"Crypto is highly speculative, risky and is a bubble. It is similar to buying a lottery ticket hoping to get rich quick" what is your view on this statment?

"Crypto" is too broad a term to generalise. I've laid some thoughts below:

What is Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital asset that works based on blockchain technology - a distributed ledger enforced by a decentralised network of computers – which records economic transactions, balances and account numbers.

Apart from the view of being a "storage of value", some can view this as "speculative". However, they can act as a means of exchange, much like how money in our wallets works.

Cryptocurrencies use cryptography to verify and secure transactions, and are seen by many as the foundation of a better future economy.

What’s wrong with how we pay for things now?

In a nutshell, everything can be too centralised which requires a third party which has pros and cons - one obvious one being transaction fees.

What is Blockchain Technology and its benefits then?

In a nutshell, Blockchain technology also ensures that data is not replicated or copied, thus ensuring that units of cryptocurrency would not be reproduced.

TLDR:

• Cryptocurrencies do not necessary just constitute Bitcoin/Ethereum/Alternate coins. There can be value in the technology for stablecoins such as USDC or USDT (pegged to USD 1:1)

• Cryptocurrencies can give you significant upside. But like any asset class, that's also to your ability to time tops and bottoms in the long run. (Think GME or AMC)

• Another consideration: If there is no value in cryptocurrency, it's good to ask consider why do we see so many institutions adopting interest in this area - (in fact, over time, it seems the list of institutions NOT adopting are dwindling down)

• Fun Fact: https://www.mas.gov.sg/schemes-and-initiatives/...

I just put $1k into ETH last week. I'm currently reading a book about crypto and trying to understand the tech behind it and how its use cases. I guess it's a lottery ticket if you just buy into the hype not knowing ANYTHING about it. At this point, yes I agree that it's risky and speculative because I believe it's still in its nascent stage of adoption, and might be a bubble due to the FOMO hype surrounding it. But in the long term, I believe this will be an asset class as we shift towards the Digital Age.

Yes i agree so so much. Not worth holding for long term.

There are different types of crypto, so that statement may be too general:

• The large caps with use cases developed and investment to develop ecosystem around it - e.g Bitcoin and Ether. While still subjected to shocks like Elon Musk's tweets, it's getting so much instituational investments that we can dismiss them as lottery tickets so readily anymore.

• Stablecoins - nothing like the statement describes too. The volatility and yield can be better than some junk bonds/ETFs.

• The small caps altcoins - like penny stocks, which that statement above fits in totally.

The crypto world is so big, we don't just have to see only its uglier side. But I guess the media played a part as well. If I am totally new to the stock markets and all I hear about is meme stocks like AMC and GameStop, I may develop the same idea on stock markets in general as well.​​​