Once your grandparents start asking you what Bitcoin is, you know it’s become pretty popular. And while Bitcoin certainly has plenty of upsides, many people are wondering how they can invest in other cryptocurrencies to get ahead of the curve and possibly become rich. Or at the very least, people are curious as to how they can diversify their financial portfolios with a bit of crypto exposure beyond Bitcoin. And in either case, you have plenty of options to wade through.

Why Cryptocurrency?

We’ll assume you’re already fairly familiar with the basics of cryptocurrency, what it is, and how it works, so we won’t go into a ton of detail here. But in order to increase your chances of making a smart investment, it is helpful to remember why we invest in crypto.

• Decentralized. Cryptocurrencies exist independent of any world governments. This makes it a healthy hedge against inflation-prone currencies like the U.S. dollar.
• Private. While all transactions are recorded in an immutable ledger on the blockchain, cryptocurrency is incredibly private. The identity of the sender and receiver are obscured and replaced by long, unique codes. Only cash provides this same level of anonymity.
• Scarce. As you know, cryptocurrencies have a finite supply. And it’s this fixed supply that gives it similar characteristics to precious metals like gold and silver. Unlike the U.S. Dollar or British Pound, which can be printed off at will, digital currencies will see supply remain steady (while demand inevitably increases).
• Versatile. There’s so much you can do with crypto. You can buy and hold long-term, you can day trade, or you can even use it as your bank account to buy and spend.

Keeping these advantages in the back of your mind, you can perform a smart and intentional search, as well as more thorough due diligence.

How to Analyze and Vet the Options

Cryptocurrency prices are driven by multiple levers. Factors like media attention, the prospect of regulation, political developments, large scale economic volatility, differences in the underlying tech development of the token/coin and even idiosyncrasies within individual coins can cause prices to shoot up, drop down, and bounce around.

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