Boom and bust with Pierre. Prepare yourself.

This is a true story about Pierre, who went through boom and bust off the crypto market in 2017/2018. He shares his view on investing in crypto assets in 2021 and why he has chosen a mostly conservative investment strategy, which involves predictable returns on investments.

We’re in February 2021. Pierre, a 35 year old young man from France, is sitting by the River Thames when I call him to chat about investing in crypto assets. Pierre tells me, that his dreams, beliefs and emotions to a too large degree have been driving his investment decisions (and outcome) in the past. Here is Pierres story about how he ended up in financial hardship, which dominated his life and ruined his happiness back in 2018.

I want to be an investment banker!

Focused on setting himself up for a career in finance, Pierre moved from Paris to London in 2015. His first job in London was an entry level position at BlackRock, a job that required excellent grades and an impressive CV. For around two years he worked non-stop. He dedicated every minute of his days to work, eliminated his social life, including his relationship with a long time girlfriend. In return he got a great compensation, he climbed up the corporate ladder in the firm and the silver grey George Clooney hair arrived earlier than expected. Pierre’s living standard and costs went up as his salary increased.

Stress led to inner work

In the beginning of 2017, Pierre started feeling physically unwell. Eventually he had symptoms that could no longer be ignored. Sleepless nights and irregular heartbeat forced him to consult his doctor, who prescribed rest and a break from work.

The situation was difficult to accept. In the mirror Pierre saw a young successful businessman, but on the inside he felt differently. Friends and family encouraged Pierre to seek help coping with stress, which apparently caused his symptoms. A journey within started for the young professional and over time Pierre came to realize what actually matters to him in life. Freedom. Helping other people. Spending time with friends and family. Completely different from what he thought it was back in 2015. He found out, that money and status is not what drives him. What he wanted was enough resources, that allows him time to volunteer, donate to NGOs and being a loving human being among his peers.

Down the rabbit hole

Pierre started looking for ways to lead a life in abundance so he could live his dreams as opposed to being tied up by a 9–5 job until retirement. With a solid understanding of traditional finance and its inherent inefficiencies, it didn’t take long for Pierre to understand that blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the financial industry he knew so well and beyond. He went down the rabbit hole and as the passionate person he it, he started spending day and night learning about blockchain. Pierre told me “what got me was the the idea and potential of permissionless and censorship resistant communication and interactions in any aspect of life”.

Pierre is a libertarian and in blockchain technology he found solutions to the mayor problems he sees in society. His new discovery gave him hope for a better world, that is inclusive and fair, a world where anyone can participate. Open blockchains and protocols do not discriminate.

Passion and dreams made Pierre a bad investor

Looking back Pierre admitted that he over time tuned slightly obsessed. His deep passion and dream about fast adoption along with rapidly rising prices of crypto assets throughout 2017 made him refresh CoinGecko every 5th minute.

His dedication to the crypto space made him blind to the fact that the entire crypto industry was still in its infancy. The problem was, that everyone he interacted with was invested in crypto; it gave him a distorted view of how far the industry had come.

The more time he spent in crypto, the more convinced he was that the emergence of crypto currencies led to a paradigm shift, that had already materialised. He was convinced that in a matter of years any centralized company with a network effect would be replaced by a decentralized alternative. He remembered the well known statement by David Johnston who in 2014 said: “Anything that can be decentralized, will be decentralized” (Johnston’s law). Pierres knew this was true, but his timeline turned out to be too optimistic.

Not until the balance of his crypto holding started plummeting in 2018, he could see that promises were leading against actual product development by 100 to 1. On top of that there was a lack of user friendly interfaces, which hindered mass adoption. Pierre said:

“To any new crypto investor out there: Secure some gains and hold it in stablecoins or Bitcoin. Well… yeah there’re huge opportunities in altcoins, but just be good to yourself and the people around you”.

Pierre’s emotional distress sticked around. In Pierres case he lost self-confidence and his over all well being took a hit. He almost had to leave London, which became too expensive for him. And the worst part was, that his dream of getting and taking care of a little family had to be cancelled or pushed into an unknown future. Pierre said with a laughing voice: “Damn, if only I had set my stop loss”.

Bitcoin and DeFi changes you

Fast forward to today, February 2021, where Pierre is still in the game: “Bitcoin changes you. DeFi changes you. I’ve learned a lot and I’m not going back to deal with intermediaries in traditional finance”. Looking back Pierre is thankful for the mistakes he has made in the past. It made him not only a better investor but also a better human being.

Over the last few years a lot of has happened in crypto when it comes to product development. The most significant use case of blockchain technology is DeFi applications, which opens up finance to everyone on earth with an internet connection. DeFi activities can be hard to master for the average user, but companies have been born, which provides user with a simple user interface. The “magic” happens on the backend where various protocols that generate high returns are being utilized. These products are great for individuals like Pierre, who’s goal is to have economic freedom that makes it possible for him to spend time with other humans and doing good in the world.

Finally, Pierre revealed his strategy for 2021, which he believes balances risk much better. He’s an active community member of YIELD App, an investment platform for crypto assets that plays an important role in his new strategy.

Pierre would always hold some Bitcoin in cold storage. But to generate passive income that allows him to live his best life, he has decided to hold stablecoins and soon a portion of his BTC and ETH stack on YIELD App, which pays out market leading APY.

He also holds the token YLD. It’s the platform’s utility token, that boosts the interest he earns to the maximum. Pierre does expect the token price to go up, but he focuses on the long haul: “YLD is the key to earning yield that matters. YIELD App gives me passive income, but I need 20k YLD for it to make a difference in my life”.

Pierre says he can’t stop researching new tokens to see what new cool things are being invented. Some people like the rush and don’t mind losing it all, but for Pierre, knows the market cycles, a steady passive income (yield) that doesn’t care if we are in a bull or bear market, brings him peace of mind.

I originally met Pierre in the YIELD App community where he reached out to me to share his story about why he has chosen to go with a safe strategy and only chase 1000x returns on a smaller percentage of his portfolio.

Bitcoin and DeFi is not just investment opportunities, but comes with a whole new way of thinking and understanding the world we live it. It’s empowering, gives hope and provides solutions.