Investing in cryptocurrencies may or may not be a good investment, depending on the circumstances. Given the history of volatility in the cryptocurrency market, there is no clear answer as to whether or not it is wise to invest in cryptocurrencies. I believe you must be thinking investing in cryptocurrencies would give you a fair return on your investment. As previously stated, investing in it might either pay well or be risky.
So, with this in mind, we will take a look at everything you need to know about cryptocurrencies, as well as some of the benefits and drawbacks of investing in them. So, without much further ado, let’s get started.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that people invest in and use to make purchases online. It is a form of swapping real money, such as dollars, for “coins” or “tokens” of a particular cryptocurrency. Each cryptocurrency coin is made up of a single line of code. Additionally, because cryptocurrencies can’t be replicated, they are easy to trace and identify when they are traded.
How Cryptocurrency Works
Without the need of a middleman, such as a bank or government, cryptocurrency is exchanged from person to person over the internet. Using an illustration of how it works, we can take a scenario where you hired a teenager in your neighbourhood to monitor your dog while you were out of town. Most likely, you paid the kid in cash. To make a formal transaction, you didn’t need to go to the bank. That’s how it feels to trade cryptocurrencies. They are decentralized, which means no government or bank has control over how they’re made, valued, or traded. As a result, the value of cryptocurrencies is determined by what individuals are willing to pay or exchange for them.
Investing in Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is viewed as a long-term investment by many crypto investors. Some investors claim they will never sell their cryptocurrencies because they believe it will eventually displace gold and fiat currencies. Some crypto traders, on the other hand, consider cryptocurrency as a short-term investment. Some traders would even purchase bitcoins with no intrinsic worth because they believe the price will climb regardless.
Cryptocurrency is a terrific long-term investment if you believe in blockchain technology. Bitcoin, for example, is regarded as a store of wealth, and some believe it may eventually replace gold. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also has tremendous long-term growth potential. Other cryptocurrencies have also shown great potential apart from these two.
Make sure you understand what you’re getting into before making a long-term investment in a cryptocurrency. Determine what issue the cryptocurrency is attempting to solve, and then determine whether it has great potential ahead. If you’re considering where to invest in cryptocurrency, you have a lot of possibilities. Newbies should consider Coinbase and Binance. You can join these exchanges by visiting their websites or downloading their mobile apps. After registration, you will then become eligible to buy cryptocurrencies with a debit card, or via a bank transfer, on these crypto exchanges.
The Pros and Cons of Investing in Cryptocurrency
Before investing in cryptocurrencies, there are various advantages and disadvantages to consider. Let’s have a look at them below;
Pros
Swift and Cheap
Sending any amount of money takes simply a few minutes. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or where you’re going. Using your bank to relocate to another region of the world might be very costly. When done using cryptocurrencies, the cost is either low or non-existent. Cryptocurrencies can be sent to any country across the globe. Just like the Internet, cryptocurrencies are not bound by geography which makes them remarkable.
Decentralized Issuance
No government or central bank can control or value cryptocurrency, and no government or central bank can create or distribute cryptocurrency. Because Cryptocurrency is created by the people, it is depoliticized, reducing the influence that FIAT money has over the population. There is no intervention from a third party. Your coins cannot be frozen, charged, or demanded by anyone. They can’t be taken or seized by the government under any circumstances. Furthermore, cryptocurrency transactions do not entail the revealing of any private data. Instead, they employ two keys: a public and a private one.
Reduced Fraud Risks and Increased Transparency
Buyers can complete deals using cryptocurrency without providing any confidential financial information to the vendor. Cryptocurrencies are similar to digital cash in that they are inaccessible to hackers in any form. Simultaneously, your genuine identity is permanently concealed. Anonymity is also provided to users because all of their data is kept private and preserved utilizing blockchain technology. Additionally, the transparency of cryptocurrency allows users to perform transactions at their leisure and with complete freedom.
Price Changes Can Generate Huge Profits
One key benefit of cryptocurrencies is that their price fluctuations play a variable role in generating huge profits for some investors. Generally, the rarity of a currency, the labour required to mine it, and the features of that coin all contribute to its worth. A Cryptocurrency’s price might fluctuate by more than 30% in a single month which makes it quite remarkable. Stock trading can see comparable changes in normal years, but it is often less usual. Making big bucks is possible in this setting, but it also means that one minor error may cost you a lot of money. Furthermore, social media can also act as a driving force in causing massive price fluctuations in cryptocurrencies.
Security
Though there are some scams associated with cryptocurrencies, their networks are known to be inherently secure. The focus of most conversations about the security of cryptocurrencies is the underlying technology for mining and exchanging assets. Bitcoin was designed to be a sure system, and most cryptocurrencies have gone on to continue most of the best practices that this first coin demonstrated. The decentralized register that underpins blockchain technology means that if someone were to attempt to hack a cryptocurrency to modify a record or falsify a transaction, they would have to hack the majority of computers involved in the cryptocurrency. This makes it difficult to hack a Cryptocurrency network.
Cons
Volatility
The prices of cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, rapidly rising and decreasing. Though crypto experts seek to benefit from it, it is too risky for newbies to invest in.
Unregulated
The lack of regulatory control is one of the most major drawbacks of investing in cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency legislation and taxes vary by nation and are frequently confusing or contentious. Unfortunately, a lack of restrictions can lead to fraud.
Risk of loss
There is also a risk of loss associated with cryptocurrency investment. For instance, if a hard drive crashes or a virus corrupts records, and the wallet file is corrupted, your cryptocurrency asset could be lost. There isn’t anything that can be done to reclaim it. In the system, these coins will remain orphaned indefinitely. This can bankrupt a wealthy Cryptocurrency investor in a matter of seconds, leaving them with no way of recovering their funds.
Occurrence of Security Flaws
There could also be security flaws in crypto investments. Although the Bitcoin network itself has not been hacked, a number of the software tools that connect with it have been compromised and exploited. This implies that your coins can be stolen if someone gains access to your crypto wallet. Although, that has nothing to do with the cryptocurrency’s overall security. Also, if a crypto exchange is hacked, the same thing happens. Even if it’s not your fault, you could lose all your own.
Is Cryptocurrency Safe?
The blockchain is often used to run Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. A blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that relies on crypto miners to keep track of transactions. Based on facts, most crypto networks are expected to have 10 to 20 times the processing capacity of Google’s servers, making their networks very secure.
To attack a blockchain, you would have to hack 51 percent of the network’s miners at the same time, making security breaches nearly difficult. However, it’s pertinent to know that crypto exchanges are still vulnerable to hacking. And, you aren’t safe from malicious actors unless you put your crypto in a hardware wallet.
Bottom Line
Wrapping it up, cryptocurrency investment is not a viable strategy to generate money for the future. It’s just like a 50/50 bet. It’s either you lose your money or you gain huge profits irrespective of the outcome. The idea of investing in cryptocurrency is really good because the world is becoming transformed in the digital setting. But, don’t mess around with adding some crypto coins to your digital wallet if you are thinking of investing most of your income in it.
It’s safe to say don’t put your money into something as volatile as cryptocurrency if you can’t afford to lose it. Meanwhile, if you’re willing to take a chance, the least hazardous coins are typically those that have been around for a long time and have the biggest market size and volume.
