Bitcoin has been around for quite some time now. However, compared to humanity’s long history with money, cryptocurrency is in its infancy. While many people are already very familiar with Bitcoin, more people still have some learning to do. This has lead to some pretty interesting stories about people interacting with cryptocurrency. To feel better about your personal Bitcoin story, take a look at these stories from around the web.
Getting into Bitcoin Early
Three months ago, u/thecommontheme posted his Bitcoin story on the discussion site Reddit. The meandering post tells the story of a 19-year-old who found out about Bitcoin by accident in 2011, when most people had not yet heard of it.
The poster was so inspired by the technology that they saved up $3,000 to invest in the cryptocurrency when BTC was still worth around $13. Towards the end of the story a Bitcoin had risen to around $600 and the poster was able to use much of their Bitcoin fortune to pay for a friend’s surgery.
The post was written mainly to inspire the r/Bitcoin Reddit community. At a time when the volatility of cryptocurrencies is constantly in the news, the poster encourages readers to trust the tech, trust the math
, and give bitcoin the time to flourish… believe me, it will.
This isn’t just a unique story of one early investstor’s Bitcoin journey. The title of the post, “My Bitcoin Story”, inspired other users on the site to post their stories as well.
Investing Talents Instead of Cash
Reddit user u/nopara73 shared another Bitcoin story, inspired by u/thecommontheme. While u/thecommontheme’s Bitcoin story was one of unrelenting dedication to the new technology, u/nopara73’s story is somewhat different.
This poster bought into Bitcoin when it was $1000 per coin. After that, the notoriously fickle cryptocurrency had a long downtrend. Unwilling to ride the waves, the poster pulled their money out of Bitcoin and invested in various altcoins.
Fortunately for Bitcoin-dedicated readers, the story doesn’t end there. The poster returned to Bitcoin, not only as an investor but as a developer. The story ends with the poster reminding readers that investing money into a new technology is important but so is investing one’s skills. That way, according to this Redditor, If bitcoin crashes tomorrow, if I zero out tomorrow, I will still have the skills I’ve learned.
How Bitcoin Saved a Cash-Strapped Traveler
Our third pick is also one Redditor’s story. The poster, u/btc32123, had some Bitcoin but was traveling through South America on debit cards. Debit cards were not widely available in South America at the time, so the poster would use ATMs where available to take out small amounts of money. When an ATM “ate” the poster’s debit card, they had few options but to pay high money transferring fees from banks.
While weighing options, the poster found a cafe that accepted Bitcoin and stopped inside for some food. The shop owner offered to purchase the poster’s Bitcoin. Naturally, the poster accepted, made a profit on their Bitcoin, and walked away with spending cash without having to pay high bank fees.
This story may not have a moral about being patient with investments or being open minded when it comes to how to invest, but it is an interesting story about cryptocurrencies across borders.
Buying Bitcoin from a “Dealer” in 2013
Daniel Blank shared his interesting Bitcoin story on question-and-answer site Quora. Blank’s story takes place in 2013. Bitcoin was becoming better known and more popular, but it was also harder to mine than it once had been. It was also harder to buy than it is now. One of the easiest ways to get into Bitcoin was through “dealers” who sold Bitcoin for cash. So that’s just what Blank and his friend did.
Finding a Bitcoin dealer was easy, but meeting him was harder than Blanks had expected. Blanks wondered what he had gotten himself into as he and his friend went to the location where they would meet their dealer, cash in hand. What they found wasn’t what they had expected, however.
The big, bad ‘dealer’ that we were so nervous to meet was this 13-year-old kid sitting on a bitcoin stockpile that he mined a couple of years earlier when it was easy.
There might be a morale in there about holding onto your Bitcoin to sell when the time is right. Even if there isn’t, it’s a fun story that illustrates an interesting time in the history of the cryptocurrency.
Finding Bitcoin While Debunking an Altcoin
The final Bitcoin story also comes from Quora. Sudhir Khatwani posted his Bitcoin story about hearing a pitch for an early altcoin called Swiscoin.
Khatwani decided to do his due diligence by researching Swiscoin, which he believed to be some kind of ponzi scheme. While doing his research, he decided to look into Bitcoin as well and learn more about it.
While Khawtwani still had his suspicions about Swiscoin, Bitcoin intrigued him. After further research, he got involved in Bitcoin, first as an investor and then as a writer.
If the name looked familiar to you, you may have come across it in the past. Khatwani has been writing for the cryptocurrency news site CoinSutra for some time now and until recently served as their editor-in-chief.
The morale of this Bitcoin story is clearly about doing your research before you start investing in cryptocurrency. However, it’s also about not being scared of cryptocurrency because you found one dodgy case.
We may understand cryptocurrencies a little better now than some of these posters. However, that doesn’t mean that we’ve heard or told the last Bitcoin story.
