11 Comments

Just noticed the post, what an amazing summary and inspiring knowledge sharing... and free of charge.

How did everything go since then? All the best David.

Expand full comment

Hi Murat, thanks for saying so. I can't recall all of the details of the article without rereading it, but suffice it to say, I have since retired and moved to Puerto Rico. And couldn't be happier! Good luck with your investing!

Expand full comment

Based on my reading of what you say, you are only 9 months really exposed to Bitcoin. Some people say it takes a full cycle to really understand Bitcoin. I wish you the best.

Expand full comment

Thanks for your content David. It’s very helpful and is a massive source of knowledge for me.

Expand full comment

Interesting read. We share a few similarities including name and age (although I don’t have kids and started life in East Asia before my parents returned to the UK). I bought a little Bitcoin in 2017 and treated it as entertaining speculation, took profits on the way up selling up completely at the top. I put that down to no more than luck, certainly not genius on my part.

However over the last year I’ve changed my view. I have nothing like your stake but a decent amount nevertheless. I’d like bitcoin to be successful and not just for the sake of enriching myself. I do think it could be a once in a lifetime investment though. The internet/dot.com boom in comparison was maybe a once in a generation opportunity and despite working in IT and having a degree I never really exploited it as I could from an investment side. But I have a decent lifestyle, could afford to lose this money and it wouldn’t make a difference to me if it 20x, except bring my retirement a few years closer perhaps. I have friends from Uni who own decent size IT companies. They are not particularly motivated by money that’s for sure.

Lastly a long term view often pays dividends. I have inherited some shares in a pharmaceutical company that were first bought by my grandfather probably 60 years ago. Needless to say I think the family have done very well over time with them.

Expand full comment

Incredible story. Good for you. And I like your analogy. I agree that we are in the early, early days of a potential revolution, monetarily speaking, one that could literally change the way people transact permanently. We'll see, but even if BTC fails to become as revolutionary as something the Internet/dot.com boom, I don't think there's any question its impact will be significant, and far greater than it is now. Anyway, good for you across the board, and good luck with your career and investments!

Expand full comment

Thanks and I look forward to reading your perspectives.

Predicting the future is very difficult. A case in point, I remember sitting in a meeting back in 1993 which was discussing a failed IT project for a large media organisation I was working for at the time. The project manager causally said that in the future people would probably just load music onto their computers via the telephone. And I just thought that was ridiculous. I couldn’t see why anyone would do that over just buying a CD? Seemed no advantage to me back then.

It is often written that people overestimate the effect of technology in the short term but underestimate it in the long term. I feel in the next couple of years we might see that with crypto. We are maybe where the internet was in 1995/1996. Alternatively it could all be nothing.

Expand full comment

Couldn't agree more. Will be an interesting decade-plus. Looking forward to it. And thanks for commenting!

Expand full comment

I think maybe then I saw the limitations of the present technology without thinking of the possibilities. I think right now many people who have spent their lives in finance are probably looking at crypto through the mindset of traditional finance. They cannot see beyond that yet.

Expand full comment

I'd take it a step further and say they are incentivized to see the status quo remain in effect. Traditional finance, they control; crypto, they cannot. The grip on power and money is slipping away and they are unable to do anything about it.

Expand full comment

this is so inspiring David. although i bought bitcoin at the 2017 run, it was only late last year that i truly built conviction enough to bet in size. i love your views, esp on that "sweet spot" between speculation and mass adoption.

ive been thinking about ethereum for the past year now and as much as ive tried, havent built up a rock solid conviction on the asset. curious to know your thoughts on eth as an investable asset. thank you!

Expand full comment