If you had told me when I was cutting my teeth on investment opportunities in the mining sector that, three decades later, the word “mining” would also be used to describe the process of solving computational math problems with sophisticated computers to verify the legitimacy of bitcoin transactions, I would have asked if you’d been smoking potash.
But that’s what’s so amazing the world we live in. There’s always something that will blow your mind and then — if you’re an intuitive investor and opportunity seeker like me — get it fired up thinking about different ways to participate in its growth.
I’m always looking around and ahead at different investment areas and themes. Here are three of my recent favorites from the digital realm:
1. Decentralized finance (or DeFi): Could banks and brokers be replaced by financial systems enabled by decentralized blockchain technology? That’s the vision of DeFi, which is currently experiencing a surge in interest from the public and private sectors — including Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, who recently announced he’s launching his own DeFi investing firm. FinTech companies are already using DeFi technology to do everything from enabling securities trading to providing insurance. Here’s a great DeFi explainer from HBR.
2. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs): You may have seen this acronym in the news recently when a JPG file by a digital artist named Beeple was sold by Christie’s in an online auction for $69.3 million. You can’t make this stuff up! But you can make up your own NFT, which can be anything digital. Big business is onboard with this trend. For example, the National Basketball Association has created an online marketplace for highlight clips that are the digital equivalent of baseball cards, generating $345 million in sales in one month. Read more about “NFT Mania” in the New York Times.
3. Cryptocurrencies: To describe the crypto space as “dynamic” would be a huge understatement. And rapid change always means opportunities for investors. Just to give you a taste, from Elon Musk “breaking up” with bitcoin to El Salvador looking to become the world’s first sovereign nation to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, here’s a CNBC recap of five big crypto stories that all occurred in the first week of June(!).
From real estate holdings to ownership positions in businesses across a range of industries, I’ll always maintain a diversified portfolio. But increasingly, I’m seeing a lot of interesting angles that are “DeFi-ing” expectations, so stay tuned!