www.wealthwize.co Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto currencies such as Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) became well popular in late 2017 when their prices increased significantly and people became attracted to the opportunity to make a quick profit. It took one month - in December 2017 for Bitcoin to increase in price by 24%, Ethereum by 65% and Ripple by 856%. 😱. That is some good return there, provided S&P500 index achieved a return of 19% for the whole year 2017. Today these digital assets trade well below those prices. The reason I hold a selected number of crypto currencies, mainly Bitcoin, is because it is a way for me to support an emerging technology. It also shares my belief that money will be digital in the future. According to Forbes, ‘some 1.7 billion adults worldwide still don’t have access to a bank account…‘. Crypto currencies are yet the revolutionary solution to that e.g. an individual can access the Bitcoin network as long as she/ he access to the internet. The speed of transaction of the digital currencies are much faster compared to that of bank transfers and that comes at lower fees, due to the decentralisation feature. I bought my first BTC (well, not a whole coin, but a fraction of it 😂) in late 2017 through Coinbase. The company offers a platform where consumers and merchants can buy, store and sell digital currencies. It has more than 30 million users worldwide, has processed more than 150 billion dollars worth of transactions and is ranked as one of the world’s largest Bitcoin brokers. It has a simple and user-friendly interface, making it easy for first-time buyers to navigate on the website. Once the digital currency (ies) have been acquired a storage has to be allocated. This is known as a ‘wallet’. Most exchanges offer this for free, but their security is not as good compared to other wallets. In general, there are 5 types of wallets: hardware (safest), paper, desktop, mobile and web (least safe). Another way invest in crypto related business is by depositing money with Nexo. The company offers instant crypto-backed loans, where people can obtain an instant loan in EUR or USD for example, by placing their cryptocurrency in a Nexo account. That allows individuals to retain ownership of the digital assets, while accessing cash without the need to sell any of the digital assets. As investors, we are interested in not placing crypto with Nexo, but providing cash to the company, so it can provide its loans to clients. In return we are offered a fixed 8% interest rate on the money deposited. It functions just like a bank deposit, in terms of leaving your money to someone else and he paying you back an interest on that. The difference is that the interest here is much higher, compared to a bank, but so is the risk. The funds deposited, however are asset backed by crypto currencies. The interest paid is instant and paid daily. There are no associated fees. The access to funds is same day. The company was founded in 2017 and so far has processed $1,5+ billion for 500,000+ users across the world.

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