How to survive and succeed in a crypto winter
eToro held an information event for users on 'How to survive and succeed in a crypto winter' at L39 in Canary Wharf. With eToro speaker Sam North, Trading School Lead and speakers Abby Mansfield, Artist and Co-Founder of Top Dog Studios who created the Top Dog Beach Club NFT collection; Thomas Winsor, Founder at The Round and myself (Karen Jones Citywealth #cryptokaren) as a female private investor in crypto and NFT. Follow my crypto news feed on linkedin
Sam North led the talks with a vote for who used eToro and who had looked at the Academy they run. Most used eToro but hardly any had visited the Academy which is surprising when many in the audience had entry level questions. With a history in crypto and NFT myself, I cannot recommend enough, DYOR, although most of the exchanges have academy or learning videos and personally I find the documents coming out of Consensys very interesting (as a side note there is an airdrop from Consensys for The Merge c15th September - sign up for the airdrop notification here
Here are my thoughts from the questions asked by Sam
Sam: Whats your involvement in the crypt/web3 space and what made you get into it?
Karen "I've had a long history dealing with tech companies in New York at various companies I've worked at so I guess I understood the world. I got into crypto through a rich friend who owned nightclubs. He set up a friends and family fund for crypto investing back in 2015 and so I gave him £10k to invest for me. Crypto hit a winter like now so after a year he called me and gave back the money without even a sat for the fees. I stuck it into bitcoin which was trading at c£3k back then. (He thought I was mad). Aswell as this I have a long history of studying the history of art at The Courtauld in London so have always been an IRL collector. I believed in NFT's immediately and saw it as the start of a new innovation in art history. I have many NFT's but my best performing money wise is land in the Sandbox."
Sam: Have we hit a crypto winter?
Karen: "Yes its severe and really involves hanging on. The good news is there is at least yield farming this time around. I think we are in more of a spring personally ie on our way out. I also think there is a big difference in how you view the crypto and NFT market. Although I hodl, I don't hodl relentlessly. Sometimes some coins have got to go. Its about watching all the news feeds and seeing any bad news coming so I stay lively to selling. However there are some things that I believe in long term for instance separate to trading; buying into shares of Coinbase which listed on the stock market. I also like crypto indices on Bitpanda which allow me to stay in the market across a variety of crypto without having to monitor them constantly (did not stop sustaining losses on Terra Luna!)."
Sam: How is this impacting the crypto industry?
Karen: "For some its devastating and worse there are now sanctions which is a new move from the USA govt. For others its a point of growth but more in the NFT industry which I see as a start up off the back of crypto. Look at Nike and Dapper Labs with the NFL. The only way is up."
Sam: Web3 projects seem to be accelerating. Does the term crypto winter just refer to price?
Karen: "I think people lump areas of the market together like crypto and NFT's but they are not the same thing. However the winter is affecting the price of NFT's as it is with crypto. I think you have to look IRL to see what this means and price drops have a fearful psychological effect which will bring a harder lens to the whole industry including investing into start-ups so it isnt just price its being aware of the greater environments and economics. On the plus side I've excited by projects like Axie and the Sandbox which have communities and a use case for being involved with their coins."
Sam: Why are NFT's getting such news. What are the pro's and con's?
Karen: "Big names such as Nike and Balenciaga are jumping in and making substantial bottom line profit and Balenciaga are able to reduce production costs on IRL bags. With the likes of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan producing reports showing the financial gains to these mega brands it provides credibility. Gaming has also shown promise. I think there is only upside it will allow lawyers to get involved to protect rights and to get regulatory requirements in place which also creates a new industry in corporate. Also look at Beeple and Bored Apes. There is always room for a mega result in the NFT market which makes it get the attention of the mainstream public. There are a couple of cons. NFT is more 'start up' than crypto and so there will be more failures. In addition the smart brains in corporate are working out how to use the technology. Holland & Knight the lawyers in New York can now send a lawsuit by NFT which has been accepted by the courts."
Sam: Investing in the winter period
Karen: "I am coveting Ape coins or gaming coins obviously bitcoin and Eth with The Merge coming up. Dapper Labs Flow coin is worth a look - they are launching their Instagram offering on the Flow network so in my head that looks like a coin use case. BNB on Binance is very usable for purchasing, swopping and on ramp."
Sam: What do you do with investments that are struggling?
Karen "Its not just crypto, its the whole economy that is struggling. Hodl if you can; watch the news - some coins do need to go if the news is bad; buy if you can 'buy the dip'. Remember all markets turn but it can take years. Do an audit of your crypto and NFT's and make sure you know where everything is.
Whatever you decide and even though DYOR is hard work and often not easy to understand in what is a technical industry, all learning and academies get my thumbs up.
Karen Jones on loves crypto as a female private investor and art both IRL and NFT but is also a supporter of womens career progression whether in financial services or tech - see some career progression thoughts to help women here youtube
Find her also on
crypto club news feed (Citywealth)
Karen Jones Citywealth founded Citywealth 16 years ago, she has 8 full time staff and 450 blue chip TradFi clients.
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