Is Ravencoin a good investment? I say yes. Some even say Ravencoin is Bitcoin 3.0.  That’s a big statement considering Bitcoin (BTC) has a market cap of over 400 billion dollars and Ravencoin (RVN) of less than 1 billion dollars.  Either way, the RVN code has some improvements over BTC and a few other advantages worth consideration.  Below are some of the biggest reason’s reasons to invest in Ravencoin. 

** This article was last updated on 7-17-2022 **

Before we get into that, I’d like to note that cashkeen.com is primarily about achieving financial freedom through sound financial strategies.  This involves establishing financial security (debt, savings), growing your money (i.e. fund investing) and acquiring cash flowing assets (i.e. real estate). See the Bridge to Financial Freedom

Investing in crypto is more of a speculation than an investment.  Arguably, crypto does provide opportunities for people to save, grow their investments, and even acquire cash flowing assets.  Regardless, let’s be mindful that crypto investing is extremely risky.

I first came across Ravencoin because I was looking to write an article about cryptocurrencies.  During my research I noticed a high level of interest in Ravencoin, especially within the twitter community.  In fact, it was the response I received from the Ravencoin community that first drew me in. 

Eventually I found myself investing in Ravencoin.  My initial investment motivated me to continue doing research and become more engaged with the Ravencoin community. 

After a few months, I felt compelled to summarize some of the things I’d learned and composed a series of tweets highlighting 10 big reasons to invest in Ravencoin. And this is what ultimately led me to write this article.

Is Ravencoin a Good Investment? 

Yes, in fact, here are 10 big reasons why I decided to invest in Ravencoin.

1) RVN Low Fees and a Growing Mining Community

Back when I first became aware of Ravencoin, my only crypto investment was Ethereum. However, I was becoming concerned with the high Ethereum transaction fees (gas fees). As demand for Ethereum grew, the fees to use Ethereum became prohibitively costly for many users. If people can’t use Ethereum because of gas fees, then what will happen to Ethereum’s price?

Ravencoin fees, on the other hand, are exceptionally low. Therefore, as Ethereum users look for other options, chances are many of them will gravitate to Ravencoin. It is evident this is already happening and I believe it is likely to continue to happen.

The Ethereum Foundaton and developers are planning on a solution to the high gas problem – Ethereum 2.0 (ETH 2.0). ETH 2.0 refers to upgrades that aim to make Ethereum more scalable, secure, and sustainable. Among other things, ETH 2.0 relies heavily on switching from from Prof of Work (PoW) mining to to a Proof of Stake mechanism (PoS). This has created some turmoil among Ethereum miners, whom are negatively impacted by this change. See Ethereum at a Crossroads: Ether Community Turmoil Over Miner Reward Fees.

As a result, a number of Ethereum miners are already looking for other coins to mine and many are finding RVN to be a very profitable coin.

The bottom line is that RVN’s low fees and a growing mining community will only strengthen Ravencoin, which will serve to further its adoption. All of this is extremely bullish and is one of the many reasons why I opted to invest in Ravencoin.

2) RVN Is A Fully Developed and Functional Blockchain

With Ethereum transitioning to ETH 2.0, I was also concerned with the fact that the Ethereum is in a constant state of massive transformation. This means that with Ethereum, there’s always a risk that something big could happen. I began recognizing this risk after reading An Economic Analysis of Ethereum, written by Lyn Alden.

Kind of like a bet on a startup company management team, a bet on Ethereum is a bet that the developers will perform a massive transformation on the base layer and successfully maintain its dominant network effect against competitors.

Lyn Alde

Like Bitcoin, Ravencoin is a fully developed and functional blockchain. Although there will always be developers working to improve Ravencoin, its base layer isn’t undergoing massive transformations. To me, this makes Ravencoin a less risky bet than Ethereum. And I suspect that some developers recognize the benefit of developing over a blockchain that isn’t undergoing an ‘open heart surgery’.

Items 1 and 2 are two of a few reasons why I sold my Ethereum and decided to invest in Ravencoin.

3) RVN is Not at Risk of Being Classified as a Security

Most crypto enthusiasts are aware that the cryptocurrency XRP saw a decline of over 60% in price after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an action against it. In short, the SEC called XRP an unregistered “digital asset securities”. Although XRP has more than recovered from the initial price decline, this situation took the wind out of XRP’s sails.

The fact is the SEC could clasify many cryptocurrencies to be securities. Even Ethereum is at risk of being classified as a security, when it transitions to ETH 2.0. This could not only impact ETHs price, but ETH’s future growth and acceptance.

With RVN I don’t have to worry about the SEC, which is another thing I considered when I decided to invest in Ravencoin. To start, here’s the legal opinion on why RVN is not a security, prepared in 2018 by Douglas J. Pepe – from Joseph Hage Aaronson LLC.

One of the main arguments for why Ravencoin is not a security is the fact that Ravencoin is a decentralized project. Another key argument is the fact that Ravencoin was fairly launched. A Reddit user posted the list below, which is useful in understanding what is meant by the term fairly launched.

1. NO: ICO
2. NO: pre-mine
3. NO: founder or developer set aside
4. NO: fundraising of any kind
5. NO: corporate structure, foundation or any official leadership
6. ALL: coins issued by POW (proof of work) mining

4) A Great Vision

It doesn’t take much to notice that the Ravencoin ethos is very much aligned with that of early Bitcoiners. Ideals of individual freedom, liberty, healthy free markets, land rights, empowering people rather than governments and corporations, etc. are common threads among early Ravencoin creators and supporters.

Those are all great and noble ideals. But, more importantly, these ideals resonated strongly among a few likeminded individuals that recognized early on that blockchain technology could revolutionizing the world. Ultimately, these ideals helped form a surprisingly deep and cohesive vision around blockchain technology, asset tokenization and digital securities.

This vision culminated with the creation of a cryptocurrency built on the strength of Bitcoin, on a fork of the Bitcoin code, as an open source project. And specifically, Ravencoin was designed for the exact purpose of transferring assets.

The fact that Ravencoin was designed specifically with asset tokenization in mind may seem elementary at first. It isn’t until we begin to grasp that the assets market is the mother of all markets, and that managing assets can be an extremely complex task, that one begins to realize the power of Ravencoin’s model.

As we’ll discuss further below, these great visionaries also had a very valuable understanding of the overall ecosystem required for this vision to succeed, as well as a deep understanding of the legal and technical challenges encountered when dealing with digital securities.

5) The People Behind the Vision

The idea of Ravencoin originated with Bruce Fenton and Patrick Byrne. Patrick is the founder and ex CEO of Overstock. Patrick then offered development resources from Overstock’s subsidiary Medici Ventures to help advance the Ravencoin project. Tron Black, whom at the time was also with Medici, became the lead developer for Ravencoin.

All of this was done while ensuring Ravencoin remained an open source project, as everyone involved foresaw the benefits of the open source approach.

Looking back, it seems fitting that the ideals that drove the vision culminating with the creation of Ravencoin were incubated within the think tank of Overstock and Medici and the people associated with these entities.

If you read about the likes of Bruce Fenton, Patrick Byrne, Tron Black, you’ll discover these are extremely smart visionaries. Collectively, these visionaries had a broad and well rounded understanding of blockchain technology, securities laws, free markets etc.

These individuals understood Bitcoin’s potential from the onset. They saw an opportunity to change the world through blockchain technology. Above all, they understood the opportunities within the digital securities market and foresaw the need for development, well before many others.

Why is this important? It is important, because the people behind the vision help provide extremely valuable context. All of this helps us understand why Ravencoin was based on a fork of Bitcoin, why it was created as an open source project, why it was fairly launched, etc. But it also helps in recognizing that Ravencoin was designed to work within the rules of law.

6) Industry Relationships Will Help Accelerate Adoption

In addition, because of these visionaries Ravencoin is in an enviable position to have ties to many other entities, aside from Overstock and Medici, such as tZero, Watchdog Capital, Realio, etc. In my opinion, these relationships will result in accelerated adoption of Ravencoin as one of the top cryptos for handling assets. When I learned of these relationships I gained further confidence on my decision to invest in Ravencoin.

Imagine what would have happened if Bitcoin had been invented, but never adopted. Indeed, Bitcoin would be worthless. Therefore, it follows that adoption is key to the success of a cryptocurrency. And this is exactly why it is of utmost importance that individuals in related industries have ties to the people that helped create Ravencoin.

I browse Google for news on Ravencoin several times a week, because I know it is only a matter of time before the next big announcement involving one of these companies and Ravencoin. Each one of these deals will further drive adoption.

7) Ravencoin Was Developed With Securities Regulatory Compliance in Mind

As eluded to earlier, the Ravencoin visionaries also understood the importance of developing technology in such a way as to work within the confines of existing regulation. This has positioned RVN and the entities mentioned above far ahead of their competition.

Unfortunately for the securities market, there are too many cryptocurrencies, platforms, and market makers that developed technology and went to market without fully understanding the nuances associated with the securities market. Recently, it has become clearer the SEC is not going to permit the securities market to turn into a digital wild west. Companies dealing with securities will eventually have to face regulation or face the consequences.

Consider what could happen to platforms trading Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs), if the SEC were to deem that a large number of NFTs are digital securities. Many of these platforms don’t have the necessary licenses and/or lack the infrastructure to deal with such complications.

To be clear, Ravencoin doesn’t have licenses, because Ravencoin isn’t a company. However, Ravencoin developers understood the challenges security token users would face and wrote wrote code with compliance in mind. More specifically, below is a list of 9 issues Ravencoin developers addressed for this very purpose. See Ravencoin – A Securities Token Roadmap.

Restricted Assets

These are tokenized assets on the Ravencoin platform that follow rules set by the token issuer. This is just open-source technology and tools, where the rules to follow are set by the issuer, and enforced by the distributed code.

Tags 

Tags are needed so that the movement of Restricted Assets can be restricted to only those addresses that are properly tagged. Tagging can be used for things like KYC, Accreditation, Affiliation, and limits on the number of addresses that can hold tokens.

KYC Platform

A trusted KYC/AML/OFAC entity that is so good and has such great policies that others can rely on the platform to satisfy their compliance obligations. Finclusive has developed a service that will integrate with the Ravencoin platform to satisfy these requirements.

Freeze (by asset/address)

This is required for Security Tokens to prevent their movement in the event that the holder is found to be a “bad actor”. This is a compliance requirement. Another use for these features is for Rule 144 restricted stock.

Freeze (by asset)

This is required for Security Token movement to be completely frozen for a given asset. This is also a compliance requirement.

Memos

This allows any transfer, freeze, or tag to have additional immutable metadata identifying the reason. This can be used for normal operations like Rule 144 restrictions, or for extraordinary events like seizure under a court order.

Dividends or Payments

This allows the payment of profits, royalty stream, or contractually obligated payment to asset holders who are properly KYCed.

Voting 

This optional feature allows equity token holders to vote their shares by sending vote tokens to specific addresses.

Messaging

This allows the reporting of material information to the token holders. It can also be used to inform the token holders of an impending vote.

8) A Huge Market and At A Very Early Stage

Ravencoin is about tokenizing assets.  And assets are anything of value.  If you include the derivatives market, then we are talking about quadrillions of dollars! The derivatives market includes things like futures, options, credit default swaps, and any combination of these.

The magnitude of this market is beyond human comprehension. Marketwatch.com has an article titled Here’s all the money in the world, in one chart, that may help provide the reader with a miniscule idea of the size of the derivatives market. The chart is just to big to include as an image in this article.

As huge as the asset market is, it is amazing to note that asset tokenization is in its infancy.  Most people don’t know what blockchain is and have no idea of what asset tokenization is. Without a doubt, we are in the very early stages of asset tokenization.

Investing in Ravencoin at the early stages of a new market is potentially risky, but it can also be extremely rewarding.

9) RVN’s Price

With all of the things mentioned above, one could make an argument a cryptocurrency like Ravencoin should be a top 10 crypto by market cap. A top 10 market cap would place RVN’s value at about $0.82 in this crypto bear market. This week (7/17/2022) RVN is trading at around $0.025.

To be clear, there’s no valuation to prove a top 10 market cap is even reasonable. And this my friends is the problem with calling cryptocurrencies investments. In fact, there’s no valuation anyone can use to prove Bitcoin’s market cap is reasonable either. This is why I have to reiterate that crypto investing is not really investing, but speculating.

Let’s go back to the saying that Ravencoin is Bitcoin 3.0. The implication here is that Ravencoin is superior to all coins. If this were true, you’d expect Ravencoin’s market cap to exceed that of Bitcoin. As of today, BTC has a market cap of $406 Billion. With a circulation of 10,473,290,000 coins, RVN would have to trade at $39 to exceed BTC’s market cap. That would mean Ravencoin is undervalued by 1560X.

Such valuation is arguably absurd. Indeed, figuring out how to value crypto is impossible and often results in absurd speculation. In my mind, the real driver of valuation is adoption. If Ravencoin adoption follows a similar path to Bitcoin’s adoption, then absurd valuations may not prove to be so absurd. And let’s not forget that Bitcoin adoption is just getting going.

For Ravencoin to be widely adopted, it would have to offer solutions to problems most other coins don’t offer. And as indicated above (see 1 through 9), I believe Ravencoin does just that. However, the true driver of adoption is the people driving the adoption.

10) The Powerful Community Behind Ravencoin – The Ravenites

Perhaps the biggest reason to be excited about RVN is seeing the amazing Ravencoin community in action. As I stated at the beginning of this article, it was engaging with this community that first drew my attention to Ravencoin. It didn’t take long for me to feel part of this community and to feel as if I was partaking in something noble, big and exciting.

I can honestly say I’ve never been part of anything like this before. I imagine this is as close as it gets to what early Bitcoiners experienced when Bitcoin was trading for pennies. Just look at the Ravencoin campus and the live virtual reality NFT auctions taking place there. Notice the various communities in twitter, telegram, discord, etc. Notice the number of entrepreneurs, developers, and users working together to fulfill Ravencoin’s vision. And this is all happening across the world.

Ravencoin supporters invest in Ravencoin economically, intellectually, and in any other form that advances adoption. These supporters are Ravencoin’s marketing department. After all, people promoting what they believe in is the most powerful marketing campaign anyone could devise.

Where Can I Buy Ravencoin?

The top three exchanges to buy Ravencoin are Binance, Bittrex, and OKEx. I use Binance and have been pleased with it. The link provided includes a referral code.

Other major exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini do not currently offer Ravencoin. However, it is very likely these exchanges will begin listing Ravencoin in the near future. See Ravencoin Coinbase listing? Is RVN Ready to Fly? In fact, Ravencoin supporters are eagerly anticipating a Coinbase listing as it is likely such a move will cause a flood of new crypto investors to discover Ravencoin. Arguably this will result in higher Ravencoin prices.

At this point, it appears all the conditions necessary for Ravencoin to be listed on Coinbase have been met. Namely, the Ravencoin foundation has submitted a listing application and RVN community developers already completed software integration (Rosetta Implementation>

Conclusion

Obviously, I am tremendously bullish about Ravencoin. Although I recognize investing in Ravencoin could be risky, I’ve taken advantage of what I believe is a great entry price and have utilized the dollar cost averaging strategy to build my position. Because I still consider Ravencoin a speculative investment, it is difficult for me to continue to increase my position. However, as Ravencoin adoption grows I’ll be looking to add to increase my position.

As such, I am eagerly awaiting for some of the key industry relations mentioned earlier to bear fruit. And at the same time, I am excited to see what the Ravencoin community comes up with next.

Finally, please do not consider any of this as financial advice. I am not a financial advisor, nor a cryptocurrency expert. Simply, I am an engineer with a passion for personal finance. One thing I know is that crypto investing is extremely risky. Ravencoin investing can be equally risky.

Again, I don’t consider crypto an investment. I consider it a speculation. For more on crypto investing, check out 7 Essential Crypto Investing Tips for Beginners.