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Investing in cryptocurrency has evolved from a fringe activity into a mainstream pursuit. However, to navigate this dynamic and often volatile market, you need more than just the basics. Here, we explore unique and less-discussed strategies to kickstart your crypto investment journey.
There’s More Than Just Bitcoin
Since the first Papa John’s pizza Bitcoin transaction, this is the cryptocurrency that’s been stealing the spotlight. But, while it’s tempting to stick to what we know, the crypto world extends – far – beyond this pioneering coin. The next most ‘famous’ coin is Ethereum. With its smart contract functionality, it has opened doors to countless decentralized applications (dApps). There are plenty more coins besides though! Coins like Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot are all gaining traction for their innovative features and potentially still untapped potential.
Take a Gander at Some Altcoins
Altcoins are basically smaller alternatives to Bitcoin. They have Altcoins lower market capitalizations which means they – can – offer greater returns. As with anything in investing, you’ve got to weight up the risk and reward. Researching and investing in promising altcoins can certainly be lucrative but it requires thorough analysis. A good tip is to look into coins that are solving real-world problems. Coins with – unique – technological advantages can also be a good spot. If you’re not sure, look at what the experts are saying!
If you want a couple of examples of the kind of thing you should be looking for, say no more. Chainlin connects smart contracts with real-world data. Aave is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform offering lending and borrowing services. Both of these offer solutions to real world problems and have some unique technology backing them – potentially lucrative investments.
Mastering the Art of Research
The crypto market is volatile – there’s simply no sugar coating it. So, in any volatile market (in fact, in any market) information is power. Though seriously, never more so than in a volatile market. You’ll need to look beyond traditional news sources, if you really want to find the gold. Explore crypto-specific forums and social media channels (both with a hefty pinch of salt), and developer communities, with a critical eye. Platforms like Reddit, Twitter, and Discord often host discussions where developers and enthusiasts share insights and updates about various projects. These can be treasuring troves of information, but again, don’t believe everything you read online!
A good way to get a handle on what’s going on with a cryptocurrency is to explore the development teams behind the projects. Active and transparent developers who regularly update their communities are typically indicators of a robust project. GitHub repositories are a great place to look, providing insights into a project’s progress.
Diversifying Your Crypto Portfolio
It would be fair to say that diversification is the cornerstone of traditional investing. So why should it be any different for cryptocurrency? We’re going to take a proper look into crypto diversification and why ‘just having different coins’ simply isn’t good enough.
When we talk about crypto, we don’t mean just the coins. The ‘crypto ecosystem’ if you will, encompasses various sectors such as DeFi, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming, and data storage. By allocating your investments across several of these sectors, you can massively mitigate risk. Plus, you stand a chance of succeeding in what investing is actually about – capturing growth! Let’s take a quick run through some of the ways you can do this.
Yield Farming and Staking
Not a farmer? Don’t worry. Instead of merely – holding – cryptocurrencies, you can do something called yield farming and staking. Yield farming is just lending your crypto assets (on DeFi platforms) to earn interest or sometimes rewards. Staking is nothing more than holding a specific cryptocurrency in a wallet to support the network’s operations. For doing this, you can earn additional tokens. Both strategies aren’t without their risks, but they can be a safer way of making passive income. Plus, you contribute to the blockchain’s security and efficiency. It’s a win-win!
Exploring Crypto Casinos
We like to introduce a more niche investment option every now and again and today, it’s crypto casinos. What are they? Simply they’re platforms which allow you to gamble using cryptocurrencies. Some identify as a bitcoin casino specifically, like Cafe Casino, others use the term crypto casino and often support multiple types of coins. In essence, they operate almost exactly the same as any other online casino, accepting deposits, allowing users to play games, if they win cashing them out, if they lose, keeping their stake.
The nice thing with this is that the business model is tried and tested – we know that online casinos make money. The interesting thing from an investment standpoint is that because of the blockchain mechanism, these casinos are – probably – fair. In an age where we’re naturally a little suspicious of things, having a ledger is a great way to build transparency and trust between platform and players!
So How Do I Invest?
There are lots of ways! Some casinos are on the market, and you can buy shares, others issue their own tokens. You can buy these and hold them as an investment, if you find a platform that you strongly feel will succeed. With some tokens you’ll get ‘perks’ like profit-sharing and voting rights on big decisions. If the casino space is something you’re interested in anyway, this could be a fun opportunity.
