Why I bought Bitcoin – a personal journey

I was reluctant at first to write anything about Bitcoin because there are so many experts out there to educate you. Then I thought that, if you are reading this, perhaps you don't want to hear from an expert but from an ordinary person like me who is not a techie.

I first heard about Bitcoin in 2011 from Max Keiser who presents an econmics tv show on Russia Today (RT) called the Keiser Report. He is an ex-stockbroker and quite a character. He is very enthusiastic and passionate about Bitcoin. At some point my interest was peaked and I started investingating what it was about.

I learnt about the blockchain. In short, the next wave of the internet. I researched the 'internet of things'. I can recommend some excellent and thought provoking lectures on TED talks. Although I found it too technical I did begin to have a grasp of how Bitcoins were mined and the mathematical problem solving that lies at its core.

I saw it's potential. Which in a word was revolutionary. For me that was enough to take my money and invest. This was way back in 2012 and I had to go into my local bank branch (remember those?) and wire transfer the money to somewhere like Hong Kong which then got deposied at an account at Mt Gox, the exchange for bitcoin.

Also at the time all I had was a PC, I have only just this Christmas gone onto a Smart phone. So I had the entire blockchain downloaded on my computer which had to continually synch before I could carry out any transactions. When/if you do decide to invest/shift into cryptos you must first have a wallet. There are now many to choose from. I can just say do your research and compare.

Anyway I was now the proud possessor of a dozen or so Bitcoins. If I remember rightly it was towards the end of the next year that Bitcoin began a tremendous run up to break the $1000 mark. This is when I made my first mistake. I saw the run up and decided to transfer half my holdings and sell. This I accomplished. I then had to try and understand how I actually got the money back into my bank account.

Meanwhile the price of Bitcoin had dropped and, as I had made a lot more money than I had paid for them, I speculated some. It was easy, it felt like I was playing a casino with free chips. Bitcoin was volatile. I played this game for about 4 days. I was still trying to work out how to get the money transferred. When I woke up one day to find that Mt Gox had gone down. It's an interesting story, however for me it meant I had lost half my holdings (plus what I had won on the casino). I learnt that keeping your cryptos on an exchange is not a good idea at all. I now transfer them off asap, and I take storage more seriously.

Now it's so much easier to buy them, especially if you have a smart phone. You have to understand that this is a developing technology. Wallets have been developed. More and better exchanges, although hacking is a current issue. Lots of tutorials and guides have been put out there by enthusiasts on Steemit and youtube. There are a lot of crypto enthusiasts like me. I follow some super people on Steemit who are very informed on the crypto world. Remember there are a lot of charlatans out there too. Not to mention the bad press.

Some of the world's brightest minds are working in this field. Lots of ideas and developments are taking place in the crypto world which will begin to have real world applications in the next few years. I believe it's an exciting time to be involved.

Links_

You can follow the Keiser Report @KeiserReport

Ted talk on the blockchain can be found here https://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_how_the_blockchain_is_changing_money_and_business

For a hilarious defence of the Bitcoin revolution see this by Washington DC comic Lee Camp:
https://www.rt.com/shows/redacted-tonight-summary/415793-bitcoin-dropping-dollar-issue/