Meet Timur the Traveller: Life as a Binance Angel
Binance Angels lead some of the world’s largest and most passionate crypto communities. Hear from Timur, one of Uzbekistan’s longest-serving angels who loves travel and serving the crypto community.
"Binance Angels require honesty, friendliness, modesty, courage and the desire to help people from the heart—not out of necessity. We help out in any situation and encourage other users to never give up. We don’t linger on the short term because we focus on the long run."
Timur
Hear From Timur and His Love for Travelling and Serving the Community
The Binance social media platforms serve millions of crypto users worldwide and are well received by the community. We make sure our Binance users know precisely where and how to seek help if they have questions or want to connect with like-minded people.
If you’re a member of our Telegram community in Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakhstan or even English, chances are, you’ve seen Timur (AKA @PainAlive) around. We had the chance to sit down with Timur and learn more about himself and his love for travel and the crypto community.
How about a self-introduction!
Hey hey hey! Hello everyone, my name is Timur, but everyone knows me by the nickname "Pain Binance Angel."
I'm from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I first heard about cryptocurrencies way back in 2012-2013. I still didn't understand much, and I thought it was just simple electronic money. I didn't have enough knowledge, and I didn't study much about it. I remember trying to download a wallet, and I thought it was all simple, so I went to bitcoin.org. I was shocked when I tried to download Bitcoin Core and saw the inscription that it would take 30 gigabytes of Internet traffic.
Yes, believe me, I thought this was the only thing you needed to get started. At that time, I lived in Uzbekistan, the Internet was very expensive, and there was very little data available. I looked and thought, damn, I don't have that much Internet because my limit was about 35 gigabytes per month! Haha, I remember the price of Bitcoin was still about $200-250. I thought I needed a lot of money to start, and I didn't have enough at the time. I didn't know you could buy in parts, so I ultimately abandoned trying just because I didn't take the time to understand it more.
Time passed, I went to university in Russia and learned more about Bitcoin. Russian legislation scared me about cryptocurrencies, but I eventually joined the crypto world in December 2017. Now, I’m glad that I entered the crypto sphere, and I said to myself: better late than never!
How did you get into the Binance Angel Program?
Good question! When I researched the existing cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance was my top choice. I think it was because It was very beginner-friendly.
I immediately made my first deposit through third-party platforms and started trading. Later on, I found English and Russian groups in telegram. The Russian telegram was a lot of fun, and there were about 700-800 people.
I did not meet any admins in our group at that time, which was surprising. The group members shared their experiences, gave me advice, and helped each other a lot. I loved it! After a while, there were more spam and annoying people in our group, and I immediately wondered how to become the group admin? I wanted to help everyone in everything I could.
I started writing to all the non-active administrators I found in the group. It took a long time, but I was able to achieve my goal. I am very grateful to the employees of Binance "Livia,” as well as "Diego.” Diego told me about the Binance angel program. He also clarified that it’s a volunteer program with no payment, which I didn’t mind at all. We had a quick conversation, and I was officially a Binance Angel.
During 2018, I moderated the entire Binance Russian community by myself. I was a student, so I had a lot of free time. Eventually, I automated all the processes in the Russian community and went to help in other communities where I could, including the English group.
How do you feel as a member of Binance’s largest community volunteer program?
I feel really good! I am pleased to work closely with the team to help the community, especially because I was helped by two of the first Binance Angels: Jager and Symbiotic.
I enjoy sharing my knowledge and helping new users with any problems, questions about the exchange and more. As a community moderator, I learned skills and met incredible people. And it was a great time meeting the other Angels and even traveling with some of them during the regional Meetups. I am the person today because of the Binance Angel program. Now I work closely with angels from other countries. We share our experience, knowledge, we trade together and it's all very cool!
And after meeting CZ, I was surprised that he was a very simple person and spent a lot of time with us for communication and acquaintance, I was pleased.
Describe your thoughts on the importance of communities in crypto
Community is vital. People join communities to learn, ask questions, seek help and find recommendations from other members. They also help people avoid crypto scammers. We see a lot of people affected by various kinds of scams. Every day we see people with different questions and try to answer all of them. Once they’re trained, they begin to help other people and this is how a community works.
Then people look for other communities to gain new knowledge, later they find more friends and sometimes they meet in person—it’s fantastic!
From my experience, I’ve learned a lot from joining different communities. I also help people in other communities in any way I can. Learn more, get more knowledge, never stop learning—there’s always something to learn!
What do you do in your free time?
Oh, I try to spend more time with friends in my free time. I left Russia last year and just recently returned. I’ve travel to different cities within Russia. I'm also starting to study what I missed in my childhood and go to the gym. Sometimes I play video games, but now I don't have enough time for games. I also teach my friends what I have learned in the crypto sphere over the years, even when we play games and communicate over discord.
My friends are happy to learn something new from me because I will be happy if they also follow me and be successful. Once everything has calmed down, I'm waiting for a good time to travel to other countries and see my colleagues and friends in different countries. So guys, wait for me, I will be coming to your city very soon.
Speaking of interest, what kind of characteristics do you think an angel applicant should possess?
Binance Angels require honesty, friendliness, modesty, courage and the desire to help people from the heart—not out of necessity. We help out in any situation and encourage other users to never give up. We don’t linger on the short term because we focus on the long run. Do you want to know where I started? I started with $150 in December 2017. And I never invested any more since I was a student with nothing left over to invest.
Become a Binance Angel Today
Thank you Timur for sharing your journey with us and supporting the Binance community for many years. If you’re interested in becoming a Binance Angel, you can check out our Angel application posting.
What Do Binance Angels Do?
Binance Angels are passionate crypto users, community-builders, believers, leaders and much more! As an angel, you’ll act as a bridge between Binance and the users, addressing day-to-day questions and concerns and providing all-around support for the most passionate crypto community in the world.
Our Angel program is also an excellent way to learn and improve in many different areas. Beyond meeting people, you’ll learn to understand the community’s needs and how you can impact the blockchain industry.