It was 2010 when I first heard about Bitcoin in one of the libertarian forums I follow. It was an interesting topic for me. I put this in my pocket to research in the future, but I didn't think too much about it. Again in 2010, a few months later, Bitcoin appeared on one of these forums. This time I decided to research the subject. I remember downloading a wallet to my computer, syncing it, and trying to transfer Bitcoin there. I don't remember how many there were. I think there were 5 of them. Afterwards, I did not examine the issue much again. At some point, I think it was for 'steam' games, I downloaded the blockchain. Then the coins were gone. Yes that's true. Steam... I was also a gamer for most of my life... I had a Radeon 5970, which was a very powerful graphics card at that time.
The 3rd time I heard about Bitcoin was May 2011. I read that the price is increasing and people are making very good money. This time I decided to find out exactly what was going on. It was during this period that I dived into Bitcoin. Some nights I even remember not sleeping at all. I worked at my own business during the day, and when I came home in the evening, I devoted most of my time to learning everything I could about Bitcoin. How addresses are created, how wallets work, how the mining system works, how difficulty is adjusted… Everything that is possible…
After 1 or 2 weeks of very serious reading, I have come to the conclusion that Bitcoin is the greatest invention since the Internet - The most perfect form of money ever created. It's one of the smartest systems ever designed by man, and NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT IT YET.
I don't remember if there were any other coins at that time, but I clearly remember the names Namecoin, Peercoin and Feathercoin in the 2011-2012 period. Currently, I don't see or hear about any of these coins, except of course XRP and LTC.
Then I decided to deal with this issue 100 percent. I needed to buy some Bitcoin. It was needed NOW. It would be like buying stocks online but with a better system… No counterparty risk and now I could have my own bank.
I wasn't making much money at that time, and spending money on such an optional subject would not be a good situation for my budget. Yes, I had a very good gaming computer, but that was my only luxury in life. I knew my Bitcoin investment would be long-term and decided to buy $500. The only exchange I can remember in the market at that time was Mt Gox. I don't remember if BTC-e exists or not. Maybe there was, but I hadn't heard of it.
I became a member of Mt Gox and learned how to deposit funds. There were several ways to do this. One of them was an app called Dwolla. I also became a member of Dwolla and verified my name. I deposited $500 and sent it to Gox. BTC price was 3 dollars at that time.
I made the transfer on Tuesday evening after I got home from work. I was then informed that the money would be in my account on Friday. And in those days, I had to sadly watch the price climb up every hour. 3.5, 4, 5, 6 dollars... As of Tuesday evening, the price had already doubled...
While I was at work on Friday, I was constantly checking my email, almost every 5 minutes. The transfer had not taken place all day. We made plans with my friends for that evening. Damn, I was going to try to do this on the phone while spending time with my friends in the evening.
When we went to the cinema in the evening, I bought 50 Bitcoins at $10 each in the theater. Yes, I bought it at the highest price. I HODL each of these Bitcoins today. I didn't sell any of them.
(Movie for those wondering: X-Men: First Class)
I didn't want to stop here either. The more I learned, the more I had to learn and the more I had to DO. During this period, I started mining from the computer.
This was the time before ASICs. At that time, miners were using only CPU. (It was CPU in 2011. Like current GPUs which are underdeveloped for SHA256 mining…)
The next day I dived headfirst into Bitcoin mining! I downloaded the software and created an account on Slush Pool. I was running my 5970 at full capacity, then going out with my friends. When I came home, my room was much warmer than when I left. So that's the only problem with this? OK good…
Additionally, while mining, I could not play games that required graphics card support. I needed to lower the hash rate or turn it off completely. Okay, I could deal with that too.
After struggling with these problems for a few days, I decided to buy a new 5970. If I ever get tired of Bitcoin, there has to be a card that can still run The Witcher 2 well.
I also earned 50 BTC from mining between Slush Pool and BTCGuild for a month.
Today, I still HODL these Bitcoins.
One day my electric bill came and it was $350. For my one-bedroom apartment? This is impossible. I called the electric company and told them that my bill was wrong and that it was at least twice the price.
The answer given was 'No, the invoice is correct. This is the amount you need to pay this month. "Have a nice day!"
That was the day I quit Bitcoin mining.
At that time, I was telling all my friends about Bitcoin. They were laughing at me. But I was telling them that they wouldn't be able to laugh when I became a millionaire one day. Shortly after, the Bitcoin price crashed. It fell from its peak of $32 to $2. VERY DIFFICULT DAYS.
This drop is still one of the biggest drops in BTC history…
I also stopped talking about Bitcoin with my friends. In the gaming communities I was a member of, they made fun of me mercilessly and described Bitcoin as 'trash'. Almost every newspaper and news was celebrating the death of Bitcoin. It was my first collapse in the public eye and I was all alone.
I deleted the widget showing the Bitcoin price from my phone. I moved on with my life and tried to forget about Bitcoin. I kept my wallet on the computer, but I also deleted the blockchain copy.
For the next 2 years, I thought very little about Bitcoin. When the topic came up at work or in groups of friends, I moved on to another topic. I was completely demoralized and started to think that I had fallen into the biggest scam trap of all time.
After this unbearable TWO YEAR period… Bitcoin is back.
One day, I opened r/Bitcoin and saw tremendous happiness and pride everywhere on the home page. What was going on…
Bitcoin had passed the last ATH and was continuing its rise. $50, $100 and on!!!
In that moment, I was relieved of my fears of the last few years. Somehow, what I lost in paper money at that time made me forget the features that made me focus on Bitcoin.
So was Bitcoin back? In fact, he never left. It was still the same. The miraculous being I fell in love with was still there, with its decentralized, unchangeable and instantly transferrable features.
I went back to mining, but I didn't leave my GPU on 24/7. Eventually, ASIC devices emerged and devices like my computer were insufficient for mining. Then, I started mining LTC with the same computer, and I was selling the LTCs I earned in exchange for BTC.
I was mining on a site called Give-me-ltc and selling them on BTC-e.
Finally I got bored of mining again. Paying extra electricity bills and constantly switching between gaming and mining were tiring for me. So I quit mining and focused on other things.
I came out of this mining period with 30 BTC and 400 LTC. Today, I still HODL all of these coins.
Finally Bitcoin hit $1000 and I watched it on bitcoinity. I remember that day very clearly.
On the chart on bitcoinity, each price point was often depicted with fun gifs. Someone dancing or acting crazy, a person making a smiley face, or Mr. There would be faces Bean would make while watching billboards as he drove by. This time the gif was different, it was serious.
There was an astronaut who landed on the moon and he planted a flag with a Bitcoin sign behind him. My eyes were filled with tears. This was very important. Bitcoin has returned to its familiar state again. He was money in its most perfect form.
The value of the funds I had was enough to pay off my 6-figure student loan. I always thought that I would pay this money throughout my life… Bitcoin gave me financial freedom.
I didn't even sell a single satoshi.
Of course, the $1000 price didn't last long and I no longer had the chance to pay off my entire loan with the coins I had. The price could not recover for 4 EXACT YEARS. This was even longer than the previous crypto winter. During this period, I bought a few more coins through Coinbase.
The 2017 run was a blur for me. Except for one day…
The day I became a crypto millionaire...
My family has never had a ton of money. I never had the latest toys or clothes. We weren't poor, but we were trying to get by. I didn't have a great education in personal finance either.
Being a crypto millionaire was eating into my head.
One day, in the car on my way to work, I saw myself as the greatest person in the world. Somehow, by playing some numbers on the computer, I had made a million dollars.
I couldn't stop myself and told everyone at work about this situation. I was now a crypto millionaire. I couldn't hold my tongue. I told my family, my friends, everyone.
When I went to the store to buy something for myself, I couldn't get this thought out of my mind while walking around the corridors: 'These people don't even know that there is a MILLIONAIRE next to them.'
Of course, my crypto millionaire status didn't last long.
But this time, when I was at the top, I SODL (*sell) instead of HODL and bought a house and a car.
After 1 or 2 months I was no longer a crypto millionaire.
Seeing the altcoin season was like crazy for me. It was almost impossible to choose the coin that would never rise. Everyone was winning. It was utter madness. So I bought some ETH to make this profit, as I didn't believe in this event in the long run (I still don't).
Nowadays, I feel good. Price changes do not affect me much. The last time I bought Bitcoin, the price was down in March and was $4,000. I really wonder who resisted buying Bitcoin here.
I still keep all my coins except the ones I sold in 2017.
You will see this pattern all the time. There will always be an ATH, crashes will also come. Or there will be a fix. More times than you will feel like a HODL, perhaps you will feel like an idiot. But eventually these feelings will disappear.
I have a few anecdotes and thoughts to share. I am writing these item by item below:
I kept the BCHs in my hand for a while. I have to say I felt TERRIBLE during the breakup. After 6-12 months, I sold all my BCH for BTC.
I instantly sold my BSVs for LTC.
I hold BTC, LTC and ETH. This much.
I don't believe in any garbage coins that are centralized and 'improved and new'. I'm a BTC maximalist through and through. The only different coin I would consider buying is Monero. I don't know anything about Monero and haven't done any research. So I don't have any on hand.
FUN
In 2013, I gave 5 BTC to my friend. They forgot. I reminded them a year later and they sold them for $175 each.
Again in 2013, I gave 30 BTC to another friend. They sold them for $750 each in 2017.
I was a solo IxCoin miner for a few days (who exactly?). I wanted to find out what it's like to mine solo. I didn't remove even a single block.
My favorite Bitcoin saying is “This is a gentleman” why doesn't anyone say this anymore?
ANILAR
Wallets I use: Bitcoin core ==> Armory Offline
Electrum Offline
Safe
Armory was a very strange wallet. After the 20th time Armory failed to sync to the blockchain, I switched to Electrum. I remember having to manually export private keys using some Python script because I couldn't get the wallet to sync.
Reddit was sometimes very slow regarding BTC. I was going to BTC-e too. Now there is no BTC-e, so I hang out on /biz when I get bored of Reddit.
REGRETS
Not taking any more. No more mining
Not converting my BCH to BTC right away.
Concentrating on debt payments instead of focusing on buying BTC
Buying precious metals in 2013. What a great loss...
Selling in 2017. But I wanted a house and a car. It's stupid to regret after taking profit selling but I can't stop it.
THOUGHTS
I have never once tried to persuade anyone to buy Bitcoin. I told them about Bitcoin's potential and that the FED is bad. But I never once said, 'You should buy Bitcoin'.
I see a new 10x for BTC. Just buy BTC. Don't buy anything else. Just buy BTC and HODL it.
Keep HODLing through all the crashes. It will make you stronger. After a few of them, the others won't upset you. Be a man and HODL your coins.
People don't understand the network effect in the BTC protocol. Nobody cares whether other coins have better features or not. Nobody cares if there are better internet protocols. Everyone uses the one with the greatest infrastructure and support. Don't fall into garbage coin traps.