Crypto – what should I do after gaining + 978.31%?

I would have liked a lot today to write an article to tell about having earned my first million euros in Bitcoin, having sold everything, and having decided to quit my job to pursue my interests. After all, it’s something that could have easily happened, because I’ve been following the world of cryptocurrencies since at least 2012 and, since then, this world has been recording truly epic performances. If in 2012 I had believed more in the potential of this market, today I would be here to tell another story. Perhaps some of the readers are in this happy situation. Unfortunately, I don’t. So I’m not here to describe an extraordinary story, but to seek consolation for a doubt that has become more nagging in recent times: to sell or keep my cryptocurrencies in my portfolio?

However, my adventure is a story that deserves to be told because it has many points of interest and because I am sure, today more than then, that this world will affect the financial life of many for better or for worse.

I am also sure that, sooner or later, new financial opportunities will arise to be seized because, in life, trains pass, you just need to have the luck or the desire to get on board.

So I want to start from the beginnings and the reason why I took interest in the concept of cryptocurrency and how I came to accumulate the tiny crypto treasure that I hold today.

I think it is important to remind you why I became interested in this world and how I came to accumulate my first satoshi (fractions of bitcoin).

If I haven’t sold yet, the reasons probably lie in this as well.

In this article

• How did I approach Bitcoin and Crypto?
• Bitcoin is a Scam
• Bitcoin is a bubble
• How did I start earning my first Bitcoins?
• My very first Satoshi
• How I accumulated the other Satoshi and the other Crypto
• The current situation
• So what to do with the accumulated cryptocurrencies?
• Option 1 – Keep investing
• Option 2 – Divest 50%
• Option 3 – I sell everything
• Help me decide what to do
• What would you do in my place?

How did I approach Bitcoin and Crypto?

Bitcoin has never been a topic ignored by the press.

Since it was introduced in 2009 it has always been a very hot topic and a very interesting story, worthy of media coverage.

How many times have you heard the epic of pizza paid in Bitcoin or of that American guy who lost a key with an important sum deposited?

However, the word Bitcoin has always also attracted critics and critics.

Bitcoin is a Scam

First of all, cryptocurrencies were immediately associated with the word Scam and initially almost identified with the deep web.

Even today in 2021, Charlie Munger and his young friend Warren Buffet define cryptocurrencies as something disgusting and contrary to civilization, useful only for extortionists and kidnappers.

They remind me a little of the old folks in the park where my son plays who look at children with suspicion and are always ready to say what is right or wrong.

The older ones, like me, however, remember that the Oracle of Omaha, which is not a variant of poker but the city of Nebraska where Berkshire Hathaway is based, had the same words for the Internet and all the companies that gave rise to the bubble. dot com in the 2000s.

Today, however, despite Warren & Charlie’s forecasts, the financial world is dominated by FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) and Berkshire is Apple’s largest shareholder.

If there is one gift that Buffett had as an investor, it is precisely that of having changed his mind.

He recently divested from airlines, today he uses an Apple mobile phone, and one day he could use Ether or Cardano for his transactions and have a part of his wallet in Bitcoin.

Or maybe not, he won’t be able to see all of this.

Bitcoin is a bubble

Bitcoin is also relentlessly associated with the word bubble.

Whenever I hear this association, I like to reread a 2013 analysis of Il Sole 24 Ore in which, when the price fluctuated around 100 Euros, the experts had no doubts it was pure speculation.

Many over the years have also changed their minds and today, to tell the truth, there are many supporters or those who still recognize the value in this world.

However, the memory of the tulip bubble is very recurrent in the cryptocurrency narrative.

I honestly, until now, have never had the perception that there was a real bubble in this world.

After all, until recently, we were very few who held any digital currency.

Personally, the element of novelty has always attracted me, the strong underlying idea and, while not fully appreciating its technological facets, I decided years ago that it was worth betting in a different world.

Over the years, Bitcoin has led me to reflect a lot on money, which over time has lost any intrinsic (real or presumed) value and today is truly transformed into an act of trust.

I had always heard about it at the university, but it was a concept I didn’t grasp.

I also naively liked to think that cryptocurrencies could challenge the government of money made by central banks and give back some power to individuals.

Today, however, it seems to me that this world is also being institutionalized very quickly.

The listing of Coinbase on the Stock Exchange demonstrates, if there was a further need, how there is now total convergence between the traditional financial world and these new digital currencies.

How did I start earning my first Bitcoins?

When I tell my story with Bitcoins, people often smile, but they compliment me, of course in retrospect.

If I had told them in 2012, surely they would have had a big laugh calling me crazy.

In 2012 I remember that my son was just born.

Those were the years when I was trying to sell with great difficulty a small house that I had bought 5 years earlier.

I didn’t have much money and my partner and I wanted to buy a new bigger house.

We were in the midst of the Greek crisis and Italy there was no atmosphere of serenity.

All of this resulted in a very steady real estate market, with few transactions.

At that time I had a very small amount of capital managed very badly and invested mostly in government bonds.

However, in the end, I managed to sell the house losing some money and I went to rent in a very nice house, but also very expensive.

In 2012 I had a small capital destined to buy a new house, there was a general climate of insecurity and I began to approach Bitcoin.

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard of it.

Somewhere I still have to have a PC where I had installed the Bitcoin mining program.

Already at the time with a simple laptop nothing was extracted and I had therefore abandoned the company.

My very first Satoshi

In 2012, however, I decided to start understanding how this new digital currency worked and thought it was worth accumulating some.

I remember that in those years it was not trivial to buy cryptocurrencies.

At the time I had opened an account on both Blockchain.com and Coinbase, but neither platform allowed you to buy currencies by card or bank transfer.

The only function allowed was to use your account as a wallet.

Moreover, everyone at the time recommended Blockchain.com, because, unlike Coinbase, Blockchain.com is a non-custodial wallet that therefore allows you to hold your private keys.

As it turned out, Coinbase is the market leader today, and few security talks.

In short, in 2012 it was not easy to buy Crypto and perhaps the easiest method was to physically buy them on Localbitcoins.com from those who owned some.

In any case, at the time I had no money and I didn’t even trust myself to buy such a particular currency from a stranger.

I did my best and started accumulating Satoshi by clicking on sites called Faucets, which gave away Bitcoins to watch advertisements or carry out small businesses.

My partner thought I was crazy because I spent my evenings clicking on various sites for earnings that roughly reached the equivalent of 10 Euros per month.

Quite a pittance, but it was the only way I had to be a part of this world.

In a short time, I accumulated a few crumbs of Bitcoin.

Also to increase revenue, I created a Bitcoin blog in which I documented this activity until 2014, and thanks to which I took advantage of the bonuses for the various referral  insurance programs.

Unfortunately, I cannot quantify how much of my current assets derive from this activity, but I am led to think that at least 0.10 BTC derives from those evenings spent clicking advertisements.

How I accumulated the other Satoshi and the other Crypto

Rebuilding my current portfolio is quite complex.

However, the only important purchases, if they can be defined as such, were those of:

• 0.20 Bitcoin made in March 2019 with 750 Euros;
• 4.50 ETH for about 930 Euros.

From 2012 to today, however, I have continued to strive to accumulate various rewards and earn something.

For a while, I have been creating sites with reviews of products sold by Amazon, which rewards the author with a small commission for each sale generated.

I transformed these guaranteed earnings from Amazon into Bitcoin, through a site that allowed me to do so with a fairly complex mechanism, Purse.io.

I have never stopped looking for various promotions and bonuses.

I have also recently accumulated 500 BAT thanks to the BRAVE browser, but also a series of smaller Crypto thanks to Coinbase Earn.

I then took advantage of the strong rises on the smaller cryptocurrencies, which followed in 2017 the rises of Bitcoin and where the volatility was insane, but the possibilities for earning were also endless.

In short, I have always been vigilant and I still follow the market with interest.

The current situation

As I wrote in the introduction, coming up here, perhaps you imagine that I am a millionaire.

But no.

I have a rather modest capital when compared to that of other crypto investors, but in any case, it is an interesting sum.

At today’s exchange rates, it amounts to approximately 30,000 euros and is made up of:

• 0.29 BTC
• 4.55 ETH
• 19.50 LINK
• BAT, EOS, Ox, KNC.

Ah, I think I also have a few Dogecoins and a host of other worthless coins.

Although it is very far from the capital that I could have had, it is still a decent amount.

Anyone who knows about this investment recommends that I convert my digital currencies into Euros as soon as possible.

Also because, until December, they were worth around 10,000 euros and last year perhaps exaggerating 3,000 euros.

And today for me they also account for more than 30% of my readily liquid able capital.

This is the screenshot of my BlockFi I account showing how much I have earned in the last 12 months on the most important portion of the portfolio (the rest is on Celsius, Nexo, and Swissborg ).

Apparently + 978.31%.

So what to do with the accumulated cryptocurrencies?

Now and then I think about what I could do with 30,000 euros in the account tomorrow.

Although I repeat that we are not talking about crazy figures, I still think it is a nice sum.

In addition to investing a good portion of it and guaranteeing my portfolio consolidation, I think it would do me a really good trip.

A trip is something I want, but I could also do without necessarily resorting to this extra money.

However, I could take part of this capital to travel and invest the rest.

It would be a fair reward for the effort, application, and studies done in this area.

However, for now, I reject this hypothesis given the still difficult period.

I, therefore, reduce my choice to the following three options.

Option 1 – Keep investing

I leave everything as it is and continue to accumulate cryptocurrencies in the hope that this rise will continue.

Option 2 – Divest 50%

I sell half and leave 15,000 Euros invested in cryptocurrencies;

Option 3 – I sell everything

I sell everything and invest 30,000.

By selling everything, I would have a lot of money that I could invest in the stock market.

One of the things I would like to do, for example, is to create a small dividend income, which guarantees me to take off a few whims now and then.

I could use this sum to do it.

Help me decide what to do

If you’ve made it this far, you may have already realized that I don’t know what to do.

I must say that rationally I would never choose option 1.

When the earnings are so high it is normal for someone to sell sooner or later and the market will collapse.

However, as an investor in love with its digital currencies, I struggle to handle the emotional side of this investment.

And that’s why I‘m asking you for help.

Honestly, I find myself in a situation of total block and lack of rationality.

On the one hand, I can’t stand the euphoria of the market and I think crypto is losing any value.

We are certainly facing a great deal of speculation and sooner or later there will be a nice correction in the market.

On the other hand, I think that the market can still grow a lot because only a small share of companies and finance has entered the sector.

And I also console myself by thinking that from the collapse of a dot. coms in 2000, technological companies were born, which today grind billions in profits.

In short, I am very afraid of losing this great earning opportunity due to greed and the haste to collect what has been accumulated.

It would therefore really help me if you wanted to help me by giving me your opinion in the comments, indicating which option you would choose in my place, and motivating your choice.