'This path is for the bold': Why I'm holding my crypto conviction despite losses

I’m not going to sugarcoat it — it’s been brutal. The only thing keeping me afloat right now is that my portfolio is weighted towards large caps. My altcoins, though? They’re a disaster. Down 70, 80, even 90 per cent. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to shut your laptop and never open it again. But of course, I keep checking.

There’s an ongoing, sometimes panicked, discussion happening in my crypto circles. What do we do with these battered altcoins? Do we hold and wait for a miracle? Do we cut our losses and rotate into something sturdier? This week, one of our group leaders — someone who’s helped steer a lot of us through the twists and turns of this market — came out with a jarring pivot. After taking a step back and re-evaluating, he announced he was converting most of the small-caps he’d once recommended. Instead, he was going all-in on a few mid-cap projects he believes have more promise in the short term.

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Some people felt rug-pulled by this. I’ll admit, I did too. This was a guy yelling at us to buy. It was disorienting. But the truth is, this is not the same market we saw in 2017 or even 2021. Back then, it sounds like you could throw a dart and hit a winner. Now? Institutional money is involved. The rules have changed. The pace, the players, the politics — all different.

So responding is important. Pivoting is important. Adjusting the plan to the times — vital.

I got into crypto knowing it was new, volatile, risky and unlike anything else. That I was virtually alone in it in my life. Certainly I was naive. I didn’t understand the intense levels of manipulation fully. How subject this place could be to macroeconomic forces and geopolitical shifts. I’m also painfully aware that most of my friends who don’t know anything about crypto have never had to stomach losses like this.

Try watching your portfolio drop five per cent in a day. Then 10 per cent. Then 20 per cent in a week. It feels like working a 70-hour week and then being told to work the weekend. Like running a marathon and watching the finish line move further away every time you get close. Like questioning all your life choices — and not in a poetic, soul-searching kind of way.

Of course, like anyone, I’ve had the dream: 10x, 20x gains. Financial freedom. Moonshots. But that’s not why I got into this space. Not really. I’m here because I believe we’re still early. Because I believe Bitcoin is a powerful store of value. Because I believe digital assets will reshape everything — our financial systems, real estate, science, art, identity. You name it.

Because I want to be part of the new financial system.

The macroeconomic expert Raoul Pal said recently that investing in blockchain is comparable to giving us a chance to buy a piece of the Internet — not just Amazon, Google, or Facebook. I didn’t have the chance then. I do now, and I’m taking it.

I don’t know where I’ll be in five years, 2030, which is when most people see this all as being mainstream. But right now, I’m choosing to zoom out, focus on other things, earn where I can and remember why I got into this in the first place. What else can I do?

The other day, I spoke to a woman who told me she was Bitcoin-curious. Crypto-curious. She’s two years younger than me, asking the same questions I asked when I started. She’s been getting the same tired warnings — be careful, don’t invest too much, it’s too risky — from people who don’t actually understand the space. She’s frustrated and exhausted and disillusioned by the traditional financial routes. And, most of all, scared. Scared that she won’t have enough to retire. That the current system won’t serve her when she needs it most.

I hear this a lot — especially from women our age.

I told her what I tell them all: I got tired of feeling powerless too. Tired of being funneled into the same dead-end advice. So I started paying attention. Learning. Taking my retirement path into my own hands. Bitcoin, and a few carefully chosen projects, have become a core part of that strategy.

But I also told her what someone in my women’s crypto group reminded me of recently:

This path is for the bold.

Not reckless. Not delusional. But bold.

Because the only way to change the trajectory — of your money, your future, your independence, your life — is to do something different. To trust yourself. To stay curious.

And to keep going, even when it feels like everything is falling apart.