Collective Shift

The all-in-one digital asset intelligence platform | 100K+ Community | Partner of @coinbase @swyftxau, @coinspotau

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Why I invested in Hyperliquid and why I'm not selling.

While most altcoins are bleeding, HYPE is up over 100% in the last two months.

I bought at $23 in February last year. It's just hit $62 today.

The reason isn't hype... ;) Hyperliquid generates real fees and uses 95% of them to buy HYPE back off the open market.

This creates constant, automatic demand even when the overall crypto market is down.

Compare that to most other altcoins, similar token unlock schedules, but no real revenue, no product market fit and people tend to buy after the VCs and sophisticated investors entered months ago.

The gap is getting access to early-stage DeFi and native market opportunities. Most people don't even know it exists.

I just recorded a full update covering:
- The exact filter we used to enter at $23
- Why i'm not selling
- How you get DeFi / primary market access before these projects ever hit Coinbase

https://t.co/TgASkXfK2j

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

The new Australian Tax changes for Investors are absolutely diabolical.

As an Australian, in the U.S witnessing this, and the complete disconnect to what has been promised by the government and what has been delivered.

The ‘every day Aussie’ has not been helped at all here.

The only winner is the Australian Government, once again.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Your Bitcoin Strategy Is Wrong If You're Investing $50K+

Most people hear "dollar-cost average" and set up a flat weekly buy.

$500 a week. Every week. Rain or shine.

If you're putting in $100 a week, that's fine. Set it and forget it.

But if you're deploying $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 or more into Bitcoin, that same approach could be costing you six figures. Not in missed gains. In tax, exchange fees, and timing you didn't even know was working against you.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Everyone is facing the same investing problem right now.

US. Australia. UK. Doesn't matter where you are.

Your purchasing power is being quietly stolen. Every year. Automatically.

Here's what's actually happening - and what I'm doing about it.

Cost of living is up. Wages aren't keeping up.

Tech stocks are selling off as AI wipes out entire industries.

And US debt just crossed $38 trillion - with no plan to stop.

The money system isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed. Just not for you.

The old 80/20 portfolio - stocks and bonds - was built for a world that no longer exists.

Stable inflation. Rising real wages. Predictable markets.

Gone.

And most people are still using a 1990s playbook in 2026.

Where does your capital actually go to protect and grow your wealth right now?

Not stocks. Not cash. Not bonds.

Those are the assets being devalued.

Bitcoin has a fixed supply. 21 million. Ever.

It can't be printed. No government controls it. No central bank can devalue it.

Nothing in traditional finance comes close.

The new generation of investing doesn't look like your parents' financial advisor's spreadsheet.

The model has to adapt.

I've been building my wealth in Bitcoin for 9 years.

And through Collective Shift, I'm helping investors around the world do the same.

That's the mission. Onwards. 🚀

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

1/ I turned $20,000 into $100,000. Then $100,000 into seven figures.

Not from one lucky trade. From a system that combines four things most investors use in isolation.

The full framework, free. 🧵

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Walking past Miami Basketball Arena today.

Wasn’t that long ago it was FTX arena.

We forget very quickly.

Not your keys not your coins.

Don’t forget.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

The Financial Times reported today that Iran is now accepting Bitcoin for oil tanker transit tolls through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil chokepoints.

This feels like a real milestone in nation-state adoption.

Amid sanctions and geopolitical tensions, Iran is using Bitcoin to settle these fees, proving it works as neutral, reliable money for high-stakes global trade when traditional systems get complicated.

Its fixed supply ensures it cannot be debased. It can be held and received at virtually no cost.

Transfers are efficient and global. It is fully censorship-resistant. And crucially, it enables secure, permissionless settlement even between adversaries.

When these core monetary properties are required at scale, Bitcoin has no viable alternative.

There is simply no second best.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

What percentage of your portfolio should be in Bitcoin?

There is no universal answer, but here is how I think about it.

Conservative (lowest risk):

100% Bitcoin. Zero altcoins. It has the longest track record, the deepest liquidity, and the strongest network effect.

If you are new to crypto or you want a simple portfolio, this is where you start.

Standard allocation (60-80% Bitcoin):

Bitcoin anchors the portfolio. The rest goes into altcoins for higher upside.

This is where most experienced investors land.

Aggressive (30-50% Bitcoin):

Higher altcoin weighting. More upside potential but significantly more risk.

Altcoins are venture capital bets. If they hit, they hit big. If they miss, they go to zero. That is not an exaggeration.

The part most people miss: your stage of life matters.

If you are early in your wealth building, you can tolerate more risk.

If you are later stage, protecting what you have built becomes the priority.

That means more Bitcoin, fewer speculative bets.

The less Bitcoin you hold, the more risk you carry.

The more Bitcoin, the more stability.

Build accordingly.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

18 months as a nomad. Solo. 8 countries. One bag and a laptop.

A few years ago I tested what would happen if I untethered completely. No apartment. No office. No fixed address.

Just my laptop and whatever country felt right that month.

Bali. Dubai. Thailand. Each place rewired something. New inputs. New energy. Problems I had been stuck on for weeks just resolved themselves in a different environment.

It was not always easy. Midnight calls because your team is on the other side of the planet.

Loneliness that hits harder when you are 10,000km from everyone you know. Months where the novelty wore off and it was just hard.

But freedom was always the point. Not comfort. Freedom.

That is why I chose crypto.

The only industry where I could build something real without being tied to a postcode. Global markets. Online infrastructure.

No head office required. The entire business runs on the internet.

Now I am in Vietnam with my family.

Different chapter entirely. Working remote whilst on holiday.

Jumping between calls and street food and coconut boat rides.

Same principle though. Build something that gives you the ability to choose.

Then actually choose.

Still living by that rule today.

Onwards.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Most people buy crypto and it sits in a wallet earning nothing.

Here's how you can generate passive income in crypto 🧵

Staking

Staking is where you lock tokens to help secure a blockchain. You earn rewards in return.

→ ETH through Lido: 3-5% per year

→ SOL through JTO: 6-9% per year
→ You hold the token the entire time
→ Your keys. Your wallet. Yield on top.

The catch: rewards are paid in the token itself. If ETH drops 20%, your 5% yield is worth less in dollar terms. You need to be comfortable holding the asset long term.

**Lending**

Lending is where you deposit crypto into a protocol. Borrowers pay interest. You collect it.

→ Aave: the largest lending protocol. Battle tested since 2020.
→ Compound: similar model. Lower rates, strong track record.
→ Maple: institutional focused. Typically 6-10% per year.
→ Rates fluctuate with demand. Higher demand for borrowing = higher yield for you.

The catch: smart contract risk. If the protocol gets exploited, your capital is exposed. Stick to protocols that have handled billions without incident.

→ SOL through JTO: 6-9% per year
→ You hold the token the entire time
→ Your keys. Your wallet. Yield on top.

The catch: rewards are paid in the token itself. If ETH drops 20%, your 5% yield is worth less in dollar terms. You need to be comfortable holding the asset long term.

Lending

Lending is where you deposit crypto into a protocol. Borrowers pay interest. You collect it.

→ Aave: the largest lending protocol. Battle tested since 2020.
→ Compound: similar model. Lower rates, strong track record.
→ Maple: institutional focused. Typically 6-10% per year.
→ Rates fluctuate with demand. Higher demand for borrowing = higher yield for you.

The catch: smart contract risk. If the protocol gets exploited, your capital is exposed. Stick to protocols that have handled billions without incident.

**Stablecoins**

Stablecoins like USDC are pegged to the US dollar. No token price volatility.

→ Aave stablecoin pools: 5-8% per year
→ Syrup (by Maple): around 8% per year on stables
→ Rewards paid in stablecoins. What you see is what you get.

This is the closest thing to a high yield savings account in crypto. You are not exposed to Bitcoin or ETH price swings.

The catch: you are trusting the stablecoin maintains its peg and the platform stays solvent.

The real maths

Here's what it actually takes to generate meaningful passive income:

→ $100K at 8% = $667/month

→ $250K at 8% = $1,667/month
→ $500K at 8% = $3,333/month
→ $1M at 8% = $6,667/month
→ $1.5M at 8% = $10,000/month

That last number is the one everyone wants. The number nobody says out loud is that you need seven figures deployed to get there.

**Tax**

Yield income is generally treated as regular income, not capital gains. That means a higher tax rate in most jurisdictions.

$10K per month gross is not $10K in your pocket. Talk to your accountant before you build your target number.

How to manage risk

→ Split across multiple protocols (Aave, Lido, Maple, Syrup)
→ Split across multiple chains (Ethereum, Solana)

→ Never put more than 20-30% of your crypto in a single protocol
→ Use a hardware wallet where possible (Ledger supports staking natively, but they take a small fee vs going direct)

The realistic range

Passive yield in crypto sits between 5 and 15% per year. Not per month. Per year.

It is not exciting. It will not make you rich overnight. But for serious capital sitting idle, it is significantly better than earning nothing.

Full breakdown with protocol walkthroughs in the video below 👇

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Most people have zero idea how crypto influencers actually get paid.

I broke it down in this video but here's the short version.

Three revenue streams. Views. Sponsorships. Affiliate commissions.

The affiliate one is the killer.

Every time you sign up to an exchange through their link, they earn a commission.

Some deals pay per trade. So the more you trade, the more they make.

Their income is literally tied to your activity, not whether your portfolio goes up or down.

If they pump a coin and it drops 90%? Doesn't matter. They already got paid. The sponsorship cleared.

The affiliate revenue cleared. You're the only one who lost money.

In any other industry this is called a conflict of interest. In crypto it's called content creation.

One question fixes this.

Before you act on anyone's advice: how do they make money?

If the answer is views and affiliate links, their incentives are not aligned with yours. Simple.

The only people worth listening to are the ones whose business depends on you actually winning.

That's it.

That's the filter.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Back to the U.S.

Just brought on our first 5 team members.

Time to bring Bitcoin and crypto education globally.

Let’s go 🔥

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Iran rejected the U.S. peace proposal overnight. Oil is back above $90 a barrel.

This has real implications for risk-on assets and how you should be positioned right now.

But is now the right time to buy?

I am going live in 1 hour to answer that directly.

Reserve your spot here: https://t.co/gVNITLyDVX

🇺🇸 TODAY · 8:00 PM ET
🇦🇺 TODAY · 11:00 AM AEDT

See you there.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Trump confirmed that talks with Iran are progressing. He says the US is speaking to the right people and that Iran wants to make a deal badly.

For risk-on assets, this matters. And if you are not thinking about what this means for your portfolio heading into Q2, you should be.

But is now the right time to buy?

That is exactly why I am hosting a live briefing in 24 hours on what this shift means and how I am positioning heading into Q2.

Here is what we will cover:

→ Key Bitcoin levels for Q2
→ The Middle East situation and what it means for a digital asset portfolio
→ The altcoin up 70% YTD and whether there is still a window
→ Altcoin strategy for Q2
→ Your 90-day game plan heading into Q2

I will give you my honest answer on whether now is the right time to buy and the framework I apply to my own portfolio.

Q2 starts in days. Guessing is how serious money gets lost.

Reserve your spot: https://t.co/gVNITLyDVX

🇺🇸 25th March · 8:00 PM ET · 🇦🇺 26th March · 11:00 AM AEDT

Free · Live Online

See you there.

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Is now the right time to buy?

Crypto does not move in a vacuum, and what is unfolding geopolitically right now has real implications for how you should be thinking about your portfolio.

Last night, Trump announced the postponement of all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period.

For risk-on assets, this is positive. But a five-day pause is not a resolution, and the difference between the two matters for how you position right now.

Every conversation I am having with clients comes back to the same question. Is now the right time to buy?

That is exactly why I am hosting a live briefing in less than 48 hours on what this shift means and how I am positioning heading into Q2. Here is what we will cover:

→ Key Bitcoin levels for Q2
→ The Middle East situation and what it means for a digital asset portfolio
→ The altcoin up 70% YTD and whether there is still a window
→ Altcoin strategy for Q2
→ Your 90-day game plan heading into Q2

I will give you my honest answer on whether now is the right time to buy, the data I am using to make that decision, and the framework I apply to my own portfolio.

Guessing in a market like this is how serious money gets lost.

Reserve your spot: https://t.co/gVNITLyDVX

🇺🇸 25th March · 8:00 PM ET
🇦🇺 26th March · 11:00 AM AEDT

Free · Live Online

See you there.

[Collective Shift @shiftinvest]

The 2026 Crypto Wealth Blueprint goes live in 1 hour.

Days like today are exactly why a structured digital asset allocation matters. Most sophisticated investors are watching this happen with no structured plan in place.

Today we'll walk you through how to build yours. Rules-based, systematic, and built to protect significant capital.

The same institutional grade research that Coinbase, Swyftx and CoinSpot rely on us to deliver.

🇺🇸 16-17 March 2026 | 8:00PM – 10:00PM ET
🇦🇺17-18 March 2026 | 11:00AM – 1:00PM AEDT

Secure your seat here: https://t.co/K23Da0fKMI

[Collective Shift @shiftinvest]

The 2026 Crypto Wealth Blueprint starts tomorrow.

This event is built for sophisticated investors who are done watching inflation erode their wealth and want a structured, data-driven plan for digital assets.

We'll cover:
→ Why your existing portfolio is more exposed than you think
→ Bitcoin as a proven hedge against inflation and currency debasement
→ A complete digital asset allocation model
→ Your clear 2026 digital asset allocation plan

You'll hear from three of the leading voices in crypto strategy:

Ben Simpson: Portfolio framework and structured allocation across multiple market cycles.

Matt Willemsen: Research-backed sector analysis and strategic digital asset positioning.

Travis Thomas: The psychology behind disciplined investing and decision-making under pressure.

If you have significant wealth in stocks and property and want clarity and confidence heading into 2026, this event is for you.

🇺🇸 16-17 March 2026 | 8:00PM – 10:00PM ET
🇦🇺 17-18 March 2026 | 11:00AM – 1:00PM AEDT

Secure your seat here: https://t.co/K23Da0fKMI

[Collective Shift @shiftinvest]

The biggest players in finance aren't panicking. They're positioning.

BlackRock just made its first direct play into DeFi. JPMorgan, Visa, PayPal all aggressively hiring into digital assets. Right now. During the correction.

Watch what they do. Not what headlines say.

We are LIVE in less than 1 hour to break down the institutional signals and how to think about positioning.

Secure your seat here: https://t.co/Fw1oWZqyro

[Collective Shift @shiftinvest]

Most investors will enter 2026 the same way they left 2025:

- No clear exit plan
- Too much noise, not enough signal
- Constantly reacting instead of positioning

Tomorrow we’re sharing exclusive insights that only our members usually see.

If you want to win in 2026, tickets are running out.

Get your ticket here: https://t.co/RXgV3YXKEg

Event details:
🇺🇸 January 19-20 EST
🇦🇺 January 20-21 AEDT

[Ben Simpson @bensimpsonau]

Just landed back in Miami again.
Every time I come here, I realise how small I've been thinking.

We just finished our first year of international expansion.
+253% international revenue growth.
And we're still tiny here.
That's why I love it.

When you're building in Australia, it's easy to think small.
Our market is tiny. Our networks are local. Our ambition gets capped by geography.

The people building the biggest things aren't thinking about their city.
They're thinking about their category.

I've met founders here who wouldn't blink at a $100M raise.
Investors who think in billions, not millions.
Operators who've scaled globally three times over.

Same intelligence as the people I know back home.
Different frame.

That's the real gap.
Not talent. Not work ethic.
Belief in what's possible.

Australia has world-class founders.
But too many of us play small because that's what we see around us.

The internet erased borders years ago.
The only borders left are the ones in our heads.

I keep coming back because proximity to bigger thinking is contagious.

Put yourself in rooms that stretch you.
The goal isn't to leave Australia.
It's to stop letting Australia limit you.