Let’s face it: Crypto is not for the faint of heart. Volatility comes with the territory. Even Bitcoin (BTC, Tech/Adoption Grade “A-”), the world’s first and most popular cryptocurrency, rides gigantic waves, as we saw last week.
But here’s the thing: When done right, crypto trades and investments can offer greater returns than any traditional financial market.
That’s where economist and new Weiss Ratings crypto asset analyst, Marija Matic, comes in. She’s a blockchain expert who works to weed out the cryptocurrencies that are not likely to survive the current landscape of “coin crowding.”
She’s already written several insightful articles about the crypto world this month. In between her deadlines, new team member Marija Matic joined me on Zoom from Serbia. We have the full recording here, or you can read on for the transcript.
Jessica Borg (JB):
Cryptocurrency is not for the faint of heart, let’s face it. What drew you to the space?
Marija Matic (MM):
I first read about Bitcoin when it was $15. And after reading two or three things about it, I got very excited and wanted to buy but couldn’t because it was so difficult. I didn’t know how to create a wallet.
It was very complicated. So I thought, okay, this is something for programmers, coders. This is something too complicated for me because I am an economist.
JB (narration):
An economist who quickly became a blockchain expert. She’s lectured at industry conferences. And has hosted topical video forums.
At Weiss Ratings, Marija contributes to Undiscovered Cryptos, the daily Weiss Crypto Alert and will teach crypto courses for investors.
JB:
What trends are you most excited about in the crypto space right now?
MM:
Well, probably the most exciting thing right now is the interoperability between different potentialized applications, like decentralized finance (DeFi).
Or, as I call them, “money Legos” because those are like puzzles that fit together. For example, you can deposit your money, your crypto, into a yield maximizing app, or aggregation app, where it will be deposited into a vault, which has a predefined yield maximization strategy already coded into their smart contracts.
So, I think DeFi is very exciting, especially now when it’s so interoperable. And the maximization of the yield is unheard of. There’s nothing like that in the traditional market.
JB:
What do you think of the term “coin crowding?” There are so many tokens popping up. I mean, how many cryptocurrencies are out there? There are so many people out there who are crypto-curious. And, if they aren’t involved in the space, they want to get involved in the space. What should they weed out or look past?
MM:
There are so many cryptocurrencies, even I’m getting cognitive dissonance.
Yeah, it’s very, very difficult to pick out the winners, especially since the blockchain is open-source, and it can be forked and copied into infinity.
JB (narration):
A crypto fork is a software update that creates new rules for a network to follow. The new rules can create a version of a crypto very similar to the original or create a spinoff of something entirely different.
MM:
So, it’s very difficult. There are thousands — 6,000 cryptocurrencies and tokens.
It depends on the level of risk that you’re willing to take.
JB:
You know, volatility is sort of the name of the game in crypto, and you have to have a stomach for it. Let’s talk about the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap: the King of Crypto, Bitcoin, and the Queen of Crypto, Ethereum (ETH, Tech/Adoption Grade “A-”).
MM:
Yeah, Bitcoin is doing its own thing. It’s now becoming quite popular with institutions. They’re investing in it. But I think Ethereum will be the next frontier in institutions. They’re going to invest more and more into Ethereum.
We get quite angry with Ethereum because of transaction fees. They’re quite high. But yes, Ethereum scalability will be solved with Ethereum 2.0. They’re going to implement sharding, as well. And on top of that, they’re gonna have Layer-2 solutions.
JB:
How high do you think Ethereum will go in this crypto bull market?
MM:
Many traders are expecting to go over $100,000 for Bitcoin, and they’re expecting Ethereum to double from here.
JB (narration):
The best strategy to profit in this cycle: buy and hold.
MM:
Even when the drop is like, I don’t know, 80%, just be patient because, in the long term, it has been shown that those who HODL earn more than those who are trying and failing to time the top and who do not have experience trading but are trying to trade.
JB (narration):
Marija says one of the best parts of her job is simply being part of the unique and funny crypto community.
Along with a healthy dose of disagreements among her colleagues.
JB:
These debates that you have among you guys are probably very interesting. You don’t always agree, right, where things are headed?
MM:
Yeah, we usually don’t agree, so it’s quite difficult. When we have to agree, those conversations are quite long and thorough.
JB (narration):
What she finds most appealing? There’s always something to learn in this evolving sector.
JB:
Marija Matic, I so appreciate you making time for me today. It’s been a pleasure to speak with you, and welcome aboard!
MM:
Thank you, Jess.
For daily updates on and real analysis of Ethereum, Bitcoin, altseason and the rapidly unfolding decentralized finance revolution, stay tuned to our daily Weiss Crypto Alert issues.
Best,
Jessica Borg
Financial Anchor
Weiss Crypto Ratings
