On this day, 12 years ago, history was made. By now everyone knows the story:

Laszlo Hanyecz buys two Papa John's pizzas and some lucky guy got 10,000 BTC.

Source

It is told throughout the cryptocurrency community. The price of Bitcoin was so low that it was tough to find someone to take 10K Bitcoin for a couple pizzas. Today, that would make one a millionaire many times over.

At a time when the rats are jumping ship, due to the bear starting to roar, perhaps it is best to look into our past to determine the future.

Bitcoin Built By HODLers

It is something that I often say: one thing Bitcoin Maxis have right is their ability to HODL.

They do not waver. Nor do they play games or try to time the market. Their view is simple: Bitcoin will moon.

So far, that proved to be correct over the long term.

When taking an approach of a decade, it is easy to overlook the bumps along the way. This can be done by pulling up a log chart. When that is done, one sees how things look rather "smooth".

Of course, we know that, if we zoom in, there were major pullbacks along the way. Yet, when viewing from a "distance" it does not look so bad. The reality is that, when going through the downturns, there was a lot of carnage. People were feeling the pain the same as now.

Nevertheless, the end result, for those who withstood it all, is that we are now to the point where the holdings are worth a fortune. Any Bitcoin HODLer from the 2012-2014 time period is sitting on a vast sum. The compounding effect due to the price appreciation is truly historic.

We Try To Outsmart The Market

HODLing is not sexy. Many want to fill their ego being "market players". The truth is that most get their asses handed to them by markets. If most of the money managers in the world cannot be the S&P500, why do so many others believe they can?

Warren Buffett didn't build his fortune by trading his way to the top. He is the "King of HODLers". When he says the best stocks to buy are the ones you never want to sell, that is a HODLer in action.

Of course, Buffett does sell at times. We all know circumstances can change. However, he does it only for a good reason. A bear market is not going to shake him out.

Even on Hive, we see people trying to "time the market" by jumping back and forth between HIVE and HBD. This is a valid use of the tokens but the question is how many will make money that way. After all, it only requires being on the wrong side of the trade, i.e. selling just before it takes off, to really mess oneself up.

When looking at something over a 10 or 20 year period, down times, even if a couple years, mean nothing. There are going to be years of underperformance and others where exceeding is easy to do. That is markets.

However, the best way to succeed is to keep HODLing when there is something one likes. If one is dedicated to a project, while being alert, HODL until given a reason to sell.

And the insanity of the markets is not a good reason.

LBI makes the case for long term HODLing. Our goal is 20% APR. This is the minimum level we seek to achieve. Certainly, there will be times when this might not be possible. However, since there is an active component to our holdings, we can enhance them that way.

Over time, it is likely this gets exceeded. However, we will not achieve that trading every tick in LEO. Since that is our primary holding, we are HODLers. With all the development taking place, we believe that, eventually, the value will be driven into that token.

For now, we just keep pushing forward. Bulls and bears come and go. That is the nature of markets. The best way to excel is just to weather both with the same emotional state. No reason to get too high in the good times nor too low in the bad ones.

It is best to acknowledge markets for what they do.

And try to avoid the situation of becoming the person who paid tens of millions for two pizzas.

Article by @taskmaster4450le

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta