On... Buying JPEGS?

NFT (Non Fungible Tokens) shot to the forefront of media in early 2021; although the tech has been around since 2017 with the launch of Crypto Kitties.

There are competing sources on what kick started the bubble and bull run of NFT's but I would attribute it to Beeple's $69 million sale at Christie's in early 2021. That is probably the time when I heard about Nft's which later is just called Jpegs by people in the space.

I initially shied away from this space because it seemed very speculative and scammy. Several months on, I changed my mind as I got caught in the bull market mania. I've been investing in this area ever since as my perception of this space changed.

Jpeg investing is a very unique space - it is the intersection of venture capital and alternative asset class (watches, fine art, wine, comics, music, etc...). Normal people like me will never have the chance to participate in a venture capital. This is as close as I get. Betting on new technologies and projects which are unproven but with a huge upside. There are so many interesting things that are getting built everyday in Jpeg-land. Admittedly, most will not work out but you only need to get one or two right to make back your losses. It is also fun (brings me back to my youth when I was collecting comics,, music, etc...).

As it is a very speculative space, you do not want to have a large position in your portfolio (Not more than 20% for high risk investors and not more than 10% for regular investors). As of Q3 2022, this is how my allocation looks like. About 50% invested (50% in cash). Out of the 50% invested, 10% is in ETH. And out of the 10% invested in ETH, 92% is in JPEG. That makes about 4.6% of my portfolio invested in Jpegs. I would take it up to 20% in time but not more.

Jpegs are speculative and full of scams. Does this mean we should avoid them? Depends on your risk tolerance. Manage your risk and invest accordingly.