A Gen Z Perspective on Crypto and FIRE - Opinion

A Message to GEN Z - Achieving FIRE With Crypto - Opinion - 10/29/2021

Long time lurker here. Despite the fact the ethereum just hit an all-time high, I still believe we are early. Most business professors, econ professors, and university students I discuss crypto with know nothing about it or think it is a scam. Wild stuff. Understandable though, as I thought the same thing in 2017. This is coming from a guy who has been hodling since 2017 btw. Yes, crypto and bitcoin are extremely cyclical and volatile. This scares the hell out of most boomers. Gen Z especially needs to pay attention here, as the FED has printed a third of our USD money supply within the last year. Let that sink in. Inflation will silently rob GEN Z and it will likely be much harder to get out of the poor/middle class if we are just losing purchasing power and not diversifying investments. The federal government loves this, since devaluing USD will make debt much cheaper to pay off in the long run. Absolute criminals! The U.S. imports way more than it exports, and it depends way too much on China.

Look back in history. Reckless fiscal and monetary policies like this have destroyed entire economies and currencies in the past. The stock market has become a casino because of artificially low interest rates and manipulation by the FED. If the FED stopped keeping the economy on life support, it would be really ugly. Keep in mind that the suicide hotline was pinned to the top of the bitcoin reddit page during the 2017 bear market. If the stock market is a bubble and it pops, It would be like that but even worse. I’m not saying to not invest in the stock market. I like my stonks. Just diversify. The FED continues to kick the can down the road, giving people a false sense of security that our economy is healthy. It is NOT! Sadly, nobody cares until it is a crisis and we are paying for a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow full of USD.

Gen Z, Financial education is key. Universities won’t tell us this because they are a business that takes advantage of naive teenagers who put themselves into more than $100k of debt to “find themselves” and eventually get a job. I’m not saying that going to college is bad. In fact, I’m a college student. I’m a huge fan of constantly learning every day. What I’m saying is that our institutions are obsolete and corrupt as hell. Just major in something that is useful and gives you some marketable skills. Trust me, there are plenty of useless majors, and universities are happy to take your money and waste your time. Please think for yourself and don’t be sheep. Don’t yolo for scam coins and meme coins with no utility unless you are fine with gambling.

Stacking sats and staking eth could set you up for FIRE by the time you guys are middle aged. Be greedy when others are fearful. Yes, there will be substantial dips along the way. We are likely due for a 2017 style correction, as history tends to repeat itself. However, this next correction will weed out the true HODLERS and the speculators overdosing on hopium (including institutions). The same thing happened in the 2017 ICO mania. The opportunities are seriously endless for the innovative protocols that can be developed on the ethereum network. Defi will never die, and most boomers are simply too out of touch to realize it. Imagine teaching your great grandpa how to use computer. Now imagine doing that using Windows XP in 2000. Yeah. We are definitely early.

You should be super grateful to be young, healthy, and alive in 2021. My health was in danger at a young age, and I never realized how much I took my life for granted before that. Find true happiness. Health, wealth, freedom, purpose, and love play into that. Bitcoin and Ethereum’s future looks promising. I bet the maxis are mad that I said that, lol. If you are reading this, I’m confident that your future will be promising too. Today’s crypto climate reminds me so much of the early days of the internet where most people didn't understand it, but those who did had a massive advantage. I truly believe that owning just 1 ETH could potentially be a status symbol in the future, similar to how owning 1 BTC is seen that way today. I wish I had 1 BTC. Damn.

There will always be a soft spot in my heart for precious metals too though. Historical significance is preserved in coins. Some radicals in congress want to erase history. Historical statues are already being torn down all across the U.S. Learning from the past is important. Once history is erased, anyone can recreate it. We are basically hodling a digital form of gold and silver, but it has a network effect which is way more useful. This is Gen Z’s gold rush. Instead of mining for gold in the sierras and dying from the black lung, we can just stack sats and stake eth. What a time to be alive! Don't forget to HODL, as this is the gwei, haha. Maybe I’ll come back to this post during the next bull market and reflect on my opinion. Thanks for reading this and peace out!

tl;dr: We are still early, a correction is likely coming, inflation will rob gen z, institutions are corrupt, hodling / staking will likely set up GEN Z for FIRE.