My Cryptocurrency Journey
I assumed by now everyone knew what bitcoin is, but in case you’re new to this space, it is defined by Wikipedia as the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly through the use of cryptography, without an intermediary. These transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there are 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.
How I came across cryptocurrency?
A little of my background: I'm a consultant in a multinational company based in Japan that has major projects around the globe. My closest friends and colleagues Saito (Japanese) is our System Analyst Programmer at that time while Jeb (Filipino) is our Network Specialist/Administrator. In 2005, we worked together in a multi-billion-dollar power plant project in the Middle East. First quarter of 2008 Jeb migrated to Australia while Saito san was promoted to a managerial position and backed in our Japan headquarter. In short, I was like home alone until the project was fully completed in 2012.
Bitcoin story: Middle of 2009, Saito-san emailed to informed me about Bitcoin and asked me to download bitcoin application and installed it in my personal computer to create a wallet so he can send me 1 BTC and for me to start mining bitcoin. A week later Jeb called from Australia asking if I started mining bitcoin, only then I realized that my wallet has 199 bitcoins in it.
Bitcoin mining: So, I mined bitcoin at roughly 400 bitcoins per week for my two-personal computers in the office and in my laptop occasionally. I noticed that the difficulty fluctuated from 7 to 500 but middle of 2010 the difficulty fluctuation increased to around 10000. The difficulty consistently gone higher over time and stood up 100001 in 2011.
Saddest part: The project was completed end of 2011. So, I take my grand vacation also in time for Christmas holiday season (a perfect vacation I thought) without knowing a disaster strike. When I reported back to work, all of our network infrastructure was already shifted to another new project in the same region including my PC where my bitcoin wallet contains 14,418.12161449 was hosted. I check my PC but unfortunately, it’s too late as it’s my company’s policy to format all the PC’s hardrive before shifting out. I used every possible ways to recover my Bitcoin but failed. To my desperation, I stop mining and totally forget Bitcoin! In short, I lost US$259M as of 18-Dec-2017 price just like that!
Hola! good news! My Birthday in 2014, I received a gift from one of my best friend, a gaming laptop! I setup the said device. As always, I make sure I backup my old files when I noticed the folder bitcoin. When I check, I found out that I have a wallet that contains 10.18174960 bitcoins and I transferred it to my electrum wallet. Not bad after all!
To Saito-san and Jeb-san, if you are still around, you knew my personal email address. My yahoo email address is still active since I created it in 1996! Please contact me. I haven’t heard from you guys since end of 2009! I knew you’re so wealthy nowadays as you have enough bitcoins and you guys are my mentors in cryptocurrency.
Below are my cryptocurrency investment. Next time, I will publish here why I invested Iota (MIOTA) and Ripple (XRP). Until then!
From my technical point of view, if we closely examine the first chart below, from the inception of bitcoin in October 5, 2008 we can see that there’s only a minimal activity until first quarter of 2013, then a gradual movement noted until first quarter of 2017 and after that activities skyrocketed with no signs of slowing down.
The second chart beneath, EMA crossed MA on the first week of October 2017 with a price range of 4-5K with constant overbought RSI since then.
Now, should I add Bitcoin in my portfolio?
The answer to this question is depends on what side of the coin you’re in. If you asked this question to the elite Bankers and the Wall Street Manipulators, all they can say, it’s a scam and a bubble that ready to bust anytime. Even Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase James Dimon described Bitcoin as a fraud, of course he should be worried because when the masses fully adopted cryptrocurrency, all bank becomes obsolete and remains a history.
Personally I believe we are just starting, if you’re a short-term investor there are still huge potential of ripping higher gains as I am expecting the to price be landed at 40K middle of 2018. Otherwise wait for a correction where EMA & MA crossed again in reversal mode at 4-5K price ranges. As I always implied, never invest more than you are willing to lose – Cryptocurrency in general is a very risky investment and you should keep that in mind at all times.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a Financial Advisor. Expressed in this blog is my personal opinion only and should not be construed as a recommendation, an offer, or solicitation for the subscription, purchase, or sale of any of these cryptocurrencies.
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