Table of Contents
Introduction 11
1 Welcome to the Cryptocurrency Craze 13
What Are Cryptocurrencies? 14
An Origin Story 17
The Blockchain 19
Where Do Cryptocurrencies Fit? 21
How Do People Spend Them? 24
The Mining Process 25
Is It Like Gold? A Stock? 28
I'm Investing in What Exactly? 30
The "Store of Value" Complaint 31
The Prototype of a Successful Investor 32
2 Reality Check 33
Why You Shouldn't Invest in Cryptocurrencies 34
No, Seriously, Don't 37
Why Aren't You Listening? 39
Okay, You're Ready to Gamble 41
Can You Afford to Invest? 43
Defining Realistic Goals 44
The "Should You Invest in Cryptocurrency?" Test 46
3 Taking Those First Steps 47
The Xs and Os 48
Finding the Right Exchange 51
Selecting the Right Crypto Wallet 54
Wallets Abound 55
The Difference Between investing and Spending 57
Initial Coin Offerings 58
Does an ICO Make Investing Sense? 60
Other Ways New Coins Come onto the Market 61
A Hard and Soft Fork 62
Other Terms to Know 63
4 The Blueprint for Success 65
How Do You Pick a Winner? 66
The information Hub 72
Evaluating Individual Currencies 73
A Three-Point Mark to Judge Crypto Credibility 77
When to Hold 77
When to Sell 80
The Dangers of Evaluating Cryptos Like Stocks 83
There's Much More Volatility 84
How I Do It 85
5 The Mark of a Losing Bet 87
How to Avoid Losers 88
You Don't Ignore the Hype 93
The Day-Trading Mistake 96
There's Nothing to See Here 99
Selling the News 100
Yes, These Were Once Real Cryptocurrencies 102
How I Lost It 103
6 Knowing the Players 105
The Importance of Management 106
Have They Proven Their Technical Acumen? 109
Who Is Vitalik Buterin? 110
Who Is Charlie Lee? 112
Who Is Chris Larsen? 114
Who Is Brian Armstrong? 116
Who Is Nick Szabo? 117
Who Are the Winklevoss Twins? 118
Don't Overweight Management 120
7 The Basics of Bitcoin 123
Bitcoin's Origin 124
What Makes Bitcoin Unique? 126
The Bitcoin Fundamentals 129
The Problems Lurking in Bitcoin 132
The Bitcoin Forks 135
Investing in Bitcoin Cash 138
Investing in Other Bitcoin Forks 138
8 The Basics of Ethereum 141
Ethereum's Origin 142
What Makes Ether Unique? 144
The Ethereum Fundamentals 147
The Problems Lurking in Ethereum 149
The Ethereum Forks 151
Ethereum Hacked 152
9 The Basics of Ripple Xrp 153
Ripple XRP's Origin 154
What Makes Ripple, the Company, Unique? 154
What Makes Xrp Unique? 157
The Xrp Fundamentals 159
Following XRP's Roller-Coaster Ride 162
Will Ripple Fork? 163
10 The Other Altcoins 165
Defining Altcoins 166
The Wild Ride of Altcoins 168
The History and Fundamentals of Stellar 169
The History and Fundamentals of Litecoin 172
The History and Fundamentals of Cardano 175
The History and Fundamentals of Neo 178
The History and Fundamentals of NEM 179
11 Sleuthing Out Scams 183
The Dark Side of the Crypto Market 184
What Does a Scam Look Like? 187
The Dark Money Flowing Through Cryptocurrencies 191
Real-Life Crypto Scams 191
The Five-Step Security Checklist 193
Protection from Hackers 193
Who Can You Turn to if You're Fleeced? 195
Why It's Getting Better 195
12 Okay, You Have a Lot of Money to Play With … 197
The Budding Crypto Markets 198
Accessing Cryptos Without the Security Concerns 199
The Bitcoin Investment Trust 200
The Coinbase Index Fund 203
Calculating the Fee Impact 205
Alternative Ways to Play 207
13 Okay, So You're Like Most Investors … 211
Crypto-Picking Remains Best (Among Few Options) 212
You Can Go the ETF Route 215
Finding Complementary Investments 217
The Build-Your-Own Index Guide 218
Remember Fees 221
What to Do If Your Cryptocurrency Folds 221
14 Remember Your Purpose 223
Remember Why You're Investing in Cryptocurrencies 224
Don't Forget to Diversify 225
Reinvesting Gains 227
Give It the Portfolio Treatment 229
Regularly Test Your Investing Assumptions 230
15 The Tax Man Cometh 233
The Tax Conundrum 234
The IRS Cracks Down 235
Short-Term Investors 236
Long-Term Investors 238
Tools to Track Taxes 240
Don't Get Caught in the Wrong Tax Strategy 241
You Might Want to Consider a Tax Advisor 243
16 The Laws Are A-Changin' 245
The World's Outlook 246
China's View 248
Russia's View 249
South Korea's View 250
Japan's View 251
The US's Evolving View 253
Regulation's Doubled-Edged Result 254
17 Cryptocurrencies 2.0: What's Next? 255
The Evolution to Come 256
How Technologies Must Improve 258
Legal Clarity Will Help 261
Options for All 262
The Hope of Indexing 263
The Long-Term Hope 265
Appendix A Crypto Publications to Know 267
Appendix B Links 271
Appendix C Glossary of Terms 275
Index 281
