There are three types of cryptocurrency investments:
- Buying Bitcoin, Ether or one of the alternative coins, and speculating on the value increase. Buying low, selling high.
- Investing in emerging coins via a process called an ICO (Initial Coin Offering). This is similar to an IPO (Initial Public Offering), a process where a document is drafted about the value of the technology, team, business plan and other parameters, but there are no underwriters like with the IPO process. The investor purchases tokens (cryptocurrency) before or during the ICO at a discount and can sell them after the ICO. Accreditored investors can invest larger amounts in the preliminary round, called pre-sale, and can typically receive large discounts, 30-50% for investment of $100,000-$250,000 or more. When investing in ICOs, an investor is encouraged to perform their own due diligence, examine the whitepaper, meet with a team and look into which other private or institutional investors are investing.
- Investing via pools or funds. There are various platforms that allow investing in crypto currency funds.
When investing in cryptocurrency, one must exercise the same type of caution as they would in equity investment, adding an additional component of cybersecurity. The investor must open a wallet and keep their private key in a very secure place. There are various options for storage of the key, some online, some on a hardware device. I recommend writing it down and placing it in a safe. I also recommend using 3rd party solutions, such as Kirobo, that set rules for what happens to the funds in your wallet in the event of a loss of the key, death or inability of the owner to manage the wallet, hacking or theft.
There are many ICOs that are connected with the medical industry, including insurance, storing medical records, increasing the efficiency of the medical system, which could be of interest to the medical professionals, who will have the acumen to identify worthy technologies solving a real need as well as evaluate the experience of the team that may signal their ability to solve it.