In 2021, James and I published The Big Book of Crypto.

It’s meant to be a deep dive into all of the trends we’re seeing in crypto and where we think it’s all headed.

In the past few weeks, we’ve been behind the scenes giving it an update. Lots has changed since 2021 and this industry moves fast.

If you’re a member of Early Stage Crypto Investor or Altucher’s Investment Network, you’re going to get first-look access to this updated edition.

Be on the lookout.

Today, I wanted to share a chapter from the book on the “next trillion-dollar crypto.”

Check it out below.

Read on.

The Next Trillion-Dollar Crypto
From the Big Book of Crypto

By 2010, a young Vitalik Buterin had spent thousands of hours playing the game World of Warcraft.

During this time, he’d built up his characters exactly how he wanted them.

They were perfect. He was proud.

But one day, the game’s creator removed a key feature of one of the main characters, effectively destroying hundreds of hours of gameplay in milliseconds.

“I cried myself to sleep that night,” said Vitalik.

He quit the game.

The idea that someone could just destroy his hard work willy-nilly led him to hate the centralized architecture of the internet and video games.

He’d already felt that way about political structures; now it was obvious to him that unhampered centralization was a problem in all systems. By the way, this disgust was further planted in his mind by his father, Dmitry Buterin, who grew up in Russia and saw firsthand what authoritarian regimes are like.

Dmitry taught Vitalik to value openness, freedom and transparency. (See the Addendum in The Big Book of Crypto for our never-before-seen “lost interview” with Dmitry Buterin from 2017.)

It was because of these values that Bitcoin fascinated Vitalik, but he didn’t think Bitcoin was enough.

Fixing monetary policy alone won’t inherently fix the problems of centralized institutions.

Bitcoin, Vitalik realized, doesn’t fix the problems of trust, transparency and ownership on the internet and in real life.

So he set out to find the solution.

Don’t Get Me Wrong

Bitcoin is still a big deal.

It’s minted no shortage of millionaires and billionaires. It will continue to do so.

But the next trillion-dollar coin is Ethereum.

Not everyone thinks this, but time will prove us right.

Ethereum is what Facebook, Google, Netflix and Amazon were over a decade ago. Most people just haven’t figured it out yet. I’ll tell you why I think Ethereum has such incredible potential. But please, do your own due diligence.

The important thing to realize: Cryptocurrencies have a purpose.

You can cut out the middlemen. Someone in Brazil can pay someone in Switzerland without having to get permission from someone (or something) in New York City.

And further, they’re just the natural evolution of money. An evolution, as mentioned, from theism to humanism to dataism.

Bitcoin is the first sketch.

And here’s the thing.

We’re going to find in the coming years that cryptocurrencies can do much more than just disrupt traditional banking—they have the potential to change more industries than anyone thought possible.

I believe Ethereum will lead the way.

But ETH isn’t even where the real money will be made in crypto.

The real money will be made in early-stage cryptos that benefit from the growth of Ethereum and Bitcoin. 

[Chris’ note: More on where Ethereum could be headed -- and why it could go way higher than anyone thinks tomorrow. Also, we’ll dive into some even bigger opportunities.]

Stay tuned.