Ric Edelman was ranked three times as the number one financial advisor in the United States by Barron’s. He is the founder of Edelman Financial, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author of ten books on personal finance.
Below, Ric shares 5 key insights from his new book, The Truth About Crypto: A Practical, Easy-to-Understand Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain, NFTs, and Other Digital Assets . Listen to the audio version—read by Ric himself—in the Next Big Idea App. 1. Blockchain is the biggest innovation for global commerce since the internet.
If we look back at transformative discoveries or inventions throughout human history, we realize that only a few innovations really mattered. Fire, the wheel, the internet, and now, the blockchain. Yes, blockchain is on the same level of significance as fire and the wheel—it’s that big of a deal.
Blockchain technology revolutionizes how business is conducted on a global scale. In our current way of doing business (as we’ve done for centuries) we rely on trust. When you buy a house, you trust that the seller owns that deed, and will convey it to you. But, you don’t actually trust them, so you pay for a title search and buy title insurance. You spend thousands of dollars and months of effort to buy a house—which is time and money that doesn’t add to the value of the house.
Blockchain eliminates this because transactions are cryptographically proven. Trust isn’t needed. With blockchain technology, every industry in the world can conduct business faster, safer, cheaper, and with greater transparency than ever before. This is revolutionary. JP Morgan says that banks will save $120 billion a year thanks to blockchain. Norway is using blockchain to track shipments of salmon: when you buy fish at the grocer, you can see when the fish was caught and track its journey to the store. You’ll know you’re really buying Norwegian salmon, and not a cheaper imitation. If there’s a salmonella outbreak, government health officials can track it down to the individual fish—saving lives and avoiding recalls. The luxury watches industry and the wine industry are using blockchain to track their products and thwart counterfeiters. The music industry is using blockchain to monitor song royalties and distribute concert tickets. The list goes on and on.
Blockchain is going to change everything. 2. Digital assets are the first new asset class in 150 years.
Blockchain was created to allow for the invention of Bitcoin, the world’s first form of digital money that isn’t created by a government. Bitcoin is inflation-proof, and you can use it to send money to anyone anywhere in the world, almost instantaneously and free. New asset classes don’t come around very often, and when they do, they change everything. “Digital assets represent the biggest investment opportunity you’ll ever see in your lifetime.” The last new asset class was 150 years ago, with the discovery of oil in the 1850s. Before oil, we were using whale oil to light our candles. Look at the incredible impact oil has had on our planet—both the economic growth, and the environmental impact. Digital assets will produce an impact on our world as huge as oil. This is why there’s so much excitement about Bitcoin and other digital assets. More than 300 million people worldwide own Bitcoin, and in the past year institutional investors have gotten involved: pension funds, endowments, hedge funds, insurance companies, and billionaire investors. Governments are racing to create their own official digital currencies—including the United States. President Biden issued an executive order bringing the full force of the federal government to develop and foster innovation in digital assets, including a central bank digital currency. The Federal Reserve has its first ever Chief Innovation Officer to deal with this new tech. The market for digital assets is now $3 trillion, with Bitcoin’s annual transaction volume three times more than American Express. Coinbase is the #1 free downloaded app, and Coinbase now has more accounts than Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, and e-trade combined. You can buy Bitcoin with PayPal. Walmart is installing Bitcoin ATMs in its stores. Bitcoin is so common that the very first question on your tax return, IRS Form 1040, is “do you own crypto?”
Digital assets represent the biggest investment opportunity you’ll ever see in your lifetime. Bitcoin is the best-performing asset class in history, and it’s still very early in its development. 24 percent of all Americans own it, out of the 300 million Bitcoin owners globally. There’s 7 billion on the planet, […]
Protected by Patchstack