/ 4 August 2021

Is Bitcoin mainstream yet?

Revix Bitcoin

El Salvador has made Bitcoin legal tender, PayPal has enabled its users to transact in cryptocurrencies, Tesla and NASDAQ listed MicroStrategy purchased billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to hold onto their balance sheets, and today Amazon is investigating digital currencies together with Facebook and Twitter. 

Sean Sanders, CEO of Cape Town-based crypto investment platform Revix, comments: “I’ve been involved with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for six years now, and at this very moment, crypto is evolving quicker than it ever has before. In fact, the crypto sector has received so much attention and institutional adoption recently that it may be on the cusp of becoming mainstream.”

But for an area that has received arguably more media attention than any other technology over the last five years, very few people really grasp why blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies that run on top of blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, are so fundamentally groundbreaking. Even fewer people understand all the jargon or can keep up to date with the fast-moving crypto market.

The truth is that cryptocurrencies, just like the early days of the internet, can be pretty weird and complex to navigate. There are more than 4 500 cryptocurrencies as of August 2021, up from just a handful in 2013. This shows the amount of development and energy being ploughed into this new technology built around the blockchain that allows transactions to occur and be permanently recorded without an intermediary or centralised database.

Even if you’re a seasoned investor and have an appetite for risk, investing in the crypto space can be daunting and is very different from investing in stocks. “Private keys, digital wallets, DeFi, NFTs, trustless systems, and all the other crypto jargon makes for a steep learning curve for all investors,” explains Sanders.

How to go about investing in crypto?

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith once said that there are two kinds of forecasters, “those who don’t know and those who don’t know they don’t know”. This is, according to Sanders — a CFA Charterholder and Founder of crypto investment platform Revix — the top lesson from his crypto investing experience.

He explains: “Some people pretend to know what is going to happen next in the markets. The truth is that no one knows for sure what is going to go up or going to go down in value. Even the professional traders only get it right half the time. For most people, the best investment strategy is to buy a diversified low-cost ETF or index fund and leave it to grow in value over time, just like buying the JSE Top 40 index is a proven way to spread risk through diversification and profit from the returns of the 40 largest companies listed on the exchange.

Revix, backed by JSE-listed financial services group Sabvest and operating since 2018 in the South African market, offers the same thing in the rapidly-emerging crypto market. Sign-up is simple, the minimum investment is R500, and there are no monthly fees. You can sell your crypto investment at any time, withdraw your funds, and there are no lock-up periods as there are with other investment funds.

Revix offers a solution to this problem by creating ETF-like crypto “Bundles” that spread your investment over the biggest and most successful cryptocurrencies, all through a single investment. 

For example, Revix’s Top 10 Bundle is invested equally across the 10 largest cryptos. This takes the guesswork out of trying to pick the next big winner in the crypto market since you own the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. The crypto “Bundle” is automatically rebalanced each month to ensure the investment is up to date with the fast-paced crypto market where under-performers are automatically removed, and top performers are included. 

You can also buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, a physical 1:1 backed gold token and earn a dollar-based high yield interest rate in their USDC Vault (USDC is a “stablecoin” that is fully backed by the US dollar) through Revix’s online platform.

Buying a Bundle rather than a single crypto makes owning a diversified crypto portfolio more convenient and less risky, as you’re not exposed to the price fluctuations of just one crypto asset.

Revix’s Bundles aim to ensure that customers own the largest and, by default, the biggest success stories in the crypto space, whatever they may be.

Each of Revix’s Bundles has produced exceptional returns on a year-to-date basis and have outperformed an investment in Bitcoin alone.

Diversify – there’s more than Bitcoin

Trying to pick individual crypto winners in a fast-growing industry can be like throwing dice at a casino table and hoping to win big. Going out to buy today’s top performers like Binance Coin or Cardano, which have returned +1,137 and +695% respectively over the last 12-months, isn’t the best strategy. If there’s one thing history has taught us, it’s that times change, and they change fast. Take AirBnB, Uber, Tinder, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify; they’re all multi-billion dollar companies that didn’t exist 10 years ago. 

On the other end of the spectrum, going out to buy a well-known cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum is risky because you may miss out on the growth of other exciting projects.

Where to next?

In the coming months, we expect to see large global banks launch crypto custody (or storage) services, as what’s just happened in the US and Germany, see more retailers displaying “we accept crypto” signs, large institutions building major applications on public blockchains — and expect investment conversations to transition from “why should I invest?” to “why aren’t I already invested?”

As with all new technologies, the journey for crypto will continue to have its ups and downs. Price corrections are to be expected and are healthy. But one thing is becoming clear: crypto is arriving now, and the time to get ahead of crypto’s mainstream breakout is starting to run short. The next six months are likely to change the game.

In just 11 years, Bitcoin has gone from nothing to an awe-inspiring creator of wealth. Whether you’re busy, lazy, a newbie, or just smart with time, Revix Bundles make crypto investing effortless.

For more information, visit Revix.

This article is intended for informational purposes only. The views expressed are not and should not be construed as investment advice or recommendations. This article is not an offer, nor the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets or securities mentioned herein. You should not invest more than you can afford to lose, and before investing, please take into consideration your level of experience and investment objectives and seek independent financial advice if necessary.