Cryptolog #2: The Long Haul
Securing and streamlining my data
Much of what I've been doing for the past year when it comes to crypto-stuff is securing, streamlining, and diversifying them, just so I'd have the funds work for me in the future, instead of the other way around. It has been taking a long time because there's just no one single solution for everybody. We have our own preferences. With that in mind, I've been moving to consolidate my crypto wallets, emails, and signals.
It's indeed a sobering experience knowing that most of my valuable stuff are just some bits of digital information. So I feel kinda paranoid at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's driving me to develop my own solutions for a worry-free setup without relying on a third party. Being able to secure one's cryptofunds for the long-term is perhaps, the single most important thing to do. What's the point of a hyper bullish long-term market growth if one ends up losing their passwords and getting their funds stolen? Still, I couldn't figure out a good way to solve the problem of memory loss. Rare, but it happens.
I have a little bit more to go, but here's what I've done so far:-
Moved most of my ERC20 tokens to one wallet with a very complex password. Still waiting for the ultimate multicurrency wallet that can house everything and be part of a decentralised exchange. Might be a stupid thought, but I'd rather only handle one instead of many.
Moved 100% into secure email.
For signals and ICOs, I'm reserving my bandwidth for certain contacts on Steemit.chat, Telegram, Smith and Crown, Cofound.it, and when operational, Santiment. Too much noise in the space, so I guess I've to narrow my channels down.
Crypto-diversification
For goal of having less worries and more cognitive bandwidth for other stuff that matters, I've also been moving more crypto resources into diversification tokens. That includes the likes of Iconomi (ICN), Token-as-a-Service (TaaS), and Blockchain Capital (BCAP).
Some fresh ones earlier this month:-
Pillar Project (PLR). Talked about it recently here: https://steemit.com/blog/@kevinwong/the-pillar-project-a-black-swan
Bitquence (BQX). Love the simple idea of a multicurrency platform built around mainstream, casual investors in mind. I think it has potential, especially after going through some of the devlogs and prototype reveal.
Upcoming ICOs that I'm looking out for:-
Synchrolife: A restaurant recommendation platform connecting users and restaurants through tokens. The distribution is not very ideal for me though so this ICO is at the moment, low priority. (https://synchrolife.org/)
Maecenas: The Decentralised Art Investment Platform. I really love the idea of making investments in fine art liquid and accessible. It has never occured to me that people do indeed hedge their funds in such a manner. So it's very interesting to me to say the least. Definitely one to look for this month. (https://www.maecenas.co/)
Pally: Decentralised Social Travel. Seems interesting to me since I'm big on mobility projects. I'd think that Steem can pull this off, but perhaps a more concentrated app / team could perform better first.(https://www.pally.co/)
X8: The ultimate safe haven for crypto investors. A stable-coin that may work? Medium priority on this ICO. (https://x8currency.com/)
The HODL list
Since I get asked this from time to time, here's an almost complete list with some of my thoughts, and in no particular order:-
ICN / TaaS / BCAP: As mentioned before, to diversify.
Steem: Heaviest HODL, since I'm expecting this to be a total beast. Communities feature is an absolute must for the platform to scale. Also there needs to be more utility for Steem Power, providing access into more products and services. Still waiting!
EOS: Entered first round of ICO, and will scoop more when other holdings outperform the price of ether. This project is a generalised expansion of Steem / Bitshares.
IOTA: Seems well engineered for the Internet-of-Things. Post-blockchain technology. May accumulate more over time, depending on reports of network stability.
CFI: A tokenised start-up accelerator. Huge win for me to be able to get early information and access into professionally managed projects. As it expands in scope, it could very well become the Silicon Valley of the distributed age. Or a huge joke lol. Liking it so far though.
STOX: Powered by an already existing business, could probably do well.
SAN: Santiment Network Token. A crypto made for a data-driven blockchain economy. I feel like they're tackling the problem of data-feeds from the right fundamentals. More gut feeling than rational reasoning that I got into this.
Lisk: Version 1.0 + SDK + rebranding coming out soon. Could it end up being one of the best market performers this year? Unlikely, but it would be nice to see mainstream javascript developers taking up the challenge of building apps on the blockchain.
TKN: Monolith's Tokencard. Just need a platform to easily spend ERC-20 tokens in the future. Doesn't seem to be performing as well as Monaco and TenX. So lesson learned, first-mover isn't everything and again, it's best to diversify into token-baskets rather than specific tokens. Anyway, just going to HODL this like a fool.
Others include: ANT, RLC, SIA, STORJ, E4ROW, ∞ (Good Karma), MUSE, SALT, PLR, BQX, Aeternity, Peerplays, BTS, Hush, Viva Crowns.
Conclusion
Not the best with finance and planning stuff in general here, but I think what I've been learning to do for the past year is definitely worth it. Remember: secure, streamline, and diversify your cryptos. Been tying up some loose ends here, finishing up some major works, and will be finding myself with plenty of free time again towards the end of September. As usual, this post is not to be taken as financial advice.
Ah yes, for the past 2 months I have been studying Steemit and trying to learn its complex system. Once again I'm still fairly new to crypto, and my next step is getting a wallet.
But I find it kind of scary to put my personal information for a virtual wallet on the internet. But then again I want to be able to take care of my family and to be financially stable. For so long I felt kind stuck at one point in my life, and that was before I found steemit.
I am very thankful to find such a amazing website. But it doesn't end there, it only scratches the surface. I have learned so much within a short amount of time, it's insane. From me finding out About Steemit 4 months ago through @lovejoy and joining 2 months later in june to the hard fork, to the get together with timcliff. Timing of this was just too impeccable, the universe has been really great to me. Thank you for sharing @kevinwong. That's also my next step is being immensely secure on the internet.
The Maecenas ICO seems quite interesting. It reminds me of something similar to an art mutual fund or an art ETF. It's probably a great way to own a stake in highly valuable piece of art that normally a single person can't afford to own by themselves.
Thanks for sharing so many interesting cryptos. I feel overwhelmed at times, so many coins entering the market with interesting concepts. I feel like Iconomi might be good though, especially if you dont feel you have the knowledge to choose the rights coins but you believe in the overall market. As for the safety keeping of coins it seems like everyone has their own way. I will just wait till pillar is up and running and I will ask the program to take care of this issue for me ,)
Iconomi is two-edged. It's based on a centralised platform / team with single-point of failure, but it goes to say that it may perform way better than decentralised solutions. For that, waiting for Melonport. Yeah, everyone gets overwhelmed.. I'm already feeling it and I only really started market-watching last year. Pillar has a really long way to go, but I hope their first iteration of the multiwallet will turn out to be a good one.
I think you are right about Pillar, that is a massive undertaking! Which wallet do you think is the best at the moment? How about Tenx? I want to download it but it's not available for IPhone yet.
Ill wait for the public to lose some funds first from using the first wave of multicurrency wallets... maybe second or third gen ones then ill start using
Haha good plan :)
I am waiting for a nice easy to use, secure multi currency wallet that will be a bank for all my funds.
It'll happen when those interoperability protocols mature, I think. So far, Bitquence seems to be going in that direction. Not sure how extensive though, and technically, I'm not sure if its that easy to have something to stores everything, unless the community is incentivised to keep building / adding the modules..
Interoperability will sure be an issue and there will always be a few coins missing but it may be that you trust an exchange or counterpart with coins for the benefit of having them accessible in a wallet. Not dissimilar to having some of your coins on polo or other exchanges.
That's a nice article. Thanks for sharing.
You can use ProtonMail its the best mail service we got in internet. Check the behind it. Upvoted
Indeed that's what I'm using at the moment :)
A lot of the time, managing my investments(both fiat and crypto) have felt like as if I'm playing one of those "manage your farm/kingdom/empire" types of games. A lot of it is about developing systems/ways of thinking, that make something easier and can then be used repeatedly without a lot of effort, so you can put your energy into the next thing/problem (and the problems never end lol)
crypto is absolutely a persistent MMORPG, it's no illusion that it's a big game :D
thank you for sharing your information, your post very important for me.., Security is a very important factor, but remember the more comfortable you feel doing something then the greater the security hole, for example the car that opens the door with remote remote, we do not open the manual, if the access frequency of the car is controlled then your car disappears. In the digital world too, security with sophisticated cryptography, will also be poked up, just waiting time, therefore we must always be active on the changes in the digital world, especially the security that so quickly changed, ...., Your posts are always interesting, there is always something new, let alone the problem of equality in the digital world, I like yout post.., have a nice day... and good night @kevinwong
Most important, try not to park the coins in centralised exchanges for too long..
Well thank you, I will not take too long in a central exchange place..., thank for reply my comment.. Have a nice day @kevinwong
@kevingwrong What I would suggest is:
50% bitcoin, in cold storage wallet. Make sure that the wallet is 100% secure, the last thing you want to happen is your wallet getting hacked or destroyed by an natural phonemenon.
20% Ethereum, again, put it in a safe cold storage.
20% Monero, good hedge against government intervention on cryptocurrencies. Balances are private, so nobody can ever tell whether you have monero or not.
10% Lisk, basically a javascript version of Ethereum, i baghold a bit.
I dont have all the coins above, except lisk xD, and well some btc in a very old wallet :D
I also like the idea of multicurrency wallet that can house everything and be part of a decentralised exchange.