A few days ago I published a reflection post of my progress in 2018. I spoke about me spending time working on my YouTube channels, working on this blog, and more. I encourage you to check it out.
One area which I did not delve too deep in that article is my involvement in cryptocurrency. Those of you who follow me know that over the last 11 months I have been heavily involved in cryptocurrency.
I do not have the time to talk about every twist and turn I have experienced this year in cryptocurrency, however what I would like to do in this blog post is speak more about the direction I was going previously and what direction I am now heading.
Learning Every Day
My understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has improved considerably this year.
All you have to do is look at the videos on my cryptocurrency YouTube channel to see that I have learned a lot this year. I still feel I have a lot to learn and my hope is that I can pass on what I learn to others.
I already had a basic understanding of how everything worked before I bought cryptocurrency mining hardware and launched my cryptocurrency YouTube channel, though getting more involved in it all forced me to learn more.
- Building and maintaining mining rigs forced me to learn more about pools and algorithms and it encouraged me to always seek out new coins
- Running a cryptocurrency YouTube channel gave me a platform to engage with others in the industry and my quest for new content forced me to stay updated with the latest cryptocurrency news
If you look at my channel, which I christened Kev’s Crypto Channel, you can see that I cover a variety of topics. This includes tutorials, live streams, news, trading, hardware wallet reviews, product and service reviews, new coins, and more.
I think it is fair to say, however, that the main focus of my YouTube channel in 2018 has been cryptocurrency mining.
This is understandable when you consider I had four mining rigs and a total of 30 graphics cards mining 24 hours a day. My whole mindset with cryptocurrency was that of a miner, not a trader.
The drop in mining profits and the high electricity costs in the UK have forced me to scale down my operation over the last two months. At the moment I am down to one mining rig and seven GPUs; though this time next month I will have less.
I have spoken about my reasons scaling down on many occasions on my channel, but the main reason is that the numbers just do not add up. I am at the point where I am either making a small profit or just breaking even.
I have absolutely no regrets about investing so heavily in mining hardware over the last year. It forced me to learn about many concepts and techniques that I would not have known about had I not maintained my own rigs. I have a better understanding of cryptocurrency as a whole because of my mining experience.
Moving forward, my involvement in cryptocurrency mining will be more of a hobby. I may still have a GPU to help me test things and produce the odd mining related video, but I have no plans on jumping in as deep as I did previously.
I always envisioned moving away from mining at one point, just not as soon as I did.
What I would like to do at this point is get more involved in other aspects of cryptocurrency.
This is one of the reasons why I joined the SafeCoin team earlier this year. I wanted to see things from the other side, get a better understanding of the development side of cryptocurrency and see the problems they face.
I was admittedly a little reluctant to join the SafeCoin team initially as I was concerned that my involvement with the team could hurt my channel in some way. For example, a perceived lack of impartiality. These concerns were unfounded. Helping out with the SafeCoin project is undoubtedly one of the best decisions I made this year.
Another area I want to explore more is trading.
I would like to learn more about trading and the strategies that traders use to increase their wealth. Without doubt, it will take me time to become more knowledgeable in this area. It will be a great challenge, but it is one which I look forward to.
World Crypto Con
In two weeks time I will be attending World Crypto Con in Las Vegas with the SafeCoin team.
SafeCoin will have a booth at the event and I will be spending as much time as I can networking with important people in the industry and interviewing them for my YouTube channel.
With over 5,000 people attenting the conference, this is undoubtedly a significant milestone for me and the SafeCoin project.
I truly believe this will be a catalyst for SafeCoin and for myself. The team will make some amazing connections at the event and will be making a major announcement there too. It would not surprise me if the project got a major investment off the back of it.
I will, of course, be doing everything I can to make the conference as successful as possible for SafeCoin, but from my own selfish point of view, I believe this is a major milestone for me too.
The conference gives me the opportunity to meet important people in the industry. Major developers, influencers, YouTubers, and more. I am quietly confident that my YouTube channel will get a significant boost in subscribers and views following the event.
Perhaps more importantly, the event will give me an opportunity to meet SafeCoin founder Jeff Galloway and other members of the SafeCoin team. I have spoke with SafeCoin members in video and audio chats regularly since joining the team. It will be great to meet them in person and get to know them better.
Mining to Trading
Evolving from a cryptocurrency miner to a cryptocurrency trader is not going to happen overnight.
I want to take a step back and read books about trading before I do any trading. When I do start trading regularly, it will be more a case of dipping my feet into the water as opposed to jumping right in.
Of course, I am quite fortunate that I have a cryptocurrency YouTube channel as it allows me to explore the world of trading and document it for all my subscribers.
Yesterday, for example, I reviewed a great free digital asset management service called Shrimpy that automatically rebalances your portfolio so that you maintain a certain spread of coins.
I plan on using tools like this to grow my portfolio and learn more about what I should do and what I should not do.
As you can imagine, my expectations for trading are low at this point. I just want to learn more.
I obviously want to generate more income from trading, but if I need to make some losses in the short term to get a better understanding of how everything works, it is perhaps a price worth paying.
Final Thoughts
2018 has been a rollercoaster ride for every cryptocurrency miner. We have all experienced a variety of highs and lows in the market and no one knows when the market will pick up.
I look at this whole rollercoaster ride as an education. Like everyone, I made some mistakes this year, but I believe these mistakes will serve me well in the years to come.
I would like to be involved in cryptocurrency for many years and the lessons I have learned this year will give me a foundation to build upon over the next few years.
Onwards and upwards.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
