Photo by 401k 2012, CC BY SA 2.0
Cryptocurrency investment is by no means guaranteed, but there are now more ways than ever that you can aim to grow your funds.
This is not investment advice, nor should it be treated as such. The information here is for education only. Seek the advice of a professional, do research and only ever invest what you can afford to lose.
Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm before slipping to a low that has put many would-be investors off doling out money into the pot. Nobody can be sure how the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will change over time, nor can anyone be sure the extent to which it will become a valid currency and payment method. Meanwhile, retailers are now accepting cryptocurrency, and more technology and ideas are coming along that could bring a second wave. Indeed, adoption is a critical factor.
Traditional Crypto Investment
The basic ways to invest in cryptocurrency include buying and holding coins in the hope that they will gain value in the long term (known in the community by the exhausted term holding). In this case, you put money in and see what happens, choosing the coins and tokens that you believe offer a value or use.
People also day trade. It’s similar to day trading stocks and shares, apart from the investor will rely on the fluctuations of the value of Bitcoin and other coins to grind out a profit. The general strategy here is to buy on a low and sell on a high. However, this can be risky and time-consuming, and there are big players in the market who are more likely to come out on top.
Unique Cryptocurrency Opportunities
As well as holding coins or day trading on fluctuations, there are diverse ways that you can invest in cryptocurrency or use cryptocurrency as a way of potentially making more money.
- CoinPoker – The online poker boom that happened in the 2000s made a lot of decent players rich. This method combines cryptocurrency investment with skillful poker playing. CoinPoker is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency poker site. You use a token called CHPs to enter the tournaments, so your first task is to get a hold of CHPs, either by buying them or winning them in freeroll tournaments. Then you can use your CHPs to win more CHPs off players. The token can then either be held for value, used to play more or traded.
- KuCoin Shares – The cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has a token that pays out a share of the site’s transactions to holders. It blurs the line between a decentralized currency (the initial aim of Bitcoin) and shares. KuCoin pays out 50 percent of their transaction fees to token holders based on the amount that you hold, though this rather generous percentage is set to go down in the future.
- Cent – You can think of Cent as the Quora of the cryptocurrency world. It’s a massive forum where people ask questions, but the difference is that with Cent, you get paid in Ethereum for answering them. Simple questions have small rewards, but more multifaceted issues will pay out much more. It’s not quite an investment, but if you know your stuff, it’s an excellent way to earn from your crypto knowledge.
- Neo and Gas – Some coins offer a kind of proof of stake reward system in which the holder gets paid a specific number of tokens at regular intervals. NEO is a well-established coin that pays out the GAS token when held in the correct wallet. The more NEO you hold, the more GAS you earn, and both have a value that fluctuates with the market.
Gridcoin – Gridcoin is a system that allows you to donate your computing power for the purpose of solving BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) problems and conduct scientific research into areas as vast as space, disease and coding. All you need to get started is a computer or laptop, and you can earn 10-20 cents a day in Gridcoin.