WAX ON: Crypto Was the Best Performing Asset Class of the Past Decade

Intro 0:00
Asset Class Comparison 0:18
Risk Analysis 0:45
Measure Volatility 1:55
Years with negative Return Comparison 2:48

Script:
A lot of people are pointing out that Bitcoin - and cryptocurrencies overall - are the best performing asset class of the decade. Think about that. Out of all the major traded assets in the world, crypto delivered the best returns. And as you can see by the numbers, we aren't just talking about crypto barely beating out the US stock market, or the global stock market, or gold, or commodities overall. In fact, if you added up, ALL the returns, of ALL the other major asset classes, and combined them, it's STILL not even close. Crypto just dominated.
Now this just warms the hearts of crypto fans. BUT… it's not the whole story. The whole story gets even better. You see, my partner, Megan Kaspar, dug into the numbers using some tricks she learned during her Oxford days. And she noticed something else, equally impressive, but also unexpected.

Crypto has not only massively outperformed the other major asset classes the past 10 years, it has done so in a manner that most investors would find MORE TOLERABLE from a risk perspective.
I'll pause right there. Because I know that seems counter-intuitive, if not impossible, given the perceived EXTREME volatility, of the crypto asset class.

But that is because our perception of volatility is distorted by this crazy fixation on daily price swings. When the reality is, that very few of us track the daily performance of our stock investments, our real estate investments, when we're trying to figure out how well we're doing.
When it comes to managing our own personal investment portfolios, most of us focus on annual returns. Oh, and when most people scream "volatility!" they don't REALLY mean volatility. Let's say someone had an investment, and 2 years ago, it was up 50%. Last year, it doubled. This year, it's going to triple. If that happened, you wouldn't hear people say "I really hate the volatility of this asset class." "It just won't stop moving." "It keeps going UP and UP and UP."

No. That's not what people mean by "volatility". What they mean is, is my portfolio UP, or DOWN year-over-year? That is the real question most of us ask. It's also the way most professional fund managers are judged. And by this measure - surprisingly - crypto, has been, LESS volatile than most people (even most fund investors) would ever guess.

Over the past 10 years, crypto has experienced fewer instances of negative ANNUAL RETURNS than the MAJORITY of the world's other traded assets. That really is amazing, isn't it? Crypto has had fewer losing years, fewer years in the RED, than the global stock market, than emerging markets, than commodities. And it has done so while delivering returns HUNDREDS OF PERCENTAGE POINTS HIGHER, than other perceived safer investment categories. I don't think these twin attractive traits, of historically high annual returns, combined with BELOW AVERAGE instances of annual losses, is well known especially by most risk averse institutional investors. That's why I believe it's an amazing part of the crypto story, that's worth telling.
If you liked what you heard on this video, please hit subscribe, make a comment, and I'll talk to you next time.

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