Bitcoin and Regret
Today is the day. Bitcoin has passed the $10,000 USD milestone.
I'd like to take this moment to review my history with Bitcoin.
History
October 2013
I can't remember when I first heard the word, "Bitcoin", but I know exactly when I started taking it seriously. It was autumn of 2013. One of my friends in University had just bought a couple of coins and was watching the charts during class. He said he had already made a healthy profit in only a few weeks.
I went home and did some research of my own. It sounded like a really interesting concept, but I wasn't sure that I could justify investing a whole $200 on one unit of this funny internet money. Nevertheless, I downloaded a wallet and began doing research into mining. Soon after I forgot about it.
November 2013
It was only a month later that Bitcoin first broke $1,000. I didn't know this at the time. I had temporarily given up on Bitcoin since mining seemed too complicated for a newbie like me.
2014-2016
Over the next two and a half years, Bitcoin held a place in the back of my mind. I became an anarchist in 2013 and that exposed me to a lot of crypto-enthusiasts in the community. Bitcoin was definitely something I believed in, I just hadn't got around to doing anything about that belief.
August 2016
I joined Steemit days after witnessing the success of @dragonanarchist and @larkenrose. My introductory post was a big hit (it still holds the record as my highest-earning post on the platform). A few posts later I found myself with quite a bit of SBD. It was time to learn about trading. I opened an account on Poloniex and trading my Steem Dollars for my first Bitcoin. It was valued at approximately $600 at the time.
October 2016
I spent about 0.1 BTC on a $100 Amazon gift card.
June 2017
Through a combination of Steemit post rewards, successful crypto trading, a little bit of crypto buying, and the increasing value of Bitcoin I found myself with a cryptocurrency portfolio worth almost $20,000 USD. At it's peak, I believe my portfolio had a BTC value of 4.8 BTC. I'm sure this is small potatoes to a lot of traders here, but for someone like me, that's huge.
November 2017
My portfolio has a similar USD value to what it had in June, but now it's only worth 2 BTC.
Regret
When I look back on my history with Bitcoin, it's hard not to be filled with regrets.
- Why didn't I put all of my savings into BTC four years ago when it was only worth $200?
- Why did I wait for so many years to make a move?
- Why didn't I put all of my savings into BTC after first joining Steemit when it was only $600?
- Why would I ever spend 0.1 BTC, now worth $1000 on a $100 gift card?
- Why didn't I trade all of my crypto assets back into Bitcoin this spring? I would have twice as much money in my portfolio now if I had done that?
There's no good answer.
The truth is that these questions are worthless. There is no value in pining over the loss of what could have been.
Sure I could have ended up with more, but the truth is that because of Bitcoin I still have more than I otherwise would have had without it. I should be thankful for what cryptocurrency has added to my life. I shouldn't let myself become crippled by greed.
~ Seth
I'm sure everybody has their own wish-I-should-of-could-of stories like yours about bitcoin. Here is a quote of my own story taken from my introductory post here on Steemit.
It hurts to think about doesn't it? But the past is past... There's nothing we can do to change it.
It doesn't bother me that much. I told my wife about my 2011 bitcoin story yesterday and it bothered her a lot more than it bothered me :) I'm just thankful that I am taking notice of the technology now and trying to learn about it because I hope to eventually be able to develop products and services using this technology. I'd rather make money providing a product or service that people benefit from rather than making money buying something like bitcoin low and selling it high.
Good attitude!
We are old-timers Seth. So many of us have similar stories.
By this time next year we might be saying, "why didn't I buy more when it was only $10,000?"
The regret is real my friend. I first started using bitcoin to fund my sports gambling account a year ago because there were no fees. I would usually transfer about a bitcoin at a time(it ranged from $400-800 at the time). Long story short, I lost all that sports betting money and no bitcoin is worth 10 grand a pop. Live and learn haha
@sethlinson useless to cry over split milk... don't carry regret burden....learn a lesson and move forward
Exactly.
Hope for the best and move forward.... regards
On the other hand, you are so lucky to have 2 BTC. I wish I had kept my $400 June-July in BTC and Eth alone so that I would have $1500-1700 by now. But I have just $3.12 left due to bad trading. I'd easily switch stories with you.
Thank for sharing and wish you best of luck in futute too.