Happy Surprises in the Crypto Mid-Winter

For a large number of reasons, I have been hiding from my laptop for a few weeks. This is a shame because I missed out on some real crypto bargains. This is a lesson I learn again and again and again in the cryptosphere – when prices are down, buy a little every day or every few days as you can afford it. (Not financial advice – yadda yadda yadda.)

On the one hand, it seems pretty obvious that we should not spend more than we can afford, but on the other hand, it is easy to get greedy when you see some people around you suddenly getting wealthy. Unfortunately, the time to be cautious is usually when most people are greedy and vice versa. I am not immune to this. When the prices were super low, I did not want to invest. Now that they are on the rise, I think, maybe I should put away a few more dollars if I can find them between the couch cushions.

However, I know how crazy-making greed and FOMO can be, so I am trying to exercise restraint. I decided to wait and see if the markets tumble again. If they do, I might invest a bit more. I have to remember to keep the faith that they will rise again. If they do not tumble, we can all rejoice!

Happy Surprises?

I mentioned happy surprises, and there were two happy surprises waiting for me today. These might be old news to you, but if not, you might also be in for a happy surprise! When I opened my Splinterlands game, I went to the “store” out of curiosity. I don’t even know why. I rarely play lately. I have just been in it for the airdrops for the past little while. I have been very frustrated with the game play.

@slobberchops mentioned a strategy involving purchasing (and using) summoners to get through these Bronze levels. I might try that out, actually. I miss playing the game.

Happy Surprise One: Voucher Airdrop Again?

I was surprised to see that, since I have SPS staked, I earned a VOUCHER token! I thought the voucher thing was over. It looks like there is a new voucher airdrop on. The price of the VOUCHER token appears to have plummeted since the last airdrop, but still, free is free. I had more SPS that I was considering converting into DEC, but this airdrop convinced me to stake it. Today, I received 0.029 VOUCHER for 372 staked SPS. That works out to the equivalent of 0.42 SPS, which is about 41% APR on top of the staking APR for SPS. I am quoting this large percentage to shield myself from the reality that, when it comes down to it, we are really talking about 0.056 HIVE for the day.

Obviously, the financial surprises lately have been more unhappy than happy, but I am trying to look at things in a more “glass half full” way. Even if it is slightly delusional. So, work with me?

Happy Surprise Two: BSGG Airdrop

The second happy surprise was when I logged into my Wonderland Time account. The value of Wonderland Time had plummeted recently. The Time token has weird compounding economics that I don’t trust, but am fascinated by and find oddly compelling. So, having lost a bunch of money already, and with the token so low, I decided to purchase more of it.

How to buy TIME. Literally.

However, purchasing Wonderland Time is not a trivial matter. There is now more than one way to do it, but I use the classical method back from three months ago when there was only one way. The classical method is to purchase Avalanche (AVAX) on an exchange, move the AVAX from the X chain to the C chain by creating an AVAX wallet. Then, you move the AVAX from the AVAX C chain to your wallet (like Metamask wallet, for example). Next, you can purchase Time from Trader Joe’s (or Pangolin now) by trading AVAX for Time. It is important to save a little AVAX for transaction fees. On the Wonderland Time website, you can stake your Time once you have it (but only if you have AVAX for the transaction fees). The TIME turns into an equal amount of MEMO in your wallet. It then compounds three times per day at an insanely high rate that has not been less than 0.59% since mid-October when I fell down this crazy rabbit hole.

BSGG?

So, I was on the Wonderland Time website and it said, “Click here to get your BSGG airdrop.” After a little research, I clicked. I had to pay a small transaction fee (less than $0.50) and received about $11 worth of this BSGG even though my TIME is at an all time low. I think they took a snapshot on January 10th, so if you were holding TIME around then, you might have a happy surprise waiting also.

Considering how much money I have lost on this, it is a very small consolation. However, you never know.

Define Stupid?

It is very hard to know what is stupid these days in terms of finances. I have friends who have made classically “smart” moves such as purchasing real estate only to have it blow up in their faces. For example, I have one friend who has a condo that she rents out, and she cannot rent it for what she pays in mortgage, condo fees, etc., so she loses money every month. If she sold it, it would be at a loss, so she is truly stuck.

I have met other people online who made what seemed like insane moves such as borrowing money to purchase crypto when it was at a low, and it worked out for them. That is a crazy, crazy thing to do. If I were to give financial advice, it would be this: never do that! Never borrow money for any investment, but particularly not something stupidly volatile like crypto. However, despite this being an insane move that has ruined (or rekt) many, it has also worked out very well for others.

Conclusion

I have heard many people suggest that investing in crypto or anything is just a matter of research and timing, but it is also a matter of luck. Luck, my friends. People don’t like to admit this. People who are investing their money don’t like to admit it because we don’t want to acknowledge the danger. People who “win” don’t like to admit it because it is nicer to assume that it resulted from intelligent maneuvering rather than good fortune.

Also, believing that wealth and good fortune resulted from intelligence and research feels better because then you don’t feel so guilty if your friend or neighbor is rekt. You can tell yourself that they simply were not sufficiently diligent. It was their own stupidity that ruined them. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case.

The truth is that the market has ups and downs. Research can help us, but a lot is unpredictable. I believe having trading systems and plans helps. Planning what you will do when the market goes up and when it goes down is probably the best thing to do. I do not excel at this type of planning because I follow the market and then I get very depressed (unrelated to the market) and I lose track for a period of time.

Nonetheless, today, in the middle of this crypto mid-winter, as prices are slowly trying to claw their way back upwards, I had two happy surprises, and that was very pleasant.

I hope you have had a wonderful, fun, and profitable day!

Much love!

Harlow

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Image Source: Image was created in Canva by the author using a background photo from Pixabay.com.