With
Brexit dominating the British media, I could write a blog of what Brexit will
mean financially to the British contractor from my perspective. But fuck Brexit
and fuck the British media. It has gone on too long, it is important but fuck
me it is boring.
A
subject that was in the spotlight was Crypto currencies. Although it is not in
the forefront of peoples minds at the moment, I will discuss it briefly as it
is yet another one of my investments that haven’t quite worked out.
Everyone who I have spoken to about BTC
(Bitcoin) has got a story about someone they know or how they could have made a
fortune. And I am no different. Unfortunately when I finally got into it, I had
missed the opportunity of making a small fortune by making a lucky punt. When it
comes to any type of investment, I fall on the unlucky side of the coin. Get the violins out.
The very first time I heard about BTC
was on December the 25th, 2015. The price for 1 BTC at the time was
$453.42. I would have had a spare £5000 to have little dabble if I had
understood and believed in the asset class at the time. If I had bought at the
time and then sold at around the peak of December 2017, I would have made a
small fortune. It would have been roughly £150,000 UP if I had done that
strategy but I didn’t have any BTC knowledge and I didn’t have a fucking
crystal ball.
Being a man of routine, I would always
go out before Christmas dinner and have a few pints in one of the locals. The
women of my family would stay at home with the kids and cook the dinner and it
was a routine everyone was happy with.
Back to Christmas 2015 and I was having
a few pints with my Step Dad Col and brother Jason and we were catching up with
friends and family. One of the family members we were catching up with was my
cousin Liam. Liam and I were close in our younger years but at this stage we
hardly ever saw each other.
When talking to him in December 2015 I
remember him telling me about BTC and how he was involved. I listened and was
genuinely happy as he seemed to be doing well. But I wasn’t really listening.
Why didn’t I fucking listen that day? It just wasn’t meant to be. It was partly
because my shitty financial brain couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. I was
also fed up of my failed investments. I was destined to work to 70 and only
have my 3 shitty rentals that would probably still have negative equity in
2053.
The next time I was to speak to Liam he
had been involved in an accident. I’d heard he had fell down some stairs and
fractured his skull over in the UAE. I messaged him as I was concerned. He was
on the mend and we started exchanging messages. After a few messages he started
telling me how I had to get into BTC and other Crypto coins as it was the
future. At this stage I had heard a lot of people talking about Bitcoin and the
asset class was becoming very popular around the world. At the time (June,
2017) it was sitting at or around $3000 for one coin.
Speaking to Liam I decided to make a
small investment of £2000. Liam was doing very well in the Crypto world and I
was excited as I felt as though I knew someone who could direct me and help me
to make educated, informed decisions. He even had his own company ‘Alphabit’
and I got the impression the money was rolling in. Looking on his FB account he
was travelling all over the world and looked to be living the high life.
Liam was excited as well and was firing
message after message about BTC and finance in general. He was clearly against
centralized banks and governments and he believed in this new exciting asset
class with everything he had.
I was brand new and couldn’t take it all
in to be honest. The messages were flying into me as I was bobbing up and down
on a small boat on my way to a wind farm. I didn’t know exactly what I was
getting into, but I was open-minded and was willing to have a little dabble.
Initially all I had to do was send Liam
the money and he would do the rest. I just had to set up a crypto-to-crypto
exchange to receive the tokens. I had to set up an exchange called ‘BITTREX’
and it was relatively simple. The token
I was going to invest in was MTL. Me being the wise investor, didn’t do any
research at all and just simply went with it on Liam’s recommendations.
As I didn’t have a clue about this new
technology and new type of money, I needed to do a little bit of research with
regards to the basics so I could at least receive the coins and hold them
securely. I also had to look at how secure it was, so I bought an easy to
understand guide “Bitcoin for dummies”.
After a few weeks I received my MTL
coins and had £2000 pounds worth. I later sold this coin for BTC and bought
another coin on Liam’s recommendations. I actually made a couple of hundred
dollars so I had made money for a change.
In November 2017, Liam recommended a
coin called ‘Unikorn Gold’ and I was willing to put another £2000 in to the
coin. With Liam’s connections I was able to purchase the coins at 20 cense
before the ICO (Initial coin offering). When the ICO had been and passed Liam
was to send me the tokens for me to do as I pleased.
If memory serves me correct, the UKG
(Unikorn) ICO happened in early January, 2018. I was watching the price like a
hawk. The price rocketed to over $2 and my investment of £2000 was now worth
over £20,000. The problem was I didn’t have the tokens. I messaged Liam about
my tokens, and he didn’t get back to me for another 10 days.
He sent the tokens but at this stage the
price had dropped, and my investment was sitting around $10,000. I should have
cashed in then, but I held on Liam’s advice (long term buy and hold strategy)
and my UKG investment is now worth $200. Another
failed investment.
Similarly, this happened in early 2018
with another coin called DTA. Again, I put another £2,000 in. After I received
my coins the price rose and my DTA was worth $10,000. Again, I was advised to
hold and again the price dropped. The DTA coins I have are worth approximately
£100. Another failed investment.
At or around the same time I also
invested in AELF. This time I only invested $800 worth, but Liam was adamant
about this one. Again, my investment rose to $8000 but I didn’t sell. Yes, you
guessed it, Liam had advised me to buy and hold and the price fell again. Another failed investment.
If I had sold at the right time, my
little dabble with Crypto would have been worth well over £30,000. But again, I
haven’t got a crystal ball. Another factor was that I was clueless and was just
following what my cousin was advising, without doing the necessary research. I
am a big boy and I am certainly not moaning about Liam’s advice. Always do your own research.