Turning back the crypto clock and answering the ‘what ifs’

As an investor, it’s all too easy to let the ‘what ifs’ run riot in your head. What if you had invested in Amazon in 1997? What if you had backed a new real estate development opportunity? What if you had invested in Bitcoin ahead of its rapid price acceleration in 2013?

Written by Charlotte Wickens

While indulging in these alternative realities is all well and good, the truth is that a myriad of different factors could have impacted any investment you made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but only when you have it. Never has the surprising nature of investments been more clearly demonstrated than with cryptocurrency. Since its foundation in 2009, Bitcoin has gone from strength to strength, rewarding those who believed in the technology from the start and surprising those who were less sure. Widely considered the original cryptocurrency, in the past twelve years, Bitcoin has gone from having no monetary value to surging to a record high of more than $63,000. For those who invested early and hung on, the returns have been remarkable. But naturally, for many, the temptation to sell has proved all too great throughout the years. While we can’t physically turn the clock back on our past investment decisions (despite wishing that we could), the new cryptocurrency calculator from Coinread does make it possible to look back and see what you could have made if you had the foresight to invest early in various cryptocurrencies. The ‘If I invested’ calculator also makes it possible to discover how much you would make today if you invested in a cryptocurrency.

Answering the ‘what ifs’

With the Coinread calculator, users can select an amount to hypothetically invest from one of the ten fiat currency options available. They can then choose from over one hundred cryptocurrencies to invest in and see the outcome of their speculative investment. The calculator also has the option to change the initial investment date and the date for the calculated outcome, making it easy to satisfy your curiosity when it comes to historic crypto investment and answer the questions of friends and colleagues when they start discussing ‘how much you could have made if you had invested in Dogecoin’.

Let’s look at an example:

It’s March 2020 and the Covid19 pandemic hits the world. With more and more people being required to stay inside and isolate, you find yourself with more time on your hands. After exhausting all the lockdown activities you can think of, which includes baking banana bread, yoga and binge watching the Tiger King, you decide it might be interesting to look more closely into the world of crypto currency. After doing some

reading about the crypto space, you decide the next step in your cryptocurrency education is to try investing. Your lack of experience and financial situation means you only want to invest £100 on the 1st of March, and you’re determined to sell at the end of March in 2021 no matter what. Looking at five different cryptocurrencies, here’s what the hypothetical you could have made in that time by investing. • Your Bitcoin investment would equal €619.21 • Your Ethereum investment would equal €719.56 • Your Tether investment would be equal to €99.33 • Your Cardano investment would be equal to €2,399.69 • Your Binance Coin investment would be equal to €1,326.89 With any of these investments, assuming you hadn’t decided or needed to sell earlier, 2020 you would probably have been happy. But with different types of cryptocurrencies, any of these amounts could have varied. The ‘If I invested’ calculator from Coinread enables users to experience different potential investment outcomes from an ‘almost’ first hand perspective and learn more about what it means to invest in cryptocurrency for themselves.

Looking to the future

As any experienced investor will tell you, the key to successful investments is looking to the future and trying to spot trends that might profit long term future investments. Not only does Coinread’s ‘If I invested’ calculator provide users with the chance to access historic cryptocurrency investment data to help identify trends, but it also acts as a means of reassurance for newer investors or those curious about cryptocurrency. By updating the dates in the calculator to 2021, you’ll be able to see how much you could make if you invested this year. While the ‘If I invested’ calculator sadly isn’t a crystal ball, being able to see up to date investment calculations is a great way to begin to learn more about the cryptocurrency market as a whole and what you need to consider if you’re looking to invest. Despite the recent volatility of 2020, the crypto space has shown itself to be continually evolving and making way for new investors. Discovering more about the crypto space and seeing how it has performed historically for yourself is a great way to begin to explore the potential of cryptocurrency investments further. So even if you didn’t make your hypothetical millions with an investment in Bitcoin back in 2013, it’s still fun to have a look and satisfy your ‘what ifs’.