A Boomer's Adventure in the Crypto World

How I Perceive Cryptocurrency

I first wrote my views on cryptocurrency 3 years ago in this post and some of my views still hold. E.g. there are people who still can't differentiate between blockchain and cryptocurrency, assuming the adoption of blockchain drives crypto prices up. I still believe the main drivers of crypto prices are based on the greater fool theory and digital scarcity. But 3 years have since past and a lot of new things have evolved from the crypto space.

There are now crypto savings interest, staking, liquidity pool/swap, decentralized exchange (DEX) etc. and many more. There are more blockchains now and many more cryptocurrencies. Having said that, I think there is still money to be made in the crypto space and would like to gamble some money into it. In the worst-case scenario, the whole thing is a bubble and I lose all the money I put in.

The crash in the cryptocurrency price this week is a good opportunity for me to enter. I don't think this is the finally crash which will end all crypto. No risk no gain.

Setting Ground Rules

The next step before I dived head down into the crypto ‘pool’ is to set some personal ground rules.

1. Set a maximum amount to invest in cryptos. This amount is something which I am prepared to lose all of it.
2. Invest only in large cap deflationary or limited supply coins.

Moving on to signing up and trying out which platform is the best for me.

Review of Platforms

I signed up for all the 3 platforms below to try out. I did not try Binance.sg as I already read reviews about the limited feature and coins. This is the summary of my simple review.

Binance.com
Application Period: Instant. Fiat deposit requires identity verification around 3 working days (claimed due to high volume).
Mode of Deposit: DBS USD Remit. No fees. Same day transfer. Only forex difference by DBS.
Time to Deposit: Transferred at 4PM, received at 8PM. Transferred at 8.30PM, received at 9PM.
Crypto Withdrawal: Fee varies.
Trading Fees: 0.1%
Review: Recommended. Most features and lots of coins to choose from. Cheapest fees.

Gemini (ActiveTrader)

Application Period: 3 working days using MyInfo

Mode of Deposit: FAST transfer

Time to Deposit: Around 10 mins (Based on what I tried during weekday working hours)

Crypto Withdrawal: Free 10 withdrawals per month

Trading Fees: 0.35%

Review: Can use if feel Binance.com is too complex. Personally, I use this as fiat on/off-ramp if required.

Coinhako 

Application Period: Instant using MyInfo

Mode of Deposit: FAST transfer

Time to Deposit: Around 3 to 4 hours (Based on what I tried during weekday working hours)

Trading Fees: 1.00%

Crypto Withdrawal: Fee varies. Covert to LTC for fee of around 0.001 LTC (~S$0.30) before transfer.

Review: Do not recommend. Expensive fees and wide spread. Limited features. Have uninstalled already.

Crypto Transfer

Another thing I tried out is transferring of cryptos between the platforms, and this process is the most nerve wrecking process of fund transfer I ever experience. Not only I have to ensure the recipient address is correct, I also have to ensure the network selected is correct. Any mistake made and the money disappears into thin air. After transferring, the waiting time also varies alot depending on the cryptos sent. E.g. LTC, it was around 8 - 15 mins, and for Bitcoin, it could takes about 10 - 30 mins. During this time, pray hard that you didn't make a mistake.

My Crypto Portfolio

One of the development in the crypto world is moving away from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake to determine consensus. With this, staking becomes another way to earn crypto and it is one of the feature I would like to try out. Liquidity pool is too complex for my understanding and I will skip for now. It seems like a decentralized price discovery system where people can pooled their crypto pairs for others to borrow or exchange. There is this term called impermanent loss which is always mentioned and acts like a disclaimer that there is risk involved.

At the moment, I have only bought Bitcoin (BTC) and Binance Coin (BNB), and they are both placed in Binance Earn. I have missed the train to buy Ethereum and they are going all-time high. Just trying out some simple stuffs investing in cryptos for a boomer like me.

The crypto world is extremely complex such such storing your cryptos offline, managing your own keys, staking directly to validator or liquidity pool etc. which I think is too time-consuming for me to learn. I probably won't be updating my crypto portfolio so frequently like my Core and Satellite portfolios since the amount is relatively small and the prices are more volatile.

Have fun staying poor,

A 'Boomer'