When it comes to investing, I have always been of the mindset that "Today's stock market is a giant casino. And if you play long enough, you'll eventually make money.
To me, this seemed like an obvious truth. For years on end my biggest concern was not whether or not I had made money through investments – I was worried about whether or not I would be able to keep my money safe.
I bank with a reputable European banking institution and every time they warned me of imminent financial crises I braced myself for the inevitable shell-shock that was sure to follow.
As it turns out, we've so far been spared the worst effects of financial crisis.
I had a very rude awakening about a year ago when I came across a virtual currency called Bitcoin and did some research on it. Here's what I learned:
Virtual currencies are completely unregulated by any governing body – similar to how peer-to-peer networks operate from behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of governments.
This means that until very recently there was no way of verifying transactions or trade volume. In short, you could have been doing online banking on a stranger's couch and no-one would be able to tell the difference.
It also meant that there were a lot of scams going on – people creating virtual currencies for the sole purpose of scamming other people.
Ponzi schemes had sprung up all over the place – many virtual money exchanges went into oblivion after stealing everyone's money. The more reputable exchanges, the ones that are still around, have since then established rigorous KYC (Know your customer) policies to try and protect both investors and their own interests.
After reading all this, I was left with one question: "How can you go on investing without some sort of guarantee?"
I decided to look at some numbers instead. To date, there are approximately 11 million bitcoins in circulation. Out of this number, around 30% belongs to bitcoin miners – the people who act as network administrators for virtual currency exchanges.
So, the people who are most motivated to see that bitcoins don't fail (and their own investments with them) are already accounted for in this number. What about everyone else?
Well, considering that bitcoin grew by an astonishing $615 per day over 2014, I think it's safe to say there is still plenty of growth potential. From a strictly numbers standpoint, many investors still believe in the future growth of virtual currency.
Of course, there is no way to tell if bitcoin will indeed reach $1000 or not; financial forecasts are notoriously unreliable and flawed in their own ways. But what I do know is that it's still possible for new investors to get in on the game.
Bitcoin is still in its infancy and if you feel like taking a risk, you can be sure there's still plenty of money to be made.
