Knowledge is Power

What Type Of Investor Are You?

Cryptocurrency. The word conjures a different perspective on this technology for each of us. In this article, I wanted to lay out a simple framework for how many of us think about investing in this asset class, to better reflect on the different perspectives out there. Most Australians have yet to invest in crypto, but the trend is quickly changing. As of September 2021, 1 in 6 Australians have…

In the third and final part of this series, I’m going to run through what inflation is and why we should care. Lastly, I’ll posit that bitcoin is not a panacea to the world’s economic or political problems, but it is a significant step forward in the right direction. To begin with, I won’t give you the standard economic textbook definition of inflation, I’ll instead summarise its impact through a…

Bitcoin: A Paradigm Shift of the Global Monetary System? (Part 2/3)

In this article, I’ll be running through a brief history of the gold standard and why it was adopted and ultimately deserted. The aftermath of this decision will be covered in the final and third article. I hope you enjoy this bit of history as much as I did! At one point in time, the world operated on the gold standard. For the period between 1834 to 1914 stable enough geo-political conditions…

In 1962, Thomas Kuhn created a landmark publication named The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn’s main argument is that scientific progress doesn’t exclusively stem from the gradual accumulation of facts, but from a changing set of circumstances and possibilities that lead to radically new perspectives and breakthroughs – a “paradigm shift”. Throughout time, technology has been the…

My key takeaways from Skin in the Game

I recently finished reading Taleb’s insightful book: ‘Skin in the Game’, over the Easter holiday. My 3 key takeaways were: 1. Take risks, but avoid risk of ruin. Much of what we perceive to be a small risk of ruin when multiplied by the vector of time can actually turn out to be more significant than many statistics account for. 2. Whether it is in your job or in starting a business, put some…

Risk Vs. Return – Bitcoin

How can we measure risk vs. return when making investment decisions? In 1966 William F. Sharpe developed a measure for evaluating the overall return of an asset over time compared to it’s volatility (standard deviation). I’ve made a short 5 minute video on how to calculate the Sharpe ratio for Bitcoin: Remember though, the past is not an indicator of future performance. Another thing to…

6 reasons why bitcoin may not succeed long-term

Introduction After reading of the many potential solutions to the monetary problems the world has been plagued with from not having a ‘hard money’ or stable unit of account, it’s hard not to see the underlying value that something like bitcoin could provide to the world. I highly recommend reading Debt Cycles by Ray Dalio and the Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous to get an understanding of…

What the first U.S Senator to own bitcoin has to say about it

U.S senator Cynthia Lummis is a United States Senator from Wyoming and is passionate about enacting change in the U.S and global financial system. Before becoming a Senator, Cynthia served as a state Senate, state representative and state treasurer. In a recent interview with Anthony Pompliano, Cynthia provided an in-depth explanation as to why she believes bitcoin should be part of every…

What is De-Fi and Who Cares (Part 3/3)

This is the third and final instalment on the ‘What is DeFi and Who Cares?’ series. In this article, I’ll be covering yield farming and betting. Understanding how the application of smart contracts and liquidity pools are set to disrupt the industry will be critical for companies, especially banks and bookmakers who currently operate this space. Yield Farming In simple terms, yield farming is…

What is De-Fi and Who Cares (Part 2/3)

Following on from last week, I’m going to be delving more into the world of DeFi and some of the core technology and applications that are used and being developed. In this article, I’m going to cover what stablecoins are and what wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) is. You can read my last article on DeFi where I covered decentralised exchanges (DEXs) and loans here. Stablecoins Stablecoins are as…

What is Bitcoin really worth?

First of all, I think it makes sense to distinguish price from value. If you want to know what the price of bitcoin is, just google it. However, to understand the ‘value’ of bitcoin, it requires a little more digging, and even then I think you’ll see it is quite hard to determine the value in an absolute sense. Value is inherently a subjective measure, just ask someone who doesn’t believe in or…

Smart contracts, De-Fi and Buying a Home

We live in a world today where if you want to buy your dream home, or anything expensive for that matter, we usually enter into an agreement with a third party (typically a bank) and borrow that money up front. You take out a loan for let’s say $900,000 as you have $100,000 saved. Even at today’s low interest rates of ~3%, you will be paying a whopping $~27,000 in interest in your FIRST YEAR. On…

A Macroeconomic Case for Bitcoin and Why I’m Bullish Long-term

Over the last year, we can begin to see that interest in Bitcoin is once again beginning to rise; encouragingly we are nowhere near the same levels of hype from last time around as you can see from both Google Trends charts below. Investing or speculating in Bitcoin (depending on which camp you’re in) is a dividing topic, much like politics and religion. On one side, there are those who are…

The Cryptocurrency Case for a More Equal Society

Imagine being a new mother or father in a developing country right now. Your hope is to work hard and earn enough money to one day buy a house and some land, send your kids to a decent school in the city and hopefully have enough funds to see you through the expectedly difficult years of old age. Now, let’s translate that into a real-world example and bring in the variable of money. Imagine for a…

Investing with a critical mindset

According to the World Bank, the total market capitalisation of listed companies globally is said to be in the region of $80tn [1], with the U.S representing just over half of that entire amount. Based on these 2 simple facts, it’s not hard to see why other stock markets around the world tend to correlate highly with what’s going on in the U.S. Comparatively, Australia represents a little over 2%…

Writing during a depressive episode and getting myself out of a funk

I’ve heard a few people mention that when they’re feeling down they try and avoid writing. But for me, I think to some degree it helps to get out what I’m thinking, to capture my mind when it is racing fastest, and bring it back to a controllable speed. Whilst writing this, I’m suffering from a dullness, a sense of never-ending dissatisfaction. Constantly seeking the thing that will take away a…

Are tokens the future of transactions?

When you think of a token, the first thing that comes to mind may be a plastic throw away item which you have exchanged money for so you can go and play a few arcade games. Well, that’s not the token this article is referring to. In this article I’ll be discussing crypto-tokens and specifically what they are and why they are revolutionary.

A good analogy for a token was used by co-founder of…