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Should I invest in startup or in crypto currencies?
13 points by hemen 3260 days ago
11 comments

Invest in index funds.

Investing in startups / cryptocurrencies is gambling, not investing.

so this company, Bitaccess, is working on a crypto index. its very much a work in progress towards an MVP but you can check it out at https://faa.st

its a weighted index of the top 5 crytpo currencies by market cap. It's an interesting middle ground offering access to the speculative nature of crytpos without the massive risks of a single point of failure such as the core developing team (getting hit by a bus).

disclaimer, i work for bitaccess but on a different product.

I put $100/week into the top 50 crypto coins, split evenly. I can afford to lose the money.

I wrote some code to run a few simple simulations against the past year (june 2016 - june 2017) of crypto coin values. If you had done this strategy during this time frame, you would have put in about $5,400, and it would be worth $56,000 at the end.

https://github.com/johntitus/coinsimulator

I ran the simulation using differing numbers of coins, and 50 seemed the sweet spot.

The majority of the returns came in the spring. The market has been down since then.

Obviously, the past does not dictate the future.

A big problem with this strategy is that presumably you're buying the coins after they've had a huge run-up and gone into the top 50. Since you aren't doing any type of research into the coins, they are quite likely to be just pump and dumps. Just something to consider, even if you can afford to lose the money.
How do you keep track? Individual wallets or do you keep them on exchanges?
Should I set fire to a pile of cash, or hurl it into the sea?
For one, have larger part of your money in safer investments like index funds. Smaller part can be invested in riskier assets.

With both of them being long shots you have to invest in what you believe in. Not what a random stranger on internet tells you. This is simply because you have to feel comfortable where you are putting your money. You cannot have doubts if there is a temporary dip in value.

Neither. Give it to me!

On a more serious note, you should probably invest it for retirement.

What's wrong, there aren't any really deep holes where you live? Maybe a river? There's always the fire route if you really can't find a better way to dispose of your money.
Invest in the people behind them.
This is accurate.
Clearly your risk threshold is high. If investing in a startup have it be your own startup.....as they say at Y Combinator, find something people want and build that.
Diversify.

Most assets non-risky.

Some risky (both startups and. crypto are risky investments).

Question is which involves more risk, startups or cryptocurrencies.

How about a crypto currency startup?
whatever you do, don't do this.

It's a mildly sarcastic answer, but the truth is digital currency statups are kind of in a fucked state if you're anywhere near the US. If you get a token, you can liquidiate. if you go with a startup, at least you can invest in the people.

But as the former CEO of a digital currency startup that was the second largest brokerage in the US for a few years, you don't want any part of that. To many variables are out of your control, leading to too many opportunities for absolutely devastating black swan events.

Sorry. Yes, this was a very sarcastic comment. Much like many of the others with people saying why not burn your money or buy lottery tickets.
Question of the year!

grabs popcorn