Riding the Crypto Rocket: Why Betting on Industry-Shifting Protocols Can Launch Life-Changing Wealth

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16 Jan 2024

In the clutches of the 2000 dot-com bubble collapse, Apple seemed destined for failure. The tech pioneer’s stock price had plummeted to just $7 per share. But over the next decade, Apple staged a staggering turnaround to become the world’s most valuable public company. Early investors in Apple stock saw gains exceeding 18,000% during the rally.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle disruptor Tesla experienced a similar meteoric rise. Tesla’s 2010 IPO priced shares at just $17. A decade later, prices eclipsed $1,200 per share at peak, minting millionaires from early retail investors.
Today, we stand at the forefront of another transcendent technological revolution — blockchain and crypto. Once again, fortunes stand ready to be captured by those courageous enough to place early bets on world-changing protocols.
In this article, we will examine:

How crypto mirrors the early days of the internet and personal computing revolutions.
Why the odds of life-changing gains favor protocols shaping the foundation of the Metaverse.
How crypto assets remain dramatically undervalued relative to incumbents they aim to disrupt.
Why betting on industry transformation still outweighs inherent volatility risks.
How everyday investors profited from mega tech disruptors pre-crypto.

Read on to understand why now is the time to ride the crypto rocket — before it blasts into the financial stratosphere.

Blockchain’s ‘Apple Moment’

December 1980 — Apple goes public at $22 per share, valuing the company at over $1 billion. Few investors realize the upstart’s potential to revolutionize computing through user-friendly personal computers.
January 2009 — The Bitcoin network is born. The genius of Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper reveals a financial system with no centralized authority. Yet, few comprehend Bitcoin’s promise in 2009.
Though four decades apart, both moments signify the inception of technological advancements that will forever change the world.
Apple’s IPO marked the dawn of personal computing for the masses. Bitcoin’s launch basically created the internet of money and value. Both fundamentally reimagined existing paradigms.
In the early 1980s, consumers and investors alike failed to grasp Apple’s earth-shattering vision. The idea of a ‘computer for everyone’ seemed unfathomable. IBM dominated the nascent PC industry.
Similarly, Bitcoin’s launch was met with skepticism. Why would a ‘magical internet money’ unseen and unregulated succeed? The ingrained notion that money required centralized control clouded imaginations.
But visionaries like Apple’s Jobs and Wozniak never wavered. Neither did Bitcoin pioneers. Their steadfast resolve fueled Apple and Bitcoin’s ultimate meteoric rise.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20. Looking back, Apple’s dominance appears inevitable and risks easily dismissed. In reality, naysayers remained until the profits spoke for themselves.
Crypto has reached a similar inflection point. We forget Bitcoin and Ethereum once seemed opaque and inscrutable, just as early personal computers did.
Apple’s breakthrough required consumers to think differently about computing. Bitcoin equally necessitates a paradigm shift in understanding money. Once this mental hurdle is crossed, crypto’s latent value becomes clear.
Those still dismissing crypto today risk missing out on enormous wealth creation, just like those blind to Apple’s potential. With over $1 trillion now invested in crypto, the signs suggest the rocket is preparing for takeoff.
Betting on the Foundational Protocols
February 1993 — A single share of Cisco Systems stock costs just $0.06 at the company’s IPO. Cisco would go on to link the world through networking infrastructure, almost monopolizing the internet backbone.
February 2016— A single Ether token trades for under $10. Four years later, Ethereum would become blockchain’s dominant smart contract platform, the Web3 “world computer” underpinning decentralized finance (DeFi).
Cisco unlocked the internet’s commercial potential by connecting users globally through hardware. Ethereum enabled entirely new crypto economies and business models by pioneering programmable blockchain assets.
Though executing differently, both provided the critical foundations for transformative shifts — the switch from mainframes to networked computing and Web2 to Web3.
Just as investing in Cisco granted exposure to the commercial internet at scale, Ethereum and other base layer protocols like Solana offer similar access to blockchain’s expanding reach.
The sheer scope of disruption powered by crypto’s base layers will create unmatched opportunities. By 2030, over a billion people could use blockchain apps daily. Annual activity may generate trillions in value.
This is why betting on foundational protocols while valuations remain depressed maximizes upside. Those holding Cisco stock in the 90s or Ethereum half a decade ago realized spectacular gains.
Base layer crypto protocols also benefit from inherent advantages the likes of Cisco enjoyed:

Network effects — Protocols like Ethereum gain value as usage and developers build on them.
Switching costs — High barriers mean users tend to stick with blockchain protocols once adopted.
Early-mover advantage — Being first to market with novel technology allowed head starts in community building and network effects.

These traits fueled the meteoric rises of networking companies like Cisco and telecoms like Nokia during the dot-com era. The same forces now propel crypto native protocols.
However, while foundational crypto investments offer perhaps the highest alpha, risk management remains critical.
Managing Crypto Volatility
March 2000 — The bursting dot-com bubble erases $6 trillion in market value. Cisco stock craters from $80 to under $15 per share. Investors learned sky-high valuations needed substance.
May 2022 — The Terra ecosystem collapses as the network’s UST stablecoin loses its dollar peg. Billions in value is wiped out overnight, sending shockwaves across crypto markets.
No new asset class ever rose smoothly. There are always bumps on the road to maturation. Crypto has weathered its share of volatility in the past decade already.
Despite similarities to the internet’s early days, crypto differs in its transparency. Most blockchain projects are open source, allowing in-depth due diligence of their design merits and weaknesses.
Not all protocols are created equal. While Bitcoin and Ethereum form the bedrocks of the crypto economy, younger projects remain speculative. The crypto winter of 2022 ushered in a much needed cleansing of this excess.
Carefully evaluating properties like tokenomics, decentralization, security audits, team credentials, and community can help uncover resilient crypto projects amidst the risk. Adopting portfolio management best practices is also key:

Diversify across both core assets like Bitcoin and emerging disruptors with higher risk/reward profiles.
Scale position sizes based on conviction levels and risk tolerances. Higher volatility assets warrant smaller allocations.
Utilize dollar cost averaging to lower exposure to short-term price fluctuations.
Continuously rebalance positions rather than chasing pump and dumps or fast profits.
Keep most holdings in cold storage with diligent security hygiene rather than on exchanges.
Stay disciplined through market cycles. The long-term thesis and fundamentals outweigh short-term price action.

Crypto investing commands active participation. Carelessness breeds failure. But thoughtful engagement can produce extraordinary investment outcomes.
How Blockchain Enriches the Masses
The critics aren’t completely wrong. Crypto is volatile and high-risk. Scams exist alongside world-changing protocols. Speculation still dominates utility.
Yet these flaws do not diminish crypto’s ultimate promise — a more open, connected and empowering internet built on decentralization and user control. Or the outlook for incredible wealth creation as adoption grows.
Amidst the turbulence, it helps to remember how past technological leaps also bred individual riches while propelling humanity forward:
The Ford Motor Company enabled affordable automobiles for all through the moving assembly line, minting millionaires from early investors.
Microsoft’s horizontal business strategy allowed desktop computers and software to conquer the enterprise, spawning Fortune 500 companies across tech.
Amazon leveraged the internet’s reach to reinvent retail, granting part-time income to millions of merchants while producing cryptocurrency-sized returns.
Crypto now extends this tradition of marrying social progress and profit. Transactions settle in minutes without middlemen siphoning value. Censorship resistance returns financial sovereignty to the individual. New decentralized services eliminate corporate rent-seeking.
The core premises of openness, user ownership and interoperability drive blockchain’s success. But these also attract capital and enrich early believers. Once again, technology builds a bigger pie while offering the masses a seat at the table.
Some paint crypto as a zero-sum game enriching tech bros and speculators alone. In reality, crypto produces positive sum outcomes raising all ships. Sustainable wealth creation requires delivering real utility, whether through cars, computers or decentralized networks.
The Next Generation’s Renaissance
January 1990 — Hungry college student Marc Andreessen receives his first personal computer, plunging into a digital world of bulletin boards, modems and software. He would go on to spark the internet revolution through Netscape.
March 2022–13 year old Benyamin Ahmed launches pixelated pumas as NFT collectibles. In minutes he earns nearly $400,000, fascinated by crypto’s capacity to monetize creativity and individuality through digital ownership.
Across different eras, technology unlocks new venues for individuals to harness their talents and achieve prosperity. Computers and software allowed programmers like Andreessen to scale their genius. Crypto now enables similar leaps for designers, artists and creators through NFTs and tokenization.
Young entrepreneurs like Ahmed capture the renewed zeal with which youth approach crypto’s multi-faceted toolkit. Their cultural dexterity gives them an edge in extracting value from digital scarcity, decentralized monetization and Web3.
Crypto returns possibilities once imaginable only for institutions and elite technologists back to the everyday prodigy. It allows capital to flow frictionlessly to the underbanked creative class rather than accumulate in legacy institutions.
The billion dollar NFT industry highlights one small microcosm of crypto’s empowerment. Whether through asset ownership, decentralized work, platform governance or composable services, blockchain unlocks fresh opportunities.
Cryptoeconomics incentivize innovation and alignment of interests, replicating the value creation of the open internet. The chain reaction of wealth generation this sparks scarcely registers on most radars — for now.
Mainstream Success Follows The Outliers
Crypto returns financial agency to individuals rather than mega corporations and governments. This rewiring of existing power structures will inevitably shake up wealth distribution.
The early adopters will be well-positioned to capitalize on this shifting landscape. Visionaries must first blaze trails before the masses journey down them.
We saw this with the rapid wealth accumulation of tech pioneers like Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The PC and internet’s initial niche appeal gave way to billions of users — and trillion dollar companies.
Cryptocurrency is no different. Concepts like self-custody and decentralization remain alien to everyday people. And sceptics are partially right — crypto must still cross the chasm to mainstream adoption.
But when conditions align, adoption can snowball rapidly. People dismissed PCs, dot-coms, smartphones and social media too until network effects took hold.
Cryptocurrency applications must move beyond speculation to deliver concrete improvements over existing systems before typical consumers get on board. When this happens, get ready for impact.
The building blocks are already coming together. composable services, stablecoins, Layer 2 scaling and fiat on-ramps make crypto accessible to non-enthusiasts. Regulatory frameworks will grant necessary legitimacy.
Incumbents like banks and payment processors increasingly co-opt crypto. This tacit endorsement widens the technology’s reach. Soon participation in the decentralized financial system will become routine rather than avant garde.
Meanwhile, the vanguard recognize crypto’s radical potential early. Their conviction today sows the seeds for mainstream adoption tomorrow. Participating now maximizes exposure to the value creation phase of the crypto exponential growth curve.
A Compelling Risk-Reward Ratio
Navigating crypto’s volatility presents challenges. Overzealousness without proper diligence often ends poorly. But sitting on the crypto sidelines for fear of uncertainty can exact an even greater long-term toll.
To realize crypto’s life-changing investment upside requires accepting necessary discomfort. Fortune favors the bold, and the brave demand potential.
Consider how much value flows through the antiquated systems cryptocurrency aims to optimize:

$22 trillion stored in negative yielding global debt, slowly melting to inflation.
Over $125 billion spent annually transmitting remittances through predatory intermediaries.
Up to 20% credit card fees levied on every merchant payment you make.
Billions in wealth stripped by front running high frequency traders on stock exchanges.

These bloated sectors are ripe for disruption. By eliminating exploitation and friction, crypto alternatives like DeFi, cross-border payments, NFT gaming and DEXs unlock tremendous pent up value.
The staggering scope of the Web3 opportunity far outweighs any short-term growing pains. Blockchain’s total addressable market spans finance, media, creative arts, digital identity, supply chain, healthcare and more.
Incumbents in these massive legacy industries are increasingly endangered. The FAANG stocks boast a combined market capitalization approaching $10 trillion on their own. Yet crypto’s entire market cap stands at only $1 trillion — a mere 10% fraction in comparison.
The risk-reward math is overtly bullish. Even modestly successful adoption and network growth spreads across an immense valuation gap. Crypto is simply mispriced relative to its potential.
Of course, new technology progress is rarely linear. Seismic shifts of this magnitude take time to play out. We are in mile one of the marathon.
Yet shrewd investors recognize value before the crowd catches on. Crypto underpins the next internet revolution. Web3 promises high returns for those courageous enough to back its early development.
Riding Crypto’s Second Wave
Fundamental analysis confirms crypto’s compelling investment logic. But perhaps the most convincing evidence lies in its existing track record.
Early Bitcoin and Ethereum investors already generated fabulous wealth with the right timing and conviction. $1000 invested in Ethereum’s ICO returned over $4 million at the peak. Bitcoin turned $10 pizza money into millions.
However, even after historic runs, the crypto rocket still has fuel left in the tank. Less than 5% of people globally own crypto today — an enormous untapped market.
We are now entering the second major wave of wealth creation following crypto’s retracement to rational levels after 2021’s euphoria.
Web3 networks are reaching maturation. Stronger fundamentals and mechanisms like staking and DeFi deepen real economic activity and stability.
Meanwhile, inflation, monetary debasement and geopolitical tensions make store of value use cases for crypto more appealing than ever. These catalysts turbocharge adoption.
The crypto and blockchain industry also increasingly attracts premier talent. Builders are diving in head first, accelerating development. Investment follows innovation.
Now is the optimal time for everyday investors to stake their claim before the hypergrowth accelerates again. Those dismissing crypto’s second act risk being left behind.
Fortune Favors the Bold
In 1903, two unknown bicycle mechanics from Ohio defied convention. Wilbur and Orville Wright bucked the scientific establishment, unlocking manned flight through creativity and perseverance.
Years later reflecting on their pioneering journey, Wilbur remarked:
“If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”
The Wright brothers embodied the type of audacious thinking that drives human progress. Bitcoin and blockchain pioneers carry this same bold spirit.
Granted, cryptocurrency remains in its early innings, still finding product-market fit. More turbulence will follow on the road to maturity.
Yet a measured stance toward crypto need not mean total avoidance. Dismissing crypto altogether risks neglecting history’s greatest wealth creation opportunity since the internet itself.
The middle path recognizes crypto’s merits while managing risks and investing responsibly. Even modest exposure grants optionality to enormous technological and financial shifts.
The crypto rocket ship will launch with or without you. But placing bets on the courageous dreamers building a better future for all substantially increases the odds you secure your own seat.
Take your place beside the visionaries pushing progress forward. Back the protocols promising to radically transform your industries and daily life. Support the startups building with openness and transparency.
Then simply strap in, and enjoy the ride ahead. Something tells us it will be quite spectacular.

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Technology
Blockchain
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin
Investing

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