Due to the increasing buzz around crypto recently, many are curious about what it is all about. Charlie Shrem’s Crypto Investor Network is among the many services that claim to be an expert on the topic.
We have already reviewed this service in the past. But to give you a better perspective, we have subscribed to the research newsletter. In this updated review, you will get an insider's look.
Together with Luke Lango, Shrem says that the newsletter may just be your ticket to millions. The editors believe that "crypto blockchains will 'disintermediate' big banks and big tech."
So in order to take advantage of this development, subscribe to the service. The team promises to provide the latest blockchain opportunities you can take advantage of to be rich.
Subscribers will also receive Shrem's "top crypto picks" and his model portfolio. Armed with this information, InvestorPlace is confident you will have an edge in the crypto revolution.
But before investing in digital currency, CNN Business has a few reminders.
Among the key points is that crypto is highly speculative. It can be worth ten times as much in the future, but your investment could also be worthless in a few years.
Due to its nature, the article also reminds people not to "bet" what they "can't afford to lose." While it is good to diversify, it is too big of a risk to invest too much in.
Moreover, the lack of regulation may be attractive to some. However, this also means there's "very little consumer protection."
Given these, the Bitcoin for beginners article also advises to "talk with your spouse before taking the leap."
In the same vein, this review aims to help you understand the newsletter first before subscribing. Though research companies often say that it's risk-free, subscribing to sketchy services can be a pain.
So before you invest in crypto and subscribe to Charlie Shrem's Crypto Investor Network, please read our review first.
In his pitch for the newsletter, Shrem lays out a long-winded pitch for "the perfect crypto." He even adds that he has never been this excited since buying Bitcoin for $5. So this must really be a big deal.
Let's see how this perfect crypto has performed so far. Read about it below.
MOST RECENT UPDATE: As an update to the review, we also tried to get a refund to test its Refund Policy. Was it smooth? Did the company give us a hard time? We talk about our experience below.
Overview
- Name: Crypto Investor Network
- Editor: Charlie Shrem and Luke Lango
- Publisher: InvestorPlace
- Website: www.investorplace.com
- Service: Cryptocurrency investment research newsletter
- Cost: $49 "promo" price for a one-year subscription
Controversial digital currency pioneer Shrem teams up with stock picker Luke Lango for the service. The duo promises updated blockchain and crypto insights for their subscribers.
Based on InvestorPlace's website, Lango is the main analyst in the service. We assume that aside from Shrem's name, his main contribution would be on big picture market insights.
As mentioned, $49 will avail you of regular updates, research, and crypto picks. There are also free reports included, which we will discuss in the next sections.
The publisher understands investors' interest in digital currencies since they prominently display the service as their premium and most popular newsletter.
The other top newsletter in the company is Louis Navellier's Growth Investor. Green Bull Research has previous articles on the guy. Check out our write-ups on his track record and Solid State Battery Stocks.
The publisher is also transparent that the service is designed for aggressive investors due to crypto's unpredictability.
Subscription Process
A reassuring feature of Crypto Investor Network is its one-year money-return policy. It's an enticing come-on as it allows us to test the waters first, but more on this in Refund Policy section.
After submitting the Secure Order Form, the publisher presented us with another "opportunity." This upselling technique is typical and expected.
But what Shrem and Lango seem to be offering with their "Preferred Membership" option is the lifetime membership as it:
entitles you to receive our Crypto Investor Network research service – every issue, every special report, every update – as long as it is published.
The price for this is an upfront $299 plus a maintenance fee of $19 every year. We opted to try this out so InvestorPlace cancelled the original $49 charge.
After this, you will be directed to a Thank You page from its CEO.
But, of course, it's another opportunity to upsell.
To be fair, it does seem logical that subscribers interested in crypto would want upgrades. For this, InvestorPlace offers Lango's Ultimate Crypto, which retails for $3,500.
But because we are special, we deserve a special price: $999. Since we wanted to test Crypto Investor Network first, we declined this offer.
The process is short and straightforward. After, we already had access to the newsletter.
What is Crypto Investor Network?
Once you subscribe, the service gives you access to the features we have encircled above. Its weekly updates, portfolio, crypto cash calendar, and others are supposed to equip you to make more money.
If you know how to move in this space, the promise is that you will become a smarter, more strategic, and wealthier investor.
The investment newsletter focuses on crypto blockchains. According to its proponents, this revolutionary investment will give you "breakthrough profits."
The idea here is that Shrem and Lango advise people to invest in companies that use this technology. In their pitch, they claim that:
our digital economy is shifting away from the Old Internet to something brand new that is safer, faster, more secure, and fully transparent.
In the article "What is Blockchain?," Forbes defines the term this as:
the innovative database technology that’s at the heart of nearly all cryptocurrencies.
Essentially, it is a "distributed digital ledger." Since it stores data, it records "information about cryptocurrency transactions, NFT ownership or DeFi smart contracts."
Its pitch describes the perfect crypto as "the internet of blockchains." In their own words, it's set to be a "game-changing platform." What is it, and how is it performing? We will tell you in the next sections.
Who are behind Crypto Investor Network?
It's critical to know who will deliver your investing recommendations. Since you will rely on their newsletter, you need to know if the people behind the service are reliable.
Do they have a track record of accomplishments? What have they done in the past? Are they trustworthy? Here is an overview.
Charlie Shrem
So who exactly is Shrem? Well, according to his pitch, he is the luckiest guy in the world.
Why?
According to him, he bought his first bitcoin "at under $5" long before "it soared 13,000-fold." As a result, he now lives a life of luxury we all dream of.
This kind of "financial freedom," according to him, allowed him to buy insanely expensive things. These include "two expensive Maseratis, a $2 million mansion in Florida, and two speedboats."
One of his claims to fame includes founding BitInstant in 2011. With his partner Gareth Nelson, he aimed to create a convenient way for people to change their money into bitcoin.
It was considered a runaway success from 2011 to 2013. At one point, almost a third of bitcoin exchanges then was facilitated by BitInstant.
However, he was arrested and imprisoned in 2014, which earned him the title of "Bitcoin's first criminal." Authorities looked at dubious banking transactions in his company.
Also, they alleged that he was essentially running an unauthorized money-transmitting firm. After his release in 2016, he slowly reentered the finance sector.
Luke Lango
The Chief Strategist of InvestorPlace, Lango is also the editor of a service we have already reviewed: Innovation Investor. Our previous article provides extensive details about him and his other newsletter.
TipRanks, according to him, ranked him as the number one stock picker in 2020. The agency also put his success rate then at 82%, with an average yield of 59.6%.
His profile describes him as someone who is a visionary when it comes to small-cap companies and cryptocurrencies. As well, he has impeccable instincts when it comes to tech, which benefits his subscribers.
In our previous review, we mentioned how he tends to overpromise in his claims. Moreover, some also fault him for a general lack of guidance on his recommendations.
InvestorPlace
The firm claims to be the leading voice in finance research. InvestorPlace claims that proof of this is its tie-ups with New York University, Harvard, and Georgetown.
In fact, it says that even CNN, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal, among others, frequently feature its experts and their insights.
InvestorPlace says that it mainly provides financial research, analyses, and recommendations. Among its services are:
- Accelerated Profits
- Breakthrough Stocks
- Early Stage Investor
- The Speculator
- Strategic Trader
- Platinum Growth Club
So, given all these, do they provide quality service in this newsletter?
What You Get
Definitely, you will not get "two expensive Maseratis, a $2 million mansion in Florida, and two speedboats" with your subscription. But if you religiously follow their advice, Shrem says you may also achieve such a lifestyle.
Upon entering the dashboard, you will see a user-friendly interface. The features are there for you to click on. You may check out the weekly newsletters via Alerts.
Meanwhile, the free Special Reports are under Research, while the Portfolio shows you how the recommendations are performing. There is also a calendar for special crypto events and milestones.
The December 10 newsletter surprised us quite a bit.
Although it started with an optimistic message, saying there are signs of a "a coming boom cycle for Bitcoin and altcoins in 2023," the update ended on a sober note.
In fact, the two editors explicitly asked subscribers not to "pounce" just yet. This, despite the positive signs they enumerated for a "new boom cycle for cryptos."
Alas, we continue to preach patience and cautious optimism.
This speaks well of the editors' care as they do not want subscribers to get too excited prematurely. They even advise readers to wait and not get aggressive before everything becomes clearer in terms of "price-action."
In the short newsletter, subscribers will get a global economic and historical perspective on crypto during this specific month. One will get a sense that the editors do know what they are talking about.
Is the update as information-heavy as other services? No. Every issue only has about 800-1200 words. But then again, this comes every week. Does it give you sufficient information? We think so.
However, we would have wanted more actionable information. It would have been better if more time is spent on what I can do as a crypto investor now.
To be fair, each issue does give you a better view of crypto in the big picture. After a discussion on crypto, disinflation, and oil, you will be directed to the portfolio page.
On the bottom of the newsletter are Portfolio Notes where the editors share pertinent updates on some of the recommended altcoins.
As fort the calendar, a short description will appear when you hover your mouse over an event.
It's supposed to be a neat feature, but it does not appear to be particularly helpful if there aren't too many important events.
For December, there are only five events, including one that only says:
We are watching this date closely. Stay tuned...
Do we think this is a major come-on in terms of value? Based on what we have seen so far, Shrem and InvestorPlace could still improve this feature.
Regarding the Portfolio feature, there are 14 items in there as of this writing.
Based on the Returns column, 12 are on the negative side, while only two are positive. Based on this alone, the biggest winner is 28.06%.
If we are to be grammatically strict about it, the altcoin is just the BIGGER winner because there are only two, the other being 26.85%.
The biggest loss in the portfolio has a return of -96.28%. In fact, all the losses are above 50%, with the lowest being -56.53%.
Since these are open recommendations, they can change every day. What you can see here is based on the publisher's last update.
At this point, what are your thoughts on the newsletter so far? Share your thoughts below.
Among the 14, five have a "STRONG" tag under the ticker name. According to the publisher's note, these are "picks you should buy on dips before buying anything else."
The returns of these five at the moment are -59.21%, -82.08%, -60.48%, -73.15%, and -74.80%.
InvestorPlace advises subscribers to buy them immediately. Anchoring your portfolio on these would be beneficial for you, the publisher says.
Aside from the open recommendations, we also appreciate the fact that Shrem and Lango also show their closed positions. It's a gesture towards transparency since we get to see the newsletter's performance from the start.
Based on the image above, the service does look good. The tickers look like winners with 43.49%, 80.45%, and 104%. We just hope this is accurate and truthful.
Track Record and Reviews
We have shown you a glimpse of the features, and we hope you already have a sense if you are liking the newsletter. To help you further, here is some of the feedback from other subscribers.
In our previous review of this service, Stock Gumshoe did not have a review page for it yet. Now, Crypto Investor Network already has one. It has a 4/5 star rating from 15 votes as of this writing.
It would have been helpful if there were comments discussing the service. However, as of this time, the three there were about Luke Lango's Ultimate Crypto.
As previously mentioned, this is the $999 upgrade offer when you subscribe to Crypto Investor Network.
However, we did see a 7 May 2021 comment in a separate page on Stock Gumshoe.
User "cpcutx," after mentioning that he liked Shrem's previous "Tron or TRX" recommendation, says that he finds the newsletter "worth it." A huge part of this is the previous $99 price tag.
Now that InvestorPlace has further reduced it to $49, it does appear to be a steal. Of course, this is if the content quality now is the same as what "cpcutx" has seen in 2021.
As you saw in the screenshot above, Tron/TRX was already mentioned by another subscriber as one of this newsletter's buy recommendations.
While we aren't going to confirm this, we also aren't going to deny it - wink, wink - and we wouldn't be able to say whether it is already a closed recommendation or not, if at all.
In addition, a separate discussion page also has this comment:
Based on the commenter, Shrem does seem like a credible crypto authority.
As we have discussed in his profile, he is a pioneer in this space. Some even call him a trailblazer of sorts, as he was among the first to genuinely believe in crypto.
At the time, not too many investors had the audacity to invest in digital currencies. But he took the risk. One could even say that his "colorful" journey contributed to his overall perspective on crypto.
Although the newsletter does not have a specific page on TrustPilot, it does get mentioned on InvestorPlace's review page. And it does not look pretty.
The publisher received a 1.1/5 star rating from 319 reviewers. Some of the comments include the following:
The people who write reviews or articles are a joke.
Stay away, don't give any money, they are all scammers in the wallets of Hedge Funds.
You have been warned. AVOID AT ALL COST.
They write two articles on the same stock, you can be reading one about a stock being a good buy, then 6 hours later they are saying the same stock is trash.
When you try to unsubscribe from their constant e mails, it never works. They are totally non responsive to complaints! What a waste of money.
These are strong words. If true, InvestorPlace has a lot of explaining to do as to why subscribers feel this much hate towards the publisher.
Obviously, these are not just about Crypto Investor Network, as there are many other services. However, these reflect in the newsletter as well.
So how do we make sense of all these?
Well, first, different subscribers have different experiences. They are at various stages of their investing journey and may have unmet expectations. Of course, the marketing hype adds to the confusion as well.
Second, these comments do not represent the whole universe of subscribers. After all, not everyone gives feedback.
However, we are sharing these, along with our assessments, so you can have more information.
Cost and Refund Policy
Cost
According to Shrem and InvestorPlace, the original price of the service is way higher than $49. In fact, we mentioned in our previous review that it was supposed to be $3,500.
However, the team decided to offer it at a lower rate, making it accessible to more people. So they reduced it to $199, then to $99. But for special people who clicked on their promo, it's available for $49.
If true, this is admirable. Many people indeed could benefit from demystifying not only investing but, most especially, digital currencies. But we all know that we should not believe all the marketing spin.
It can just be an entry-level service that will hook you to other higher-priced services. Also, a potential reason could be the low number of subscribers, just simple marketing principles.
After all, if it is indeed a "premium" service, and a popular one at that, why give it that price? Based on all that we have discussed on the newsletter, what do you think?
Refund Policy
In fairness to the publisher, it does give subscribers a huge leeway if they change their minds.
If you're not happy with your decision 12 months from now — for whatever reason — you'll receive a FULL REFUND on your purchase … no questions asked.
You can keep all the reports and we'll simply part as friends.
For Green Bull Research, this is such a refreshing statement. If the refund transactions are smooth, it speaks highly of the kind of company InvestorPlace is.
This signifies that it is confident in its service. Subscribers will continue subscribing even after a year because they love what they're getting.
Again, this assessment is based on the premise that the publisher indeed honors its refund commitment to everyone consistently.
Pros v Cons
Pros
- The weekly newsletter has an affordable entry price.
- Subscribers will get the supposed expertise of both Charlie Shrem and Luke Lango in one newsletter.
- The portfolio is transparent as it shows you both the closed and the open positions.
- Crypto Investor Network has a one-year refund policy.
Cons
- Of the 14 open positions in the Crypto Investor Network portfolio, 12 recommendations are down.
- While most editors describe their system and process, we do not see how Shrem and Lango arrive at their recommendations.
- There are many negative comments about the publisher and its inability to respond to complaints and refund requests.
REFUND UPDATE
To give you a better perspective on the service, we subscribed to the newsletter. As an additional feature, we also unsubscribed so we could describe to you what we experienced.
As a disclaimer, this is our personal encounter with Shrem's team, and it's not meant to disqualify others' experiences.
Since it was still under the 12-month refund period, we called the number and someone picked up right away. This was already a positive sign.
When we said we wanted to unsubscribe, the customer service representative asked why wanted to do so. We responded by saying we already had other investment services, and it had nothing to do with their newsletter.
After that, the person proceeded by saying we can expect the refund in five to seven business days. After hanging up, I then received an email saying the process will take five to ten business days.
However, to our surprise, it was actually processed the same day I called.
Honestly, it was hassle-free, and something we wish other subscribers would experience. If all investment research services are like this, the industry will have a better reputation.
Again, this is our personal experience, and other subscribers may have different encounters with Shrem and his team.
Conclusion - Is This a Reliable Service?
Charlie Shrem’s Crypto Investor Network benefits from the increasing buzz around crypto. Even controversies like the FTX chaos drive people to get more information about digital currencies.
We have already reviewed the newsletter in the past, but this is an updated version. Green Bull Research subscribed to give you an inside look at Shrem's and Lango's service.
It's worth looking at more closely because of how they market the newsletter. Although we credit them for inserting disclaimers to temper subscribers' expectations, they still tend to make huge claims.
Judging by their pitch, one might get the impression that crypto is an easy ticket to earning millions. People easily get enticed by high returns, after all.
InvestorPlace also pushes hard for the product, headlining it as a popular premium product on blockchains. Subscribing for the reduced $49 price will give subscribers weekly updates, special reports, and a portfolio.
Once you subscribe, expect the usual upgrade offers. It's up to you if you will accept them or not, depending on how credible you think the service is. What helped us here is their one-year refund policy.
The newsletter is rather short compared to others, but this is released weekly. With each update, the editors include a link to the portfolio, as well as the latest on their recommendations.
As mentioned, most of the open recommendations are on the negative side. Since the service is transparent even on their closed positions, we also saw them. All three have yielded positive returns.
The feedback from subscribers has been mixed, but those from TrustPilot are overwhelmingly negative. As a reminder, we ask you to weigh the service not just based on these comments, but they certainly can be helpful.
So, is Charlie Shrem’s Crypto Investor Network a newsletter worth subscribing to? To be honest, it's all up to you at this point, but we hope our insights have helped you make a decision.
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