Valley of the Boom 2.0
13th December 2021 |
I’m what you’d call a “90s child”, in the sense that a lot of my childhood (ages seven to 17) were in the 1990s.
These are formative years for a kid. You remember a lot of things from this age period.
For example, I can tell you that Larry Johnson from the Charlotte Hornets (my favourite National Basketball Association (NBA) team as a kid) wore the number two.
But if you were to ask me anything about the world from when I was two years old, I’d have zero to no recollection.
The 90s for me pretty much boiled down to roughly four key things.
- Aussie rules (AFL) football: born in Melbourne, outside of school, footy was everything. And I was good enough to make it through a few higher levels of junior footy which only made me more interested in the sport.
- The NBA: it was on the telly on the weekends; slam Dunk contests recorded on VHS; trading cards; merchandise; memorabilia. You name it, if it had anything to do with the NBA, I needed it in my life.
- Girls.
- The internet: being online, or “surfing” the web, was insane to a kid. Searching for information, chatting to friends online, who were half way across the world… It was an eye opening and liberating experience.
It’s that last point in particular that I want to pick up today. Because over the last week, I’ve had a funny flash back to my time “growing up” in the 90s.
You see, for the last week I’ve been crook (that’s Aussie terminology for sick). I’ve the flu, which has stuck around for a week and a half now. And I can’t shake it off. I’m better now, but I was bedridden last week.
When you’re bedridden, there’s not much to do… except binge shows from one of the many streaming services.
Somehow, I found my way into Disney+ and its National Geographic section. I made my way through a couple of “Drain the Oceans” episodes (highly recommended) and a couple great docs about ancient Egypt.
But then I stumbled on to a miniseries called “Valley of the Boom”. It seemed out of place, but when I checked out the bio it was all about the influential companies (both good and bad) of Silicon Valley in the 90s.
It was about the unstoppable rise of the internet, the stock market bubble that ensued… and the eventual crash.
Names like Netscape, Ask Jeeves, AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Media Player, RealNetworks, ICQ, and MSN, were stalwarts of the 90s era internet boom. Some are still around today, but some aren’t.
Watching “Valley of the Boom”, I couldn’t help but reminisce about my childhood. Memories came flooding back: yelling at someone for picking up the telephone and disconnecting an ICQ chat session; searching for random stuff on Yahoo! when I should’ve been doing my homework; downloading bootleg software, getting ripped MP3s, and new visualisers for WinAmp. Those were the glory days of the late 90s internet.
But then I came to a realisation.
There are uncanny similarities between the internet boom of the 90s and the crypto boom of today.
Early-stage tech, product-driven founders, money getting thrown around like it’s nothing, fortunes being made, lost and made again.
But throughout the 90s boom, the infrastructure of the internet was being built. This laid the groundwork for the next 20 years of technological progress and wealth.
Yes, Silicon Valley was hit hard at the end of the 90s, when the dotcom bubble burst. Some of the biggest players – the ones that people were certain would survive – failed.
But many did survive. They went on to be fundamental to the way our world now functions.
Today, I see major similarities between the crypto space and the tech boom of the 90s. And I believe that the current crypto cycle will be the most significant so far.
This cycle has seen the corporate world enter the crypto space. Venture capital firms, hedge funds, investment banks and even governments want a slice of the action this time.
During the 2017 crypto boom, none of these players were interested in crypto.
So does that mean that this cycle is due a mega-bust, just like the 90s tech bubble?
Possibly.
We may see another massive crash. But I anticipate that any crash we do see will not be as severe as the one we saw in March 2020. Will bitcoin go to $10,000 or lower? I don’t expect so, no. I doubt we’ll ever see bitcoin below $30,000 again. But in a big sell-off, the price may skirt above this level.
Remember, never try to time the crypto market. It’s an impossible beast. And while we may see a 90s-style crash, there’s another event on the horizon that is even more important.
What we’re currently seeing in the crypto world – the construction of foundational, infrastructure-layer technologies – are what’s going to be critical to the success of crypto over the next 20 to 30 years. Now is the time to be smart. It’s the time to position yourself: if a downturn is around the corner then you’ll be ready, as you’ll know that you’re in this game for the long term.
Invest in the long-term foundations of tomorrow’s decentralised, digital, online world.
Stake your play now, before this boom really catches fire. Take profits where you can, have a war chest ready so that you can BTFD (buy the f****** dip) if there’s a sell-off, and know that you can invest directly into the future of tomorrow.
That’s not something that’s been possible before, but today in crypto, it is.
Christmas publishing schedule
Just a heads up that, owing to the holiday season, the next Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network update will be published on 10 January.
There may be something heading your way in the meantime… but I can’t give too much away for now.
Nonetheless, there won’t be an update from Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network on the 27 December.
If you have any questions leading into the festive period make sure to send them to us at editorial@southbankresearch.com.
Crypto to Know
Below is our “Crypto to Know” list where you’ll find several cryptos that we think you should be taking the time to learn and understand.
They each form an important part of the burgeoning crypto ecosystem.
Several of these cryptos are doing very different things to others.
What’s key is to learn that every crypto has its own use cases, its own guiding principles, and its own particular potential.
Each crypto is to be judged and assessed on its own merits.
Our aim here is to help you understand these cryptos and the wider crypto world.
These aren’t specific recommendations but a guide to help you learn and build your confidence in operating in this space.
We will add more names to this list over time. However, if you’re new to the world of crypto, these are the names where we think you should start your education and learning.
We’ve also added links to each one.
The links are to what we believe, in each case, is the best resource for learning about that crypto.
“Crypto to Know” watchlist
- Bitcoin –it/wiki/Main_Page
- Ethereum – ethereum.org/en/what-is-ethereum
- IOTA – docs.iota.org
- Tezos – https://tezos.com/learn/getting-started/
- Filecoin – docs.filecoin.io
- Cosmos – v1.cosmos.network/intro
- Binance – binance.com/en/about & research.binance.com/en/projects/bnb
- FTX – ftx.com & help.ftx.com/hc/en-us
- Solana – https://docs.solana.com/introduction
- Secret Network – https://scrt.network/about/about-secret-network
Sam Volkering
Editor, Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network
