Crypto has been around for over a decade and has shaken up the investing space with what it has to offer. We have seen this asset class create overnight millionaires but cost people millions of dollars in losses at the same time. Bitcoin, being the most well-known and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, has paved the way for the future of finance. With increasing global adoption and regulation, it is only a matter of time before we see a world where crypto and traditional financial markets live in synergy. 

With any investment class, it is crucial to understand the investment and do as much research as possible to make informed decisions, increasing your ability to identify facts from fiction. With the noise surrounding the crypto and traditional space, being informed is extremely important. Let's debunk some of the biggest myths and misleading facts about cryptocurrencies. 

It's too costly and difficult to invest in

False, the world has changed and continues to evolve rapidly. These days all you need to invest in cryptocurrencies is access to the internet. Altify offers investors a seamless, secure way to gain crypto exposure. From beginners to more experienced investors, Altify simplifies the hassle of trying to select the best performing cryptocurrency through our Bundle offerings with a minimum investment of only R150.

I am too late to invest in crypto

Technically, crypto assets are the fastest-growing technology in human history. It’s growing faster than the internet. The cryptocurrency user-base is increasing at over +100% a year — well ahead of the adoption rate that the internet saw back in the 1990s and early 2000s, which was around +67% per year, as you can see below.

We are living through an exciting period in human history with the rapid evolution of money, banking, and financial services. In 2021 there were over 300Mn people using crypto worldwide. By 2024, cryptocurrency is projected to hit 1Bn users — even with a growth rate of only 80% of the current rate. That means one in every eight people will be interacting or using crypto in some way or another. 

“When comparing the adoption of crypto to that of the internet, we clearly see that crypto is still in the early stages of adoption and growth” - Anthony Da Ressurreicao, Investment Analyst at Altify.

Investing in crypto is too risky

Cryptocurrencies are known to trade in a volatile market for numerous reasons, the most common being that the market is flooded with traders wanting to make a quick profit. All investments carry some degree of risk. As an investor, it is essential to not only have an in-depth understanding of your risk tolerance but also to be aware of your behaviours that might unconsciously influence your decision-making. A simple tool to reduce your risk exposure is ensuring that you have a diversified portfolio of different asset classes and investments.

Cryptocurrencies are only used for illicit and dubious activities

The blockchain keeps a public record of each transaction, and although it offers a certain amount of anonymity, users and their details can be identified, which means that this anonymity is in no way absolute. Some cryptocurrencies are designed for anonymous transactions, but they make up less than 0.77% of the overall crypto market value. Placing this into perspective, the estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year is 2 - 5% of global GDP, or $800 billion - $2 trillion in current US dollars. The majority of crypto assets are used to solve problems that are currently prevalent in the financial industry, e.g. financially inclusion of the unbanked, and to facilitate the transfer of funds internationally, and not for nefarious purposes.

Want to get involved?

By using Altify, you can easily and seamlessly invest in Bitcoin or take the guesswork out of investing with our ready-made crypto Bundles. These Bundles enable you to effortlessly gain exposure to the world’s largest and, by default, most successful cryptocurrencies without having to build and manage a crypto portfolio yourself. Altify currently offers five Bundles: the Top 10 Bundle, Payment Bundle, Smart Contract Bundle, Inflation Shield and DeFi Bundle.

The Top 10 Bundle is like the JSE Top 40 or S&P 500 for crypto and provides equally weighted exposure to the top 10 cryptocurrencies making up more than 85% of the crypto market.

The Payment Bundle provides equally weighted exposure to the top 5 payment-focused cryptocurrencies looking to make payments cheaper, faster and more global.

The Smart Contract Bundle provides equally weighted exposure to the top 5 smart contract-focused cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana and Polkadot that enable developers to build applications on top of their blockchains, similar to how Apple builds apps on top of its OS operating system.

The Inflation Shield is an algorithmically optimised investment basket, giving you the protection of gold with the performance of Bitcoin through a single investment. The ratio of gold to Bitcoin within the bundle is based on historic risk vs return data aimed at maximising returns while taking on the least amount of downside risk possible. 

The DeFi Bundle provides market capitalisation weighted exposure to the top 10 most prominent DeFi-enabled cryptocurrencies. These innovative blockchain-based applications have created a financial ecosystem for everyone - capable of bypassing banks, brokers, exchanges and the other intermediaries who traditionally manage and process financial services.