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Health, Wealth, and Happiness

March 22, 2024

“The underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, but the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate.”

- Benjamin Graham

Howdy, investors!

• Every year or two, we revisit our core crypto investing principles, updating them with new information. Today we go "back to basics."

• Coinbase has released a primer on the upcoming bitcoin halving that's well worth reading.

• The reduction in Ethereum gas fees post-Dencun has created an explosion of interest and use in Layer-2 solutions that shouldn't be ignored.

• Recent activity in crypto markets indicates that interest is growing in real-world blockchain solutions, not just crypto tokens. (Finally!)

Read on to explore more!

Back to Basics

by John Hargrave

A confession: when we started Bitcoin Market Journal back in 2017, we had no idea what we were doing.

But then, neither did anybody else.

In fact, “crypto investing” wasn’t even a thing. We’ve gradually made it a thing, developing a crypto investing philosophy that consistently produces excellent returns for our investors.

We’ll revisit our basic investing principles every year or so, both to teach newcomers and to remind old-timers.

These principles guide all our investing decisions and the commentary we deliver in each newsletter. They're our "North Star."

As we do every so often, let’s go back to basics.

Read the investing strategy that has made so much money >>

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New Risk Scorecard: Aptos (APT)

Aptos is a Layer-1 blockchain created by former Meta (Facebook) employees based on the Move programming language. It claims to offer a safe, scalable, and upgradable Web3 infrastructure, with its token APT serving

as the governance and utility token.

But how risky is an investment in APT?

Our analysts put the APT token through our industry-leading Blockchain Risk Scorecard to determine what risks investors in the token might face.

Premium members can ddownload the Aptos Risk Scorecard here.

Not yet a Premium member? Sign up now and get access to all our investor scorecards, along with other great benefits like monthly BMJ token airdrops, exclusive crypto merch, and more!

Must Read

Today's most important stories for crypto investors.

Halving Handbook: A Primer (Coinbase)

An excellent overview of the historical context of halvings, their impact on bitcoin's price, and the implications for the upcoming halving. It also digs into macroeconomic factors that could influence bitcoin's performance and explores on-chain analytics to provide insights into market trends and the behavior of long-term holders. Worth a read for BTC investors.

Ethereum L2 Adoption Trends High After Dencun Upgrade (The Defiant)

The recent Ethereum Dencun upgrade has significantly boosted Layer-2 adoption, with active addresses and transaction volume reaching near all-time highs. This uptick in activity is attributed to the reduction of transaction fees by over 80% on leading Layer-2s. If you trade or transact frequently, L2s now offer significant price savings for investors.

Appraising Growth in Digital Asset Markets (Coin Metrics)

This year, bitcoin has already reached new record highs and the overall crypto market cap reached $2.5 trillion. Big institutions are betting on bitcoin, and retail investors are mooning over memecoins. But what goes up must come down: this piece will help you monitor the sustainability of these trends. As in today's "Back to Basics" column, our strategy remains the same no matter the market.

Sector Report: Yield Farming

Our top strategies for investing in this growing sector.

Bitcoin ETFs vs BTC: Which is a Better Investment?

Should you buy through an ETF, or directly?

Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade: The Investing Opportunities

Great for Ethereum, not so great for L2s.

Our Top Proof of Stake Coins in 2024

Max out your crypto yield with these top performers.

Top 10 Crypto Staking Platforms for 2024

See where you can best earn staking rewards.

Chart of the Day

Bitcoin Trading Volume

Healthy trading volume can help provide price stability and minimize the spread that traders pay on transactions. You'll notice trading volume goes up when there are large price swings (as in the recent all-time highs on bitcoin).

In terms of price momentum, trading volume can signal trend continuations or reversals:

• When volume increases alongside price, it's a good indicator that prices may continue to increase.

• However, if trading volume drops when prices are making new highs, it can indicate that the market is exhausted and a price drop is imminent.

In this chart, we see that bitcoin trading volume has increased significantly over the past months. This is a strong signal of increased adoption and interest, not just a temporary blip.

You know what to do.

(Thanks to imgflip)

Bitcoin Market Journal is a daily newsletter that makes you a better crypto investor. It's created by John Hargrave, Steve Walters, Gerald Jackson, Anatol Antonovici, Matthew Du, Daniel Joel, and Preetam Kaushik.

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