Oud vs Bitcoin 2.0

Billions and Billions and Billions

A few weeks back, I clicked on a link that would let me in on an investment opportunity that’s taken the world by storm. Those who invested as little as $500 just a couple of years ago were now multimillionaires, and apparently I’d missed THE greatest investment opportunity of my life. Rather than scour the jungles and old warehouses of incense manufacturers in search of diseased wood, I could’ve sat at home, put all my money into Bitcoin, and been a multibillionaire today.

The crypto experts argue that the technology Bitcoin brings will revolutionize money in the same way the internet has revolutionized nearly every aspect of our lives. And those who bought Bitcoin early are apparently the ones who had the correct insight into this. Today, they don’t need to worry about retirement like you and I.

You can imagine how stupid the whole thing made me feel. Here I was, inhaling dust and trying to teach the world about Oud, while some internet savvy kids were sitting on millions just for buying $500 worth of Bitcoin.

Why I Buy Oud

I have invested millions of dollars into Oud. In addition to the dollars, I’ve invested something far more expensive and impossible to get back—my life. And I thought I was quite smart for doing so.

Some folks are happy buying shares in other people’s companies that they never visit. Some don’t even know the details of what they’re buying and are happy leaving it up to their ‘advisor.’ In the end, that’s what everyone else does.

Not me. Unless I’m personally in control of my investment, tangible assets in hand, I would probably not be able to sleep at night for fear of a sudden stock market ‘correction’ that wipes all of my life’s work away. (Didn’t something like that just happen last week?)

So Oud it was. Oud made perfect sense. On many levels.

For one, the way I saw it, the entire world operates on a system of mass slavery that we’re not even fully aware of. Governments control us. They control our earnings, our savings, our properties. They tax everything we touch, from our labor to our food, the houses we live in, to controlling what we’re able to do and not do with our wealth. As a US citizen, your being under the ‘yoke’ of Uncle Sam is quite apparent when you try to open a foreign bank account and see the disclaimers in every direction: ‘Tick this box if you are a US citizen.’

“Me? US citizen? Why do you care? Isn’t this Singapore?”

You can’t even buy stocks, or gold and silver, on many online stock exchanges if you’re a US citizen. Ironically, the nations with the most rampant amount of debt are the ones that impose the most stifling capital controls on their citizens.

‘Civil Asset Forfeiture’ laws are another example. Under current legislation, any government official can seize the personal effects of any individual they deem ‘suspicious.’ All they need to do is say they think you could be involved in criminal activity, and that gives them the right to wipe you clean of everything you have.

Which government official would be able to appraise Purple Kinam? Or tell the difference between it and patchouli? You could potentially cross international borders with millions of dollars worth of Oud in your suitcase. No duties. No routine interrogation at customs. Just a nice essential oil collection…

A 10% Windfall

I know a lot of money savvy people, and the thing with all of them is: Figure out how to make 10%, and you’re doing fabulous. The stock market delivers 7% a year on average, which amounts to doubling your money each decade. This is what they consider to be a proper windfall.

On the other hand, even minimal ROI on collectible Ensar Oud bottles has given owners 25% – 50% returns—something investment strategists generally write off as a miracle. Making even half of that on my end of the deal, you can see why I had good reason to consider myself savvier than most stock brokers.

But how in the world would I be able to content myself with 25%—or even 50%—when these crypto creeps were making over 1,000% on their money in a matter of months? You can imagine, given the enormous investment I’d made into Oud, how unlucky the whole thing made me feel.

I mean, how stupid! Here I was, my guts in my mouth flying through turbulence in search of decayed wood, coughing up dark sputum and sleeping in the proximity of the creepiest things you could imagine, while some yuppie techies were making a proper killing sitting at home, with an infinitesimal fraction of the investment.

I felt that I’d missed out BIG. Until I took a closer look…

Catastrophic Losses

As a long-term investment, everything hedges on the potential of cryptocurrencies becoming a mainstream medium of exchange. I’m not going to muse about the chances of it happening or not happening. But you have to understand that right now it is pure speculation. That’s why some people can make a killing, while others invest themselves into the poorhouse.

The bleak reality of it is, had I invested anything when it reached a peak of close to $20,000 per Bitcoin—which is exactly when I began speculating—I’d be sitting on some catastrophic losses right now.

Bitcoin and all other blockchain currencies might well be a dress rehearsal, or ‘smokescreen,’ as many are suggesting… Facebook just announced a ban on all advertisement for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Google might follow suit. (Or have they already?) You can imagine how that will hit the influx of new buyers and the resulting drop in crypto prices.

Whether Facebook will come out with their own coin is up in the air, or whether it’ll be Israel that eventually comes out with a single crypto sanctioned by the banks to finally inaugurate a one-world currency. We don’t know. But I do see a red alert flashing.

You might follow your gut and strike it lucky, but it’s impossible to predict the long-term prospects of cryptos. Any claim about it hitting $50K is as valid as someone who says it’ll crash to $20. If you want to make money through them, you must accept that cryptocurrencies are super short-term gambles with, at best, a dubious future.

Most of those who were going to make it big likely already have, while those who invested during the last few months are probably taking medication by now.

When I wrote Oud or Bitcoin? Bitcoin had all but hit $20K. Now, at the time of writing, it has plummeted to $6K… after having recovered from $4K… within 4 days [Edit: 12 hours later it has dropped back down to $5K].

If any of the smokescreen theories turn out to be accurate, practically all cryptos you sit on today will be defunct, or at best worth way less than what you paid for them.

Naming Hong Kong