycle is truly one of the most exciting times. Uh, I've ever known in my life. The Bitcoin halving, which I mentioned is coming up. And historically after the Bitcoin, having not only does the price of Bitcoin explode, roughly six months later after the having. But many crypto, most of the market follows right behind Bitcoin. The fact that Bitcoin has already achieved a new high before the halving is already. A different part of this cycle than the cycles that have happened in the past. And when the supply shock really hits the markets, when people realize. The amount of Bitcoin out there is limited. The amount of Bitcoin becoming available every day is getting smaller every four years.
And the reward that the computers that mined Bitcoin get gets cut in half in 19 days. It's a game changer. And there will never ever be more than 21 million Bitcoin minted. It is in the code. It will not be changed. At the same time, it's estimated that anywhere from five to 8 million Bitcoin are lost for forever. The owners may have died and not passed along the account information to their loved ones. People have forgotten passwords and pass codes and they have no access to their Bitcoin. There's a famous story of someone who's got their Bitcoin in a wallet and they've tried their password every time possible. And they have one or two more attempts left and then they will be locked out. Of their Bitcoin forever.
And at this moment with Bitcoin being in the sixties, 60 thousands right now, You're talking about tens of millions of dollars lost. But what that makes true is that Bitcoin becomes more valuable. There's less than people even think there will be. And the amount available right now to buy is at an all time low. What's an all-time high. The amount of Bitcoin holders who are holding their Bitcoin and not letting it go and refusing to sell. At the same time with the recent emergence of the Bitcoin ETFs. Through groups like BlackRock fidelity. And others. You now have a whole new market interested in getting it.
And what's probably the real truth. You have BlackRock, you have micro strategy. You have fidelity. And they are trying to corner the market on Bitcoin. They don't want you to have Bitcoin. They want to be in control. And right now, what we have to do as individual investors is get up every little bit of Bitcoin and various crypto that we possibly can.
This episode, coming to an end.
Really? Overall, my point is. This podcast is going to be. The story of my journey, the story of my research, uh, I, I really do want to share with you the positive experiences and the negative, the booby traps, the things to look out for the things that you can do to protect yourself. And I can tell you, I am excited as anything about this.
It's something that I've been thinking about doing for a number of months. And the time is just right now. So, if you're new to this journey, hopefully you'll let me escort you along the way. And there's going to be plenty of videos explaining how to put a wallet on your phone, how to have a cold storage wallet, how to save your seed phrase, never to share things like that.
This is going to be a lot of valuable information that really. Gear you up and get you started into your cryptocurrency journey. At the same time. If you're already me deep, you've got one wallet. Maybe you have five wallets. You study this regularly. You're listening to podcasts. You're listening to YouTube. I'm going to be talking about what's hot out there. I'm going to be talking about the coins that are blowing up the coins that aren't moving.
I'm going to be talking from meme coins to defy coins, all sorts of stuff. And we're going to really. Introduce that language in a way that's palatable. Easy to digest. And easy to grow from easy to get direction and kind of really script out your own journey. So I thank you so much for listening today.
And as always, please note, this is not financial advice. You've got to do your own research. And for financial advice, you don't go to a teacher. You go to a professional financial advisor who is a licensed, okay. Thank you so much for joining me at crypto craze. And I look forward to. Giving you more episodes, more information and sharing what I've learned.
Thanks so much. Take care.