What you will learn in this course and why it matters
Welcome to my course. I am the author of the best selling book “Bitcoin, Blockchain and Co.”
and I stumbled across Bitcoin late—not until 2016. Regardless of when Bitcoin came to your attention, I am sure you have a few questions and you heard that you could make tons of money with crypto and the so-called ICOs.
Understanding Bitcoin and blockchain runs counter to everything we know
Many people who get involved with crypto see it as an opportunity to gamble. They want to take a chance at the possible windfall that comes with investing early in new technologies. With Bitcoin, the rate rocketed from a few hundred to over $ 19,000 within one year, and investors experienced wild fluctuations, up and down, again and again.
The cryptocurrency Ethereum, whose rate shot from under $ 10 to over $ 1.000, experienced even wilder fluctuations. Al lot of investors gambled with so-called “Alt-Coins” and via ICOs.
However, there are some risks there too. Therefore I am here to help you to get a basic understanding of the risks and where to look. The risk-reward scheme is what you need to understand. This is what I will explain in this excellent Highbrow course. Now, let’s get to work.
ICOs are the next next thing, aren’t they?
An ICO is an initial investment in the construction of a new crypto system or a new cryptocurrency.
There is currently a great feeling of euphoria around cryptocurrencies; yet at the same time, it is still very much a Wild West with few lawmen and lots of desperados.
It all started with the techies and their cool ideas—ideas for a magic software that could improve the world but needed to be financed. These specialists got support from like-minded people and collected this money to develop their software.
It all startet with MasterCoin back in 2013
The first round of financing that could really be called ICO was Project “MasterCoin” in 2013. The initiators came from the crypto environment but had the idea of creating a new coin based on Bitcoin and creating some additional functionality that Bitcoin did not have.
The idea that they could support this project by contributing Bitcoins to the MasterCoin group—and receiving MasterCoins in return—was very attractive. MasterCoin thus began to issue coins. If someone sent Bitcoins, he would receive MasterCoins at a defined exchange rate. Thus, the first Initial Coin Offering (ICO) took place.
At the time that the creator of this ICO, an engineer named J. R. Willett had the idea for MasterCoin, he published a white paper, in which he explained how he imagined this new coin. It was published in January of 2012 and white papers are still the basis for an ICO today. While form has changed, along with the purpose and content, these early white papers are still the basis for crypto projects and the starting point of every ICO.
In the beginning there was (and still is) a White Paper
Satoshi Nakamoto probably wrote the first white paper for the crypto world, and his is probably the best-known. At any rate, it is the birth certificate of a whole industry.
According to Wikipedia, a white paper is an instrument of public work that gives an overview of services, standards and technology, primarily in ICT-related themes.
Satoshi’s white paper was a short, precise, purely technical paper. Current white papers are not necessarily more comprehensive, but they hold more information about the team, the business plan and all sorts of warnings.
A lot of warnings.
The stock exchange audit authorities read these modern white papers with great interest as they often read like a financial prospectus. However a financial prospectus thus need approval, which is often a complicated, drawn-out and expensive process.
Today it is very probable that ICOs are security offerings and it may very well be that the regulators will move to undo them or even put people in jail. This is a signifiant risk to your investment, therefore check out the White Paper first. If you don’t understand the technical explanations that’s a good sign. It may not be a securities prospectus.
But this is only the first step to go. More to follow in the next episodes to make sure your money is safely put to work.
Cheers
Joe
Only information, not investment advice This course is not just about the opportunists and rip-off artists that lurk at every turn; it is also about the enormous opportunities that proper ICOs offers to investors. However, it must be stated categorically at this point that this course is only intended to explain and inform. The statements in this course are in no way intended as instructions or advice for investment, nor can they be construed as such. Any investment in an ICO and every purchase and sale of cryptocurrency is undertaken at your own very high risk, and should not be based on any of the statements presented in this course under any circumstances. Do your own due diligence in every instance before you participate in any transaction
