Charlie Shrem: about Bitcoin, hodlers and the future of cryptocurrency

Charlie Shrem, an early Bitcoin investor and founder of BitInstant and Crypto.IQ, was interviewed at the MoneyShow conference in San Francisco, sharing practical advice and his thoughts on the current cryptocurrency market and its future trajectory.

Shrem spoke about his history with the most popular cryptocurrency, about successes and large trades, as well as about failures and two years in prison for engaging in unlicensed money transfer transactions associated with the Silk Road market. After his release, Shrem teamed up with Randal Oser and created the website Crypto.IQ, which offers subscriptions with access to portfolios, cryptocurrency analysis, reports and educational articles.

To new investors, Shrem said that Bitcoin has not had all its days in the past: “A lot of people in the community are not traders, because traders know that there are both bullish and bearish sentiments in the market, and the average person thinks that there should only be bullish ones. But it is during such bear markets that everything dies, and then everything is born and restored.” 

Since there are more than 1,800 types of cryptocurrencies, many of them inevitably die over time. Shrem noted that the cryptocurrency space has become much more competitive due to the large number of different projects. Bear market cycles are necessary to shake out projects that have no real value from the crypto space.

Shrem advised those just starting to invest to invest in legitimate and popular projects and invest an amount that they would not mind losing. “Invest in different cryptocurrencies, have fun and learn.” In addition, he advised storing cryptocurrency for at least five years to allow investments to mature. 

About the sharp collapse of the market, Shrem said this: “Bitcoin had a crazy jump, from a thousand to twenty thousand, let the market digest it, and everything will stabilize.” Shrem and other early investors understand that the current bear market is simply a correction after a significant increase in price.

On ETFs and the SEC situation, Shrem says that “We are not ready for ETFs. This market is too liquid, it is too manipulated." As an example, he cited the situation with the BitMEX exchange and price inflation. “We are only taking the first steps, imagine that the Commission approves ETFs, then something happens, we screw up and they are banned again.. Do you know how hard it will be to get approval again?»

However, Shrem is confident that ETFs will still be approved sooner or later and is ready to bet money on it.

According to bitcoinist.com