And you think Bitcoin and Crypto are just a fad?

I suppose you can call this another plug for the future.

I'm not sure how many have been following the totality/repercussion/impact of Blockchain to/on world finance ? I wrote an article about a month ago on the then status.

While we had been "hit" by the recent meltdown of the cryptos, just take a look at the global chart as of today. It's very telling:

1) The market cap of cryptos is more than 5 times the listed companies' value in Malaysia, 3 times of SGX's and will rank as the top 10 largest exchange in the world,

2) Bitcoin's value (after the recent 15% dip) makes it the 5th largest (was the 4th as at 15 Apr 2021) company in the world after Apple, Aramco, Microsoft, and Google,

3) ETH's (2nd largest crypto) valuation at RM 1.2 Trillion - is also larger than 60% of the entire Bursa market combined. Here's a freebie - buy some and keep. A year from now, you can buy me some beers . For those who know me, I called this a winner about a month ago when it was just $1,700. I see $3000 or more in the next 60 days,

4) The financial might of the crypto market, which is less than 11 years old, is just staggering. Excluding BTC, the crypto market has actually grown by 30% over the past 30 days,

5) So for those who were dismayed by your Alt's performance, have faith. I think there's room for another 20% growth by June 2021, and finally:

6) JPMorgan Chase is preparing to offer an actively managed Bitcoin fund for private wealth clients, becoming the LARGEST bank to embrace Crypto as an asset class. The bank’s approach, which could launch this summer, is a notable break from passive funds operated by the likes of Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital. For those less inclined, JP Morgan's CEO, back in Aug 2018, said he would fire any employee who mentions Crypto-currency. How the Big banks lie ?

I have lectured on the advent of Cryptos since May 2016. For those who believed, you are indeed a happy lot. For those who are still sceptical, this is the "next" internet.

As Bush once said, either you are with us, or you are the "enemy", YOU decide.

Cheers.

Bitcoin is now (@ 31 March 2021) the Most Valuable Financial Service / Instrument in the World !

(At the outset, a big thanks to the "Big T" whose original piece I shamelessly copied in part as I couldn't say it any better).

In May 2016, I first wrote about a fairly new "investment" asset called Bitcoin. At that time, most people called Bitcoin a “fraud,” a “scam,” or a “Ponzi scheme.” Many of you who have "followed" me in FB know that since 2016, I’ve been fighting a long battle to educate everyone about the value of Bitcoin. Then in late 2017, I met an American investment specialist, Mr. "LP" who not only shared my passion/vision but encouraged me to use my "accounting knowledge" to make sense of this new technology, for the benefit of the masses. He said I was the best partner he has ever teamed up with - and he is a Tony Robbins staffer. Together, we have traversed the world sharing our knowledge with people who "believed''. We have had a few converts too:).

Over that period of time, till as recent as this year, I’ve had my reputation rubbished… been maligned and ridiculed at times… and even received hate messages for my belief in Bitcoin, especially when I was an acclaimed accountant in Malaysia who's expected to be traditionally mind-set and not fall prey to "airy-fairy" stuff. I recall speaking with senior accountants and lawyers in town who all laughed at my "fool's gold" theory, they said. I spoke with bankers and regulators who told me that Crypto will never work or "we will ban it" in the worst case. One senior personal banker categorically told me that Bank Negara would ban crypto - not only was she dead wrong, the Regulators have indeed approved a few crypto exchanges in Malaysia and passed laws to regulate this business. Regulation is GOOD - it means, you can do something within the prescribed laws - thereby legitimising the industry. We no longer have to operate "underground". The old days of thinking that Bitcoin will be used by gun runners and drug dealers are gone - can you imagine a terrorist in a hole in Afghanistan, providing his 5 pieces of KYC (Know Your Client) documents (including his "address" LOL) and then keying in a 32 digit code without making a typo error...to order his Bazooka? (I'm disappointed that the mighty US Treasury boss Yellen is also somewhat ignorant about Fintech). 

You see Folks, it's all about "CONTROL". The Blockchain, to a practically large extent, is uncontrollable...and authorities don't like it. I qualified this statement because I and maybe a few others, are aware of ways to "control" the network separately - that's a story for another day:)

Rather unfortunately, not many took the effort to read up on the new wave of Fintechs that were rolling into civilisation. Most people (mistakenly) thought that since Bitcoin was "created" from thin air, no "value" should be ascribed to it....they simply didn't understand how Bitcoin was mined and the costs involved (my estimate is that it costs between $ 4,500 to $ 6,000 to mine one Bitcoin over a one month period). You see, besides the hardware cost (about $3,000 per machine), the electricity consumption is about $2,000 depending on where you operate your "mine" - some countries like Iceland and Canada have indeed found a "new" source of income by encouraging miners to relocate their ops there - an expansion/generation of a business that was never there till about 2009 ? And the mining algorithms (to earn a Bitcoin) are getting more difficult to solve and hence, requiring super-duper computers (and hence the higher energy use) - there is an inbuilt price appreciation mechanism in the crypto network. If this all sounds gobblygook, fear not....just ask the smartest "person" in the world and he/she will give you all the answers :).........Google.

Some questioned the "use-ability" not knowing that there are more than 20,000 businesses globally (excluding China and India where there is opaqueness) that accept cryptos as a mode of payment. In the US, Dubai and several European countries, you can even buy properties and cars using cryptos. Some questioned the fungibility of  currency that a single unit cost $58,000. Again, the lack of reading is culprit. Bitcoin is divisible into 100 million Satoshi: Simply put, 1/10,000 th of a BTC, has value. Can you imagine it's only a matter of time before inflation and economics will erase some zeroes from this fraction. 

Against the naysayers, I've tutored a large group of "students" (of all ages/walks in/of life in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, HK, Taiwan, China and indeed the US) and this group, believed in the message: Many happy students now. Personally, 3 students have told me that they have become Ringgit millionaires in 2021....and these are normal folks who work very hard for their money. Some students paid off their credit card debts, renovated their houses, settled housing loans and one, saved his marriage that was strained by his finances before he discovered Crypto. One student just told me that, given his age, he has nothing to leave behind for his son but hopefully, ONE Bitcoin that will change his son's life in future. Another student told me that he has found financial independence in his 30's and never ever has to work again in his life. Stories like these, melt my heart. Now, their life(style) has changed completely: From driving a beat up Proton/Nissan to an imported Mercedes. Something that they would have NEVER imagined owning in their lifetime.....if they didn't believe in Fintech.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been laughed at by your family and friends just for talking about the idea of Bitcoin. It’s been a tough journey for most of us. From the peak of the Jan 2018 Crypto Bull market to the depth of the Dec 2018 Crypto Winter…we kept faith. I believe if you could have faith in a future that’s different than the one the mainstream media is portraying… you’d see a day when institutional money would flow into Bitcoin. Last month, Tesla announced it was buying $1.5 bil worth of Bitcoin to keep on it's Balance Sheet. That asset is now worth $2.3 bil......the profit that Tesla made in this 1 month period was more than what it made in the past 18 years combined selling cars! Elon musk have (pardon the pun) flipped open his computer and pressed 3 keys perhaps (say taking 60 seconds?) to make $720 million........unbelievable ? Micro Strategy is another company that has seen it's stock price double in 3 months because of its investment in Bitcoin.

And those of you who stuck with us, I want you to congratulate yourselves. You can see the light now......

Not only was Bitcoin the best-performing asset class of 2020… it also obliterated its old highs. Bitcoin rose 308% in 2020 – and just recently was as high as $61,000. Here’s why I feel vindicated: Bitcoin is now the most valuable financial service/instrument in the world by market cap. This is something we’ve been predicting for years. When it fell from $20,000 in Jan 2018 to about $1,800 in Sept 2018, we told our students to "BUY". I recall telling my class, maybe, if you must, sell your house/condo and buy some BTC and keep. I said "In 5 to 10 years from now, it will be extremely rare to come across someone who owns ONE Bitcoin". It's now about RM 230,000 per BTC....how many can afford to buy just 1? 

Today, Bitcoin’s total market value is over $1.1 Trillion. That’s more than the market caps of Visa ($460 billion), MasterCard ($360 billion) and PayPal ($276 billion) combined. These are industrial behemoths that have been around since 1958. To highlight this enormity further, Bitcoin's value is 4 times higher than the 20 largest Malaysian companies combined. Starting in October 2009, Bitcoin is a "Johnny Come Lately". But NOBODY is laughing at Bitcoin anymore. Those who "missed" out are instead........crying.

So the question now is, where does Bitcoin go from here?

$500,000 Bitcoin?

Right now, we have a brand-new area of demand for Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset. It’s incredible. Corporations are sitting on Trillions of dollars of capital. So even a small weightage shift to Bitcoin can have a profound multiplier effect on the price. For instance, ARK Invest Management reported that non-traditional assets like real estate and emerging markets make up 5–6% of institutional investors’ portfolios. So if pension funds and banks allocated a similar weightage to Bitcoin, the report suggests Bitcoin’s price could go to a half-million dollars!

Will this happen overnight? Of course not. Will it happen in a straight line? No, absolutely not. But...

We’re already seeing big established institutions buy Bitcoin. In December 2020, 169-year-old insurance giant MassMutual bought $100 million of Bitcoin. And since August 2020, data consultants MicroStrategy have purchased roughly 90,000 Bitcoin, now worth more than $5 billion… and they paid only about $23,000 per coin on average. That’s an ROI of more than 150% in less than 8 months.

Visa Card just announced that their global processing henceforth will be conducted over the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. That's an annual $22 billion transaction value processed over the ETH blockchain  network and gives the No. 2 crypto in the world, a HUGE stamp of confidence. It's bound to rise in price, and along with it, push up Bitcoin, and other alternate coins (Altcoins) even higher.

So where is Bitcoin headed in 2021?

As I look through the "mystical" charts for 2021, it appears to be very pro-Crypto. Augurs well for BTC and selected Altcoins too.

We’ve reached the tipping point among professional investment managers: Can you imagine, they’re running the risk of potentially getting fired if they don’t own Bitcoin in their clients' portfolios. And that’s a complete 180% turn from just 3 years ago when the CEO of a famous investment bank said he will fire his employees if anyone even mentioned Bitcoin. The very same bank now is a major player in the Crypto space...go figure!

Again, just look at MicroStrategy… its stock price has more than doubled since acquiring its first Bitcoin back in August 2020. I'm waiting to see the same effect on Tesla's stock price, now that it's made a 50% profit in just ONE month. 

I can guarantee you corporate boardrooms across the world are paying attention. Everyone is thinking about this. So this is another demand-driver we need to model into the price of Bitcoin going forward. It will take time, but it's a matter of time before investment managers realize the value of Bitcoin as an alternate store of value - considering Biden's Treasury is printing dollars in the Trillions. Corporations would be forced to put Bitcoin in their corporate treasury soon, if only as a hedge against the depreciating USD.

That’s why I believe Bitcoin will continue to be the most valuable financial service (or instrument) in the world… it’s already broken through $1 trillion while institutions have only just begun to invest. The good news is, it’s not too late to own some Bitcoin, even at $58,000 today.

And with BIG old money (estimated at about 5 Trillion USD or more ) still barely in this space, in spite of the 30% volatility swings at times, I see a significant upside going forward. I wouldn't discount a target of $100,000 in the foreseeable future, and maybe US$500,000 by 2030. If you had invested RM 1000 in Bitcoin in May 2016 when I first advised, that investment would be RM 130,000 today: Enough for a brand new SUV. Not a bad "fools gold" afterall!

And to the famous Sage of Omaha who called it "rat-poison" in 2018, I heard he has since eaten his words....and indeed, has plunged into the "game" with many billions invested. Nobody wants to be left out of this "game" it appears. So for the recalcitrants who laughed at Bitcoin, Crypto-currency and the Blockchain technology.....let's see who's laughing now?

Bugger....I'm Indian?

Now most people know that I am used to saying it as it is. I've been warning people of the ancient taquiyya ruse, the CCP's creeping control and in general, the moronism (if there's such a word) of the establishment, at times. Not forgetting the Big Pharma and the Deep State - yes, they are there:)

Now, while the rest of the world is afraid of the US/Russia, and "praising" China for its "altruism", India has made far greater contributions to science, technology and, really - mankind/humanity; than any other country in the world. It is the CRADLE of civilisation (ok, mother EVE gets some credit too for - LEAVING Africa, no surprises there:))

Now many Indians (original or diaspora) tend to suffer from an "inferiority" complex, either because of the way we speak or maybe look - our "brown" skin in the world where being white (and some say, yellow) is "best". I've actually been told by an extremely smart Chinese diaspora that being Chinese is the best thing that has happened to him: This is similar to what the murderous Shi Huang Ti said in 220 bc after killing all his family and friends. I was too lazy to tell him that his misguided logic was about 2100 years old. You see, sometimes, you just can't argue with the wall - it's just a fucXXing brick. You just have to walk away or be judged just as looney.

Now, I've been an ardent follower of world politics and progress. Many countries contribute greatly to geomatric progress: Israel, India, China, US and some pockets of Europe. But none, has the life changing impact like India. India is poor in "advertising" (unlike the US and China) but her technical prowess is indeed remarkable.

And now in the world's greatest calamity, she is head over heels in leading the contribution to mankind. Of course, the CCP, with it's misguided diaspora's might, will bang the drums elsewhere. And the US, with it's guns, will always insist on being right. Such is the world.

But, as Indians or the diaspora (including the Ceylonese, Burgers and others), we should speak up when we are dismissed as backward (and worse). Learn your history well (even if others claim appam and saree are "theirs") and be proud to defend it when confronted by the majority.

If not now, when ?

https://www.facebook.com/833752537/videos/10160600946877538/

WhatsApp King ?

I was meaning to write on the "whatsapp admin" for a long while and today provided me the opportunity.

Just like almost everyone here, we all belong to one or many WhatsApp "group".... of all nature - from just "Sembang2 motor" to serious ones like "World Intelligence" (no kidding!). Again, many of us are just "added" in by friends with good intentions. Some of us will immediately exit, while some will stay on for a while, then exit. Or never.

I'm narrowing down to the "Admin" of these sites. More later.

In most sites, the conversations are pretty mild/fun/jovial until someone voices an opinion that is either illogical/rude or sometimes - logical/correct/rational but the group in general, is unable to fathom. You see, there's a saying, "geniuses are only discovered after they are dead" - you get the drift. And many a time, when such a person voices that contrarion opinion, while (s)he gets "whacked" by fellow members, there will be a few who will "pm" him/her with messages like "I agree with you bro but I dare not say it publicly cos I also will get hantam like you....".

Now, on the "admin" of such groups - have you noticed, often the most capable/smart/rational/witty/wise person does NOT become the admin? Either because (s)he is the most capable/smart/witty/wise one (and so, sensibly, stepped aside...) person, or, usually, the most repressed person is "elected" as the admin. In many of my personal groups, the least capable (saving the adjectives) person is the "admin". I've noticed (and so have you), this person suddenly gets a chance to live his(her) dream - yes, you've guessed it - being "da boss". Ironically, they suddenly become the doyen of logic and propriety. They now "wield" power. In most groups, the admin is someone who is fair and logical and cherishes the trust given by his peers. But I'm talking about those admins who, for want of a better word, real "nutters" who suddenly wield power - because they can "kick" you out if you disagree with them. It's the POWER baby ! It's almost like when we were in school and the "last boy" in class then, now being given the "monitor's" role. I recall when I was a teenager in KKB, I was always "late" coming to school (even then, waking up at 7.10am to be in class by 7.20am was a nightmare - my poor Amma, she had to drag me out of bed literally by my ears.....my other 2 brothers would have already had their brekky and left for school by then) - and there you are, some "C" class boy/girl would be waiting ( I suspect, just for me) at the school gate to issue me a ticket. Just to see me washing the toilet for the day, sigh. I think this is what is meant by "syiok sendiri" ?

But, I've digressed. My peeve is with some admins of groups who, think that their "standard" should apply to others. (I think they will make great Malaysian MPs?). Their newly begotten power(s) allow them to behave like that. (Often they form the group?). I rarely ever "question" these admins because, I feel, let them have their day in the sun - afterall, you must have been the "stick in the mud" some 30 years ago and now, it's your time to bloom. I'm usually very forgiving even when I know the admin is a jackass. I've learnt that voicing your opinion in trivial matters is just gonna aggravate yourself.

But, when it's important, we need to speak up: I noticed a fraud going on in one "Bitcoin" group that I was in. When I voiced my concerns, first I got "hammered" by the admin, then by the other members for being a spoilsport. Then I was "kicked" out. Well, after about a week of being kicked out, I was besieged by the "victims" of that site - all begging me to help them recover their loss. This is often the outcome of the duck that raises it's head while the rest are pecking the ground?

Anyway, I just wanted to tickle your funny bone in being part of a whatapp community where new "rules" are being dictated daily. Of course, what frustrates me most is that, when there's a deviation, the admin (and sometimes the others) will try to "justify" the deviation. I especially hate the "good morning/evening/b'day" greetings if the group was set up for a specific/technical purpose. We all have many other "sembang-sembang" groups (sometimes we have 2 groups, one serious and one for "just kidding") to share our humour/greetings. Of course, a one-a-year event, in my opinion, is ok-lah. But not a daily inundation....that's regretful.

What frustrates me is the deviation from rule aka "path of least resistance" approach taken by some admins. I'm guided by Thoreau's very wise dictum: The path of least resistance is what makes both rivers and men crooked.

Or in simpler term, "how long is the piece of string".

Que sera sera

WHERE TO MR.BITCOIN ?

In 2016, I advised my friends and family to invest in Bitcoin. At that time, it was US$ 450. Let me rephrase this, I BEGGED them to invest.

I recall, in July that year, I hosted a dinner for about 15 people to explain how blockchain technology was going to become mainstream in some 5 years. I'm embarrassed to say, only 2 of the 15 who attended, believed me. I must have done a bad job in my explanation.

But those 2, will always buy my beers/meals if they saw me till today. I can honestly say, with a minor investment in 2016, one of them is half a millionaire, if not more. I have never asked a penny from either of them for the free advice.

Since then, I had met the regulators and "Big 4" accounting firms to extoll the virtue of the cyber-economy, and depending on how you see it...to gain from understanding it. Again, I am embarrassed to say, only 1 of the big boys, saw it meritorious enough to engage with me in a meaningful way. I can attest, this Firm, is ecstatic (especially it's partners) over their decision. In the traditional world, you would call it a "10 banger" ROI.

Today, when Bitcoin is US$34,000, both my friends who believed, as mentioned earlier, have done phenomenally well.

I have also taught classes since late 2017 together with my erstwhile partner, Mr. Louie Pinto. My students (maybe 800+) are very happy that they "only" made maybe some 300% pa returns. I do not teach classes anymore because of Covid.

I have more theories on where Bitcoin will go to in the next 10 years. And for the sceptics, I also have the traditional stocks (in the US) to punt. Call it, occupational yield. (Just listen to minute 13 onwards......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQBJc3qVPs&feature=youtu.be)

Another "freebie" for those who believe. Buy some Tesla stock. In 2020, it went up 8x. I expect it to go up another 5x in 2021 (I'm always very conservative in my forecasts). But US stocks are very hard to buy if you are not a credit worthy American citizen or don't have access to the US stock market. But as always, I know of a resourceful way around this

But I also have to make a living "mah" (Hokkien emphasis term for those who don't know it) - I spent much time in researching this. I'm happy to show you how to do this but to be fair to me, I will charge a one time fee of US$ 1000 to help you to do this. If you think this is fair, then please pm me.

In any case, you can't lose with the free advice above.

Cheers.

SOMEBODY's WATCHIN YOU ?

Many years ago, I watched Enemy of the State (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjogdKObxrI) and was very troubled at the numerous ways Big Brother could track us. Can it be that accurate I wondered then.

Then came along Eagle Eye (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_HGFCyCd8) some 10 years later that convinced me that we are all being tracked, one way or another.

Since then, I've resigned to the fact that indeed, we live in a "progressive" world where we must be connected somehow: Price of "civilization".

Our digital footprint is everywhere....and anyone (especially Big Bro) can track us: Even if my 87 year Dad refuses to embrace technology (he shuts off his old Nokia phone when not using, no FB, no Wa, no ATM card, no credit cards, no computers etc), "they" can still track him as he uses a bank account to receive his pension (that he manually withdraws at the counter and records his details). There's no escaping unless we decide to don a robe and sit in the jungle about 100 miles inside Pahang (well, may get eaten by tigers...).

Even then, the technology is out there where a drone/space probe hundreds/thousands of miles up there, can zap you to tinder in seconds....simply based on the "signal" triangulated...maybe our DNA that's stored in some database somewhere in the digital banks. And, recently there is talk that someone (or something) wants to imbed a chip in our body that would be useful for medical purpose (yeah right...) like a vaccine ?

I recall some 25 years ago, I asked my company techie as to how I can clean my hard-disk so that the "interesting" materials inside can never be unearthed. Maybe have a tech reformat the disk? He said, best way is to take the hard-disk and drive over it several times, then pour a bottle of acid, and then burn it. Even then, the sites that I visited can be tracked by the IP etc. NO ESCAPING discovery. (Back then, nobody heard of VPN).

So when recently WA asked me to "accept" or else...I clicked "accept". I can't fight "technology". I'm quite sure I am not important enough for them to "watch" me...and with not much spending power, sending me ads is at best, irritating:). But imagine if you are a person of interest - what a scary thought?

My MIL is now considering removing her FB for good, and maybe even WA. (I wonder what sites has she been to.....). But even if you used SMS, "they" can track you. Anything electronic leaves a permanent footprint...it's out there in the world wide clever web.......be warned.

As Rockwell said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY): Somebody's watchin' Me:

WHAT IF YOU BOUGHT US$1,000 WORTH OF BITCOIN IN AUGUST 2010 ?

First, I’d like to thank Walid Al Otaibi in Germany for his valuable thoughts, that helped me to frame my piece (aka flattery) based on his original article.

In Dec 2015, I was in the pits after having lost ALL my savings in foolish (and unfortunately, bad luck) deals over the past 9 years after my very gainfully-employed 23 years in a big firm. I've heard about Bitcoin since perhaps 2011 but like most "educated" people, I dismissed it as a fad without really doing my homework. 

What is a cryptocurrency? And how can a non-regulated currency have any value: I didn’t even give the subject any further thought. Then, to me, it was an airy-fairy concept that would never become a reality in current finance. All these changed when in early 2016, I started to study this phenomenon seriously. By late 2017, I was invited to teach classes in Singapore, Thailand, USA and Malaysia on cryptocurrencies to accountants, doctors, engineers and indeed, economics professors.

What the hell is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin (“BTC”) is a cryptocurrency probably "invented" in 2008 by an unknown person (or persons) using the moniker Satoshi Nakamoto. In 2009, its implementation was released as open-source software in the US, likely. A crypto currency is a non-paper (aka "fiat") currency that is not issued by the currency officials of countries like Bank Negara in Malaysia. However, recent exceptions to this rule are Venezuela, Ecuador, Senegal, Singapore, Tunisia, Estonia, Japan, Palestine, Russia and Sweden who are looking to launch their own national cryptocurrencies....think of it as "if you can't beat them, join them? Of course, China being the global manufacturing leader, has already put the Crypto Yuan (not the official name) on covert trial, I hear.

Therefore, a cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital currency without a single “controlling” issuing house. The currency can be sent from A to B globally without the need for any intermediaries. The transactions are verified and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. This is done electronically in the “clouds” and there are no physical ledgers. Simply, what this means is that for each transaction of bitcoin, there could be hundreds or even thousands of "cyber-space auditors" verifying the transaction as opposed to your one "big strong friendly bank" that charges you 20 bucks per forex transaction, to send your own money. And in some countries, the recipient pays another 20 bucks to receive your cash. So a total of 40 bucks to send say 100 bucks, that would probably take 3 working days and some level of scrutinous paperwork. Now, via the blockchain, this transaction would cost perhaps, RM 2, and take 15 minutes max on your cheap Android handphone. Now, you can see why banks (and governments) "fear" the spread of crypto-currency transactions.

BTC is generated via a process called mining. Basically, by lending your computing power to support and manage the blockchain, you will receive a certain portion of a BTC as a reward. In 2010, it was relatively easy for Tom, Dick and Harry to mine BTC; now, it is almost impossible to mine from a normal PC due to extremely high computing power requirements to solve the complex algorithms (ie "mining") in the blockchain network. Many miner  wannabes have “fried” their home PCs trying this now. And the cost of electricity (depending on the country you are mining in, maybe up to $3,000 per BTC) has made this process, too expensive for a home miner. It is said, the total energy consumption of BTC miners globally is equal to the energy consumption of Switzerland!

In 2010, buying BTC was very difficult. There were very limited exchange platforms (similar to stock exchanges) for BTC. People were mining the cryptocurrency by using their own computers, or by ganging up as clubs and pooling their resources to buy the computing power.

The value of any form of money is eventually determined by a minimum of four major attributes; trust, adoption, scarcity and fungibility. Gold, for example, was the main payment method in the old ages. It is scarce, and therefore people trusted that its value would remain, and they adopted gold as a payment method. It isn't exactly fungible but still, you could melt it for smaller transactions.

In BTC's case, the value of the cryptocurrency can be measured by its growing base of users and merchants. Like all other currencies, BTC’s “value” comes directly from people willing to accept them as payment. Today, there are about 1 million+ establishments globally that accept crypto payments, including Amazon, Microsoft, AT&T, Starbucks and PayPal. In Malaysia, there are “mamak” stall accepting BTC as payment. This number is growing daily by leaps. Oh yes, BTC is fungible as it can be divided into 100,000,000 mini pieces, each called a “satoshi” (of course).

In August 2010, the Bitcoin price skyrocketed 900% within 5 days. The value of one Bitcoin went from $0.008 to $0.08. In Jan 2018, it had reached almost $20,000. Since Feb 2018, the price fell to a low of about $1,800 and climbed back slowly to hit $19,600 a week ago.

Hypothetically speaking, assuming you missed the 9x jump and you bought $1000 worth of BTC in late August 2010, you would have had 12,000 BTC. As I mentioned before, buying Bitcoins, back in 2010, was incredibly hard but buying BTC is easy today. Yes, in Malaysia, there are legal exchanges like LUNO and Sinegy where you can buy cryptocurrencies using your Maybank or CIMB accounts, or even credit cards. There are other peer to peer exchanges like Remitano where the same is possible.

On 22 May 2010 in New York, Laszlo Hanyecz,  ordered two pizzas from Papa John’s (worth about $20) and paid 10,000 BTC for the pizzas. You can see a picture of him here - he can still smile.

Conclusion

In 2010, no one in his right mind would have invested $500 in Bitcoins, let alone RM 500. In my lectures, I’ve expressed my appreciation to see the development of this new concept of currency: We have come very far from the days when a chicken or a pig was the currency of trade. In May 2016, I advised about a dozen of my friends to invest in BTC, alas only 2 did. Both are overjoyed now. The other 10…are cursing me for not being more forceful.

Bitcoin paved the way for the birth of many other cryptocurrencies in the market and gain functionality. Ripple, Ethereum and Cardano, are some of the more popular alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoin). There are almost 8,000 altcoins now. And where does it go from here? Well, we have to wait and see. I’m betting that the top 40 altcoins as of today, will be around for a while. Recently, a Citibank analyst opined that Bitcoin may surpass $300,000 by the end of 2021. John McAfee thinks $1,000,000 per BTC is possible. As for me, if BTC’s price hits $30,000 by 2024, I would have a greater story to tell in my classes: I was there when it was $450 in May 2016………

Finally, the answer to the title of this article: 1 BTC is about $19,000 now. So the value of the 12,000+ BTC you bought 10 years ago is currently, equal to about $230,000,000 or just a tad under RM 1 bil. Not a bad investment at all !

In the meantime, for a long-term prospect, I think it would be fair to call a “BUY” on BTC.