First, I am not a financial advisor. I am just passionate investor who wants to secure his family’s future during these times of uncertainty.  I am writing this post to educate my network and do not treat it as financial advice. Please consult your own financial advisor

Over the weekend, I attended my first Celsius Network Meetup in Miami and it was euphoric with about 700+ people in attendance. I finally got to meet the company management, who I have seen virtually on Youtube for the last 2 years and meet fellow Celsians (Celsius Customer Community) from different walks of life. I will be sharing my experiences in this post.

As many of you know, I have been a staunch advocate educating my friends, family and professional network about investing 2 to 5% of their portfolio in cryptocurrency asset class with 2-to-5-year horizon. It is an asset class that can serve as an asymmetric bet or protection in current volatile markets.

There is plethora of opportunity as the global cryptocurrency adoption is between 1-2% and it is like investing in Internet companies back in 1995. There are many startups and only 10% will survive. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization is 2 Trillion dollars- which many people don’t realize similar to likes of some of the Big Tech companies.

After this meetup, I came out rejuvenated and excited knowing that I invested in the right company -Celsius Network that will play in important role in this space.

Celsius Network Introduction

Celsius Network is a crypto lending fintech company founded in 2018 that provides interest yield ranging from 3 to 20% for cryptocurrencies stored in their secure platform. They currently have $23 billion AUM (Assets under Management) and have grown their global customer base from 100,000 in 2020 to 1.7 million as of today. They are targeting to have 100 million global customers in the years to come.

In the age of rampant inflation, with the fiat currency is rapidly debasing, and traditional US banks give yield below 1% it is difficult to imagine a company giving such high yield. The first reaction to most people is this a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme company or is this a legitimate company?

Celsius Network has a robust crypto lending business model similar to traditional securities lending– with only difference that they  return 80% of the revenue to the customers in form of yield and unique value differentiation of not charging fees.

Celsians can also take short term loans as low of 1% against their crypto holdings without needing to sell their crypto in smooth hassle-free process and get access to funds in fiat currency or stable coins within 48 hours.

What Triggers to become a Celsian?

Over the last two years, I have shared conversations with more than 1000 people about Digital Assets- Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. I must have influenced not more than 10 to 15 people, who have actually invested. That is 1 to 1.5% success rate –not far away from the global adoption.

I realized that I need to work on my persuasion skills and decided to ask fellow Celsians on what triggered to get them into crypto and Celsius. Here are some of the stories.

John- Firefighter from Ohio

John has been an equity investor for 20 years. He got to know about Bitcoin in 2020 and then eventually got know about Celsius thereafter through one of exchange promotions. He has been working on convincing his Firefighting colleagues but he has been unable to do so.

He feels that firefighters are risk averse and trained in structured manner. They will adopt once there is broader adoption. He flew into Miami specifically for the Celsius Meetup at Bitcoin Conference last year but this year he attended the entire 3-day Bitcoin Conference to learn more about the different companies.

Tom and Chris (Father and Son Duo)

Chris is a millennial, who started investing in 2017 and he convinced his dad and mom to buy Bitcoin. Now both father and son are invested in different digital assets and looking at different Yield Farming opportunities. They store their cryptocurrencies in Celsius Wallet but are not invested in CEL token as they are unsure where it is a security or token asset.

Gary- Indian Origin Doctor from Boston

Gary is Internal Medicine doctor and likes investing. He got into Bitcoin ever since he saw the rise from $5000. He flew into Miami for the Bitcoin Conference for the first time and he wanted to understand the different technologies.

Patricia from Bogota- Columbia

Patricia changed her career two years ago and has now got into full time crypto asset investing. It was her first time in Celsius Meetup and Bitcoin Conference

Yours truly

I got into Bitcoin in July 2020  just by chance after watching a Vedic Astrologer Simon Chokoisky Youtube – who predicted in 3 days there would be a rise from $9100. Bitcoin did hit $ 9,900. Simon had just started a weekly class on Crypto Questions Answered- educating the attendees about cryptocurrencies and using Vedic techniques for price prediction.

I got to know about Celsius Networks through Simon and after that I started learning more about Digital Assets and sharing with my network. I turned from a Skeptic to a Believer and then Investor in Celsius CEL token. I was really impressed with Celsius Network’s  mission and transparency.

Meeting the Celsius Team

You can judge a company based on the employee morale, their enthusiasm and how they treat their customers.

I finally got to meet the Machine Alex Mashinsky (CEO) and I shared with him that his one tweet of my Celsius Network blog back in Nov 2020 got 1100+ views from users in 75 countries getting my personal website in the global radar. I also got to meet his wife Krissy, who has own entrepreneurial venture and is equally involved in Celsius.

I had the privilege of meeting Zach (Celsius Public Relations) and his fiancée- I got to hear his story about how he started following Celsius, volunteered since 2017 and finally came on board in the company in 2019. I also met many more employees though did not have Photos Ops.

I got to meet the Co- Founder CTO Nuke, who is based out of Tampa and the new CTO Guillermo  who is based in SF Bay Area. I got some valuable investment advice.

After the event, I went to the Pizza parlor opposite to the Meetup venue to grab some dinner and then suddenly someone from behind I hear a voice – Are you enjoying your Pizza? I turned behind to see: it was Alex Mashinsky who come to grab Pizza as well.

I was completed touched as it was not necessary for Alex to stop by and say Hello. Well speaks volume of the humility of Alex- who is serial entrepreneur -founder of 7 companies- 3 unicorns ($1billion dollar valuations)- inventor of Voice over IP (VOIP) and has 50+ patents.

I could not resist and ask for a photograph with the couple together.

To sum up, with global inflation, increasing supply chain issues, excessive money printing throughout the world, diminishing purchasing power, people are going to turn to alternative asset classes. Countries such as Ukraine, El Salvador and other developing countries are accepting cryptocurrencies as mode of payment. The US president has also offered executive order to provide more guidance and clarity towards crypto currency.

It is a matter of time that 1% global adoption will grow leaps crossing the chasm and companies such as Celsius will benefit from this wave.