Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Getting Involved in Cryptocurrency

Hello all!

This is my first post on Steemit and I am thankful for becoming apart of such a well respected community! With that being said, I would like to start by introducing myself. I am in my early 20s as a broke, recent college graduate with all the intentions on making money off the NEW millennial "stock market", known as the crypto world. Although I am not an accredited investor by any means, there are quite a few aspects of investing that I personally have learned through school and extensive research. Here are my takes on how to decide where you should put your money:

Step 1: What is the end goal? Understanding the objective

Since I began investing into cryptocurrencies, I have noticed many people fall into scams. Now, this could be because the individual may not have done their homework on what they are investing into, but it could also just be the fact that the idea behind it just did not pan out as people had hoped (or if you for some reason handed out your wallet address...) It is important to have a grasp on what the company is actually doing, and frequent updates are very important in this step.

The example that I would love to provide here is for a token I absolutely love, known as Bloom (BLT). Bloom's mission is to create a decentralized credit scoring system (please visit their website for more info: https://hellobloom.io/). Does this sound like a great idea? You bet! Creating a platform that allows people all over the world to maintain their credit score worldwide, but also minimizing the risks relative to how credit is obtained and viewed. For that reason I love this project and it certainly is a long-term investment unlike most if not all of the ICO pump-n-dumps.

This brings me to my next point...

Step 2: Is the project sustainable?

It is important to ask yourself whether or not the token/coin you are investing into is worth your while. Individuals who have their heart set on day trading cryptos will certainly make their profits over time, but people need to truly conceptualize that this market is going to continue to grow in some fashion. In other words... ride the wave, dollar-cost average to help boost your returns and minimize the downside risk of a volatile marketplace.

Step 3: Are the developers/team members credible?

I don't know about you guys, but if I was shopping for a car, for example, I wouldn't choose the first car I found based on the dollar amount I set aside for the purchase. I would spend a few days, maybe weeks, gathering intel on other companies, cars, functionalities, etc. before I make my final decision. It is very important to know who you are giving your money to, especially with how new all of this is.

Step 4: Is there room for growth?

Growth is an essential part of investing. The value of some of these projects are already there due to many external factors, but growth coincides heavily with sustainability. It's important to have both growth and sustainability for whatever it is you are putting your money to, not just cryptos and the finance world.

There is a lot more speculation behind all of this than people realize. And, most of the time, the jargon from news feeds are only going to instigate people to get involved through emotion over anything else.

Moral of the story: DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Please feel free to give me some feedback and everyone is welcome to add other areas of focus when deciding where to invest. The main reason I love this community is for its respectable followers, and with that, one of the ways we can all become successful is by bouncing ideas off one another to learn.

Thank you!

@davitt