This doesn't make sense to me. On one hand, you acknowledge that investing in crypto is like taking a spin on the roulette wheel. But you also state that you have significant holdings in crypto. Doesn't that mean you are taking a spin of the roulette wheel?
Yes! Like any investments, its a gamble. Some more risky than others. The crypto space is full of high risks, but with that, come high rewards. I do invest in crypto currencies, and used to invest in ICOs (IPO in stock terms) where I made large gains. However, I did also lose. Its a gamble. But its a gamble with money that I don't really care about anyway. I'm not going to lose my house or watch my children starve if I lose, or if the market turns bear. It's gambling money.
I would think that the only way to use crypto without the risk would be to cash it out as soon as you get it; otherwise, you are taking a significant risk that its value will take a significant dip between the time that you receive it and the time that you spend it.
True yes! If you are using crypto as a form of income only, and you have no wish to ever hold it or spend it. Nothing stopping anyone from getting paid in crypto for a service rendered, turning right around and selling it for cash deposited directly into your bank account. However, there is nothing like receiving a crypto for services rendered just before the market has a huge uptick and you essentially doubled your USD amount of crypto. Like all things, it ebbs and flows. Sometimes you hit black on the roulette wheel, sometimes you hit red.
Here is a "service" that I provide to my community in which I get crypto as a form of payment: eggs. I have a small flock of chickens that we sell eggs to neighbors, friends, friends of friends, etc. Once word got out that you can buy my eggs using crypto, the flood gates opened! $6/dozen or $5/dozen if paying with crypto. I'd get a call or text from someone asking if they can use Bitcoin on the lightning network or (insert crypto type here) and they will be by in a few minutes, hours, tomorrow, whatever to pick them up. I'd send them my payment address, or let them scan the QR code on my phone, and I'd receive the payment almost instantly and have their eggs ready.
Chickens will still lay eggs, and they lay more eggs than my family and I will ever eat. Their feed is pretty much free, their coop was made from scrap, having chickens really has not been a financial burden to us at all. So any money we make from the eggs, either in USD or crypto, is pure profit. After a month or so of collecting crypto for these eggs, I notice that I have some money on my phone! I'd transfer it to my offline wallet and forget all about it. Well, until I need to buy something, like a new snow blower. I'd take a look at my offline wallet holdings, gasp at how much I've made, sell a portion, and go buy said snow blower. In fact, I just bought some home brewing equipment using this very method, this last Friday at an auction. Didn't cost me a nickel.
Another way to collect crypto is selling our old baby stuff. My wife is proficient in selling old clothes, toys, and other baby stuffs that my youngest has out grown. She advertises that we accept crypto as a form of payment, along with paypal or vemo. Basically whatever is more convenient for the buyer, because to us, we got our use out of the product and want to pass it along to someone who needs/wants it. If they can pay us the $5 to whatever to get it, with whatever payment they feel comfortable to use, then we will accept it (within reason). We have found that many people, mostly young parents, prefer to use Venmo or crypto. For some reason, people don't use cash much anymore. But it all spends the same to us.
To go back to the question, we have significant holdings in crypto. And yes, it does take dips, and we try to hold on to our crypto during these dips. But sometimes, it goes up too. I've been on this roller-coaster before, and its fine. I got scared the first time I ever held any crypto and it dipped, but I didn't panic, instead I saw it as an opportunity to buy more for less. And it went up. And up. And up... then down some, then up some, then way down and stayed down... then back up...
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Addition: While proof reading this post, I got a popup from my browser that reminded me to talk about this. I use a browser called Brave. It uses the Chromium backbone (works just like google chrome) but has a few built in security features. I have also set my default search engine to one called Presearch. Here is why I mention all this. I got this popup ad, on my other screen, not intrusive and goes away after a few seconds. I get these off and on, and for each one, I get a small amount of a cryptocurrency called BAT (Basic Attention Token). Essentially, Brave is paying ME to see ads! Its not much in USD amounts, but it does add up. And why NOT get paid to see ads? Does your TV, browser, phone pay YOU to see ads? I also mentioned my search engine, called Presearch. I use it just like google, but for each and every search I preform, I get paid in their token, PRE. Again, I'm doing these searches anyway, why not get something in return? Advertisers pay big money to advertise to you. You are the product. Why not get something in return? Again, you don't get paid much, but over the course of the year, I have made just under $10 in PRE. Thats $10 that I did absolutely nothing for.