As someone who can understand this reasoning and your skepticism, let me explain. The main goals of most people that are involved in the sector are to not just to create investment opportunities & make money but to advance the sector.

Crypto-Influencers are Here to Help the Sector Grow

While it is great to have such tremendous mainstream converts into the cryptocurrency space, most of these individuals actually do more short-term harm to the markets as they lack an understanding of both investing in monetary markets or how the technology works.

For example, when a “newbie” in the sector panic sells, it often causes others to panic sell, which compounds the losses in the marketplace for everyone. This is just one example of why many people are willing to help ensure these losses are minimized as much as possible.

The recent FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) caused by “fake news” or exaggerated negative publicity, has caused the markets to contract by nearly 60%. These losses are not just felt by the new investors, but traders and people who have been supporting this technological revolution for years.

Additionally, while most people in the sector have made their fair share of profits, they are happy to help new investors. This is because if these investors make returns and tell their friends, the sector will advance further and faster exponentially. The more money that flows into the sector, the bigger and better the returns are for everyone. If a newbie investor gets caught in a bad situation or a common type of market manipulation, like a “pump & dump” or “bull trap,” they will lose and not make those recommendations.

Crypto-Influencers Help Build the Community

The community as a whole is very supportive.

For example, after a hack of a poorly operated exchange, where a long-term community member took heavy losses, I personally witnessed another community member donate a portion of their own Bitcoins to help ease that loss. Those Bitcoins today would be worth millions of USD. The individual who donated them did so knowing full well it may one day be worth that much and did so because they felt for the person who lost out.

Bitcoin is a community and while it is attracting vast amounts of new adoption, it remains a community. It’s a community made up of geeks, nerds, social outcasts, and tech-savvy investors that, in a lot of cases, are willing to offer help and advice whenever and wherever they can.

But Not All “Crypto-Influencers” Are Trustworthy

That being said, the recent growth of the sector has attracted a lot of scammers and those looking to prey on the people who don’t know better. This would be the same in any other industry that has seen the type of growth cryptocurrency has over the past year. While many legitimate companies and individuals do exist to help newcomers to the sector, new coiners should be wary of those that are peddling what sounds too good to true.

For example, a common scam making the rounds on Telegram and other online channels is fake pundits promising interest rates of 30-50% per day with only 24 to 48-hour turnaround times. Again, this is a scam. If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.

Real Crypto-Influencers Will Help Ease You Through the Learning Curve

As the crypto sector has a little-to-no form of regulations, investors are left having to go through the cryptocurrency learning curve on their own. This process was a lot easier and less stressful for those of us that entered the markets when a Bitcoin was priced under $100 or even $1000. At today’s levels, that learning curve can become very expensive and rather than having investors get scared off, many in the community simply want to make sure that new coiners are brought up to speed as quick as possible.

In the conventional financial markets, it is much easier to find quality advice. Unfortunately, as the entire industry is still very early in its adoption cycle, quality advice can be difficult to come by and assess. It is worth noting that the crypto markets are in no way different than the conventional markets. This is real money and the market volatility can offer big profits for those that know how to ride the wave and big losses for those who don’t know how to swim.

It always strikes me as odd that, in the conventional markets, 99% of investors use a professional to give them investment and portfolio advice, while in the cryptocurrency sector, 99% of people are the so-called professionals offering the advice. This, to me, is likely due to the vast returns even unskilled investors made riding the tremendous bull market we just enjoyed in 2017. While anyone can make a decent profit in an upward trending market, when the market turns to a downtrend, few non-professional traders will be able to use positions to their advantage.

Be Selective About Who You Follow and Listen To

My strong suggestion is to do your homework, learn the tech, and spend time learning about the markets. Don’t ever give up your Bitcoin or cryptocurrency to anyone that asks for you to send it to them, as they will likely never return it. True crypto pundits will be more than willing to help you without the need to access your coins directly. Due diligence is key and asking around for a referral is important. Most people worth a grain in this industry have been here a while and have a reputation among the community.

Cryptocurrency investing is risky and is in no way a guaranteed path to profits. Anyone who says otherwise is not a professional and is likely a scammer looking to take your coins for themselves.

On the other hand, if you use a professional service backed by true believers in the space, never giving up control of your coins (your private key), you should be fine and will likely get good advice. If for whatever reason, you decide to trust so-called pundits without a website or confirmable track record, you could possibly get taken for everything.

Always Stay Up-to-Date and Do Your Own Research, Too

Also, as the crypto markets are 24/7, 365 days a year, most investors find it difficult to keep up with the time and energy necessary to stay on top of market conditions. While this can turn off a lot of investors from the sector, publications like CoinBeat do exist to make your crypto journey less time-intensive, less risky, and potentially much more profitable. We aim to help give readers access to the information and advice that matters. All projects and people covered or working with us have been vetted and we pride ourselves on only publishing the best and most reliable information.

Getting back to the question, while a lot of those pundits are scammers looking to prey on the newbies to the sector, others are likely just long-term coiners looking to pass forward the knowledge that they have obtained. Many of these people simply want to see cryptocurrency grow and one day reach its full potential.

Cryptocurrency can be a highly profitable investment, provided you know what you’re doing and take steps to minimize risks and maximize returns. I suggest looking into the person or business in detail prior to investing with them. Anyone who is a true pundit or guru will likely have great reviews and a track record of happy clients that will happily give them a recommendation.

If you have any questions or content for me that you would like me to cover or clarify, email, asksatoshi@coinbeat.com and make sure to subscribe to CoinBeat to be among the first to get access to new information and editorials that matter! Good luck and happy coining.

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