- 21-year old Mason Versluis has almost 500,000 followers on TikTok, where he shares tips on crypto and markets.
- He recently spoke to Insider about how he picks which coin to invest in and why.
- Versluis said he would like to see bitcoin 'get slayed' as other coins have far more real-use cases.
Bitcoin is the biggest cryptocurrency by market value and, for now, continues to dwarf its competitors. But the rise of crypto rivals with far more real-life applications means it will be dethroned sooner rather than later, according to financial TikTok influencer Mason Versluis.
21-year old Versluis also goes by the user name Crypto Mason and has almost 500,000 followers on his TikTok account, which he uses to make short videos to educate his viewers about crypto and the markets.
Versluis, who has been trading crypto since he was 15, recently spoke to Insider about his outlook for the market.
"The psychological thing of bitcoin always being number one and king can be gone. So, by 'slaying bitcoin', I mean I want something to pass it and then we'll see what happens after that," Versluis said.
Bitcoin has a market capitalization of just under $800 billion, out of the roughly $1.9 trillion that the entire crypto market is worth, according to CoinMarketCap.
In the last 12 months, it's gained almost 350% in price, but Versluis thinks there's more value to be had elsewhere.
"My dad actually told me about XRP when I was 17, and I've been in ever since, off and on," he said.
"I am one of these people who think XRP is a 'better bitcoin'. And it actually tackles the payments problem better than bitcoin can or ever will," he added. Ripple Lab's XRP token is used in fast-payments systems - an area where bitcoin cannot really compete given how slow its network is in comparison. XRP is one of the larger crypto coins and has kept pace with bitcoin in the last year, rising around 320%.
Ether, the native token of the ethereum network, is the second-largest cryptocurrency and accounts for about 20% of the market. Its blockchain's ability to run decentralized finance applications, smart contacts and other protocols has seen a rush of investor cash into ether this year, which has gained almost 800% in that time.
"It's got to have use cases, meaning: does this token do nothing? Am I just buying this token because I think it's going to go up in value?" Versluis said.
"That is what I am personally invested in, just because of the potential - they actually do something. Ethereum has so many decentralized applications built on it," he added.
When it comes to taking a position in a coin, Versluis says he isn't a day trader.
"That's a lot of stress, you've got to be at your computer watching the markets," he said.
"I'll see an opportunity, put some money in, and I'll basically ride that rocket up until I think it's time to sell. I sell out of it and I put it into a stablecoin, such as USDT or USDC. And then, I just make profits, and then I'll reinvest some of that into my main portfolio. So it's a slow process," he said.
As a relatively young trader who says part of his crypto passion is its decentralized, free nature, the question arises as to what Versluis thinks about regulation in this market. Unlike a lot of crypto fans, he's not against it. But he does believe that any rules need to adapt to the reality of the crypto market and one size does not fit all.
"It's a digital world. And we're only going to get more digital and more virtual," he said.
"They can't just take the old system, laws and slap it on to crypto. It doesn't work. So, what's gonna come out of this is a whole new way of looking at these tokens."
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