Do you know what blockchain is and how it relates to cryptocurrency? Have you already purchased NFTs to replace your baseball card collection? Either way, we recommend tuning in to episode 6 of MoneyBetter as we take a deep dive into all things cryptocurrency, from the financial side to the technical side to what it means for you. John Nellessen, a cryptocurrency hobbyist from our IT department, joins host Caitlin Moore to share how all of us can do cryptocurrency better. We get down to the basics and remind you: Paying millions of dollars for a GIF ain't it, fam.

Show Notes:

1:52: Blockchain is sort of like a distributed way of keeping records . . . is the best way for me to explain it. It’s virtually unhackable and supposed to be really safe. So the basic concept is nobody has all of the chain. And a lot of different people have pieces of it, and you put those pieces together in order to keep track of data. There are people who have computers . . . called mining rigs now, that do calculations . . . when that calculation is finished, they get a piece . . . of digital currency. You can mine any type of digital currency you want.

4:30: Within the last couple of years, I started looking at Bitcoin, kicking myself, because I could have gotten in when Bitcoin was a dollar, let’s say.

7:12: Bitcoin is actually just a digital currency now, so it’s trying to be like any other currency which is a store of value . . . and there are other coins that have other values.

10:12: I waited until I didn’t need a wallet to invest because my concerns about having a wallet. When Coinbase came online, which is a marketplace you can buy and sell various types of cryptocurrency. I waited until that was available for anybody to come in . . . I basically did it exactly the opposite way you’re supposed to do it, which is probably a good thing for people who are listening to this podcast or watching. I made a ton of mistakes. I didn’t research a whole lot . . . all I did was I went to Coinbase, I set up an account, I had in the hundreds of dollars some money . . . I didn’t need for something else . . . that’s probably the only thing I did right, I spent money I didn’t need for anything else.

12:50: Let that be a warning to everybody who’s thinking of investing . . . all of this is very volatile and you have to be willing to either ride it out or hope that you get in at the right time.

13:40: You have to have a tremendous amount of risk tolerance if you’re going to invest in cryptocurrencies.

17:49: So if you want to use your coins as a currency, you do have to find somewhere that will accept those coins . . . or using a marketplace you could trade it for any other currency.

22:22: You can start with however much you want . . . some of the cryptocurrency are $1 or less apiece, so you don’t need a whole lot of money depending on what type of coin . . . but all you’ll get is a percentage of one coin.

25:05: The argument against cryptocurrency is that it’s not a currency, at this point . . .

28:03: There are some spots where it does have some value, and it’s beginning to pick up steam.