What is a DCA in Bitcoin and why should we know more about it?
What if I told you that with just 100,000 guaraníes a month you could have tripled your money in the last five years? This isn't some strange scheme or trying to force the reader into a "pyramid." I'm talking about Bitcoin, yes, that digital asset that many still view with suspicion, but that has long proven to be a much more powerful store of value than our local currency.
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What if I told you that with just 100,000 guaraníes a month you could have tripled your money in the last five years? This isn't some strange scheme or trying to force the reader into a "pyramid." I'm talking about Bitcoin, yes, that digital asset that many still view with suspicion, but that has long proven to be a much more powerful store of value than our local currency.
The strategy is called DCA, or "Dollar Cost Averaging": it's simply investing the same amount every month, regardless of whether the price is high or low, with discipline and consistency. And in this case, we focused on what would have happened if, from January 2019 to December 2024, you invested 100,000 guaraníes a month in Bitcoin, without skipping a single month. The result? If we had kept those 7 million guaraníes under the mattress, we'd have that much today: seven million, and even a little less in purchasing power, thanks to inflation. But if we invested them in Bitcoin little by little, without looking at charts, the result would be more than forty-five million.
The numbers don't lie: in 2019, the 1,200,000 Gs invested in Bitcoin annually turned into about 1,420,000 Gs at the end of the year, with a profit of almost 18%. In 2020, everything exploded: a profit of 184%. In 2021, things were more conservative, up just 3%. In 2022, we hit rock bottom, yes, with a loss of 30%. In 2023, hope returned with a 47% profit. And 2024 was an interesting year too, with a return of 118%. If we add it all up, those six years would have given you a cumulative return of over 500%, going from $7 million invested to over $45 million. All of this without lifting a finger other than putting in the money every month, the same amount, in the same way. Without being glued to the news or performing financial magic.
Let's compare that with leaving the money in the bank. Savings rates in guaraníes averaged 4–5% annually. That means the same $7 million in a fixed-term deposit for six years would represent less than $9 million in the end. But there's a small detail: inflation.
Between 2019 and 2024, we've accumulated inflation of 29% in Paraguay. That means that those $7 million you put in the bank, even though they've grown a little, in real purchasing power are still more or less the same, or even less. In other words, the bank barely helped to avoid losing purchasing power, and that's being optimistic. Because meanwhile, the guaraní devalued against the dollar, prices rose, and we continue to be paid in the same currency that is worth less and less. Bitcoin doesn't wait. It rose sharply in dollars, and if we draw the parallel in guaraníes, the result is even more striking.
Not everything is rosy. 2022 was tough for Bitcoin enthusiasts. Many got scared, sold at a loss, and swore never to return. But those bold ones who maintained their strategy and continued buying month after month, instead of panic selling, more than recovered. That's the power of DCA: it takes you out of the emotion of the moment, investing consistently, but with a long-term vision. It's like planting a tree: we won't have shade the next day, but with patience, we'll be grateful we did.
In Paraguay, we talk a lot about stability, but how stable are our savings in guaraníes? If silver is worth less and less, if interest barely covers inflation, and if the dollar continues to set the pace, maybe it's time to think about alternatives. Bitcoin isn't perfect, nor is it magical. It has ups and downs that can make you dizzy.
But if this analysis has shown anything, it's that, with discipline and patience, it can be a powerful tool to protect the value of your efforts. You don't need to be a millionaire or an expert. You just need perseverance, information, and a minimum risk tolerance. Because if you don't risk, you don't win. And these six years have shown that those who gambled little by little, without haste, are much better off today than those who stayed put.
It's not about going crazy, or selling your house to buy Bitcoin. It's about understanding that the world is changing, and that perhaps our traditional savings model no longer protects us as it once did. If this $100,000-per-month experiment taught us anything, it's that sometimes doing something small for a long time can yield huge results. This isn't financial advice, but rather an invitation to take a closer look. It's time to explore other options to protect and maximize the fruits of our labor.
As I say, the numbers don't lie. What we spend on a movie outing each month could turn into a savings fund that, one day, will get us out of more than one tight spot.