As we have conclusively demonstrated through
Pegafractal Cryptograph Currency Conjecture there is another bubble coming.
It's peak? I can't accurately predict, but I can say this: If we had been asked to predict the peak of the 2013 bubble while bitcoin languished in $2 purgatory years ago, what figure might we have guessed? Likely, our pathetic guesstimate would have fallen way short of the truth. I am confident that most of us asked to predict the peak of the 2017/2018 bubble would also fail spectacularly.
So we can't predict the exact peak of our next bubble, but we know it will shock. That means the time to take care of a few delicate issues is
now, not when bitcoin begins to explode upward to prices we can't fathom.
Physical Security:
This one applies mainly to exchanges. A "cold storage" vault isn't going to help you if some truly bad guys roll up with hardware and start doing nefarious things to get access. Do not doubt that such people exist for the right amount of money.
Places like Circle and Coinbase HQ need to be a bank-level fortress, and
this needs to be a well advertised fact.
For users: if you don't own the private keys, you don't own the bitcoin. I enjoy the convenience that bitcoin 'banks' like Coinbase offer, but I will be splitting my coins into three soon: some held entirely by Coinbase, some in multi-sig, and some entirely in cold storage.
Shut Up: OK, by now you told everyone and their cousin about this great new bitcoin thing.
Now stop talking about bitcoin club, if you value your safety or personal relationships at all.
I was born into the lowest American poverty and have clawed my way up to upper-middle class. I don't have much money, but I live comfortably. I don't do the same trailer park type shit I did as a kid.
However, if you ask many of my family and friends back at home, "I've lost my way" and "I've forgotten where I'm from". I am seen as 'wealthy' by them because I can afford luxuries that are totally outside their realm of existence.
And they hate it. They hate the success (even though this isn't really success) because it makes them feel useless and weak. As Kat Williams said, they don't hate you; they hate good shit. Good shit didn't happen to them, and now they're mad.
Imagine how much more drastic this effect will be when your bitcoins are suddenly worth 500x what they are now, and it's ALL OVER THE NEWS (and it will be).
Learn how to say "No" now: Get that fantasy world out of your head where everyone likes you because you were a bitcoin visionary.
People are gonna hate you.
You are gonna learn exactly what Steve Martin feels like in The Jerk when every Facebook friend of yours suddenly feels entitled to 'just a little bit'.... After all, "you have so much now. Don't be stingy!"
If you really believe bitcoin is moon-bound, don't just shut up about it- learn to stand up for yourself.
Learn how to say "No,"
now and mean it. Someone wants you to drive an hour out of the way to save them 15 minutes? "
No." Some girl wants you to buy her a drink? "
No." Some guy at the mall wants to talk to you about... "
No."
Practice telling people 'no' so that when they come knocking for money, you have no problems telling them to get lost. You gave them the secret already and they didn't think it was worth the risk; you did. You can't be responsible for other people's lives, or you will find your own reduced to an empty shell.
Review the history that will repeat itself: Bitcoin Talk is full of valuable threads from the rise of the last bubble. Trolls were screaming in disbelief, and genuine users were stunned, not sure if they should sell any coins on the way up.
Engage in Perfect Decision Theory now (hello little basilisk) and decide what you will do now so that you don't panic and do something regretful in a moment of emotional panic.
Find a Purpose: You're gonna be rich one day. Great. So that's off your list.
What next?
Figure out something else. Stop sitting around watching price charts all day. It'll happen. Either build the bitcoin universe with the rest of us, or go do something else significant.
You will find very quickly that money by itself isn't satisfying. Anyone who has inherited a windfall knows this: for a brief period your happiness levels are on overload, and life is incredible... But then your brain slowly adjusts to your new life.
And if you suck at getting a girlfriend/boyfriend then money isn't going to change that; you're just going to have a new class of gold-diggers available to you. If you are depressed, money isn't going to change that. You're just going to have a new class of pills available to you. If you...
See where this is going? And I'm not gonna be cliche and say that money can't buy happiness. That's only partially true.
Money can buy
opportunities for happiness, but you have to be already emotionally wealthy or these won't be satisfying.
You need to have a passion and project, because the emotional rewards from admiring something you've helped create never go away.
Just some things to think about during our long winter before the next bubble.
Feel free to add your own, especially if you've lived through one of these violent bitcoin movements as a HODL'er.
