How Did I Discover Cryptocurrency and Why I Choose BitcoinCash.
One of the first questions always asked in the Crypto sphere is how did you learn about Bitcoin? Then followed up by which coin or coins do you hold?
The answer to this first question is not as easy to answer as you would think. Right before the split between Bitcoin and BitcoinCash I met someone very involved in the community we were discussing how I became a libertarian which naturally lead us to a discussion about economic freedom, Ross Ulbricht and then Bitcoin. The following day I ran home and researched Silk Road and Ross Ulbricht. Five minutes later, I had signed the petition. My interest was piqued, I started to do my own research in regards to Bitcoin. I bought several books but all that did was confuse me more. I started watching YouTube videos and remember thinking to myself “who are these people” and “are they even speaking English” but I kept researching determined to learn about economic freedom, I just couldn’t grasp how someone could gain economic freedom with online money.
Fast forward to the Bitcoin/BitcoinCash fork, I knew this was a big deal but I didn’t know what was going to happen. So I called my friend and set up another time to meet, well this time I was prepared I had my notes laid out from the books I had read and I was pretty proud of myself after all Bitcoin is not easy to understand with words like nodes, Raspberry Pi's (what does pie have to do with economic freedom), miners, QR's, checkpoints, lightning (still waiting) and why only 21 million and do I have to buy a full coin? I mean this list goes on (after all I am much older than the usual crypto enthusiast) little did I know I had already entered the rabbit hole and from the look I received from my friend he knew it. So after 2 days that was it, I needed to get my hands on Bitcoin.
As soon as I got home I joined Coinbase and I saw a few coins listed and thought Bitcoin is really expensive and I can get 4 times the amount with this coin called Litecoin so I put in a buy order for that, Etherum and BitcoinCash. I had never been a huge fan of Social Media but at this time I decided I needed to join Twitter to see what others were experiencing and oh God what a jolt to the senses that was. Everyone tweeting why this and that coin is bad and this person is bad and that person is good, Crypto Twitter can be a shit show especially in the beginning and being new to both Twitter and Crypto my brain was in overload. I followed my friend on Twitter and just started to pay attention to him and basically began stalking his feed and Youtube channel but I never really engaged (I truly felt like a stalker). But I was learning my way around and who did what in their relative fields.
As everyone knows Coinbase can be very frustrating because it seems like forever before you have access to your coins and the whole time I’m thinking what have I done? So a month went by and I finally received an email saying my funds are now available in Coinbase I opened up that app and to my surprise, my money had just quadrupled. I had learned while investing once you make back your initial investment sell that portion and that is exactly what I did! But the damage had been done I was hooked and immediately took that initial investment and bought every altcoin I could get my hands on via Binance, which can seriously do some damage to your wallet.
I still really did not know what to do with Cryptocurrency, there were all these wallets, but why were they needed if all it did was sit there like digital gold. So I started to engage with people on Twitter to discover what others were doing, I didn’t have any followers so outside of a few likes here and there I would never really get any feedback. I asked my friend about this and he started to respond to me and soon after that, others started to respond to me, then I was included in threads and I had my first Crypto Twitter follower, he was no joke and little did I know at that time how much of an influence this person would have in my Twitter and Crypto life. But Crypto Twitter will have to be its own story.
As I started to learn how to navigate my way through Crypto Twitter and began to understand the correct questions to ask I began to get the answers I needed. These questions amounted to where/who accepts crypto and why is this coin better than that coin? The people that came forward were the BitcoinCash community, I couldn’t understand why was it only the BitcoinCash people that would respond to me, after all, there are so many coins out there? But these were the people that had a passion for what they were doing and believed in that passion, from the CEO to the developers down to the end user. It was like a breath of fresh air to find people passionate about rewarding hard work and not caring about who you are and which country you are from along with giving back to communities that are far less fortunate by no fault of their own they just don’t have access to resources that are available to Western Nations, Europe, and Asia. I discovered the philanthropic work was incredible and still to this day I still am overwhelmed by how much the BitcoinCash community does and feel very fortunate to be a part of it.
Downloading wallet after wallet, I discovered some were easy some were difficult and well some were just ridiculous. I started to tag random developers on Twitter and honestly was surprised when they responded to me and offered their help after all these are really busy people why would they take the time to help one person. The reason is simple they want Cryptocurrency to be a success and they understand how difficult it is, especially for an older person who just got her first smartphone 2 years earlier. After learning about the importance of 12-word seed phrases how a QR code works and legacy addresses I now felt comfortable enough to begin introducing people to cryptocurrency and more importantly BitcoinCash. Little did I know how difficult this would be, I mean who doesn’t want money even if it’s free.
After months of interaction on Twitter and other platforms, I decided I needed to do something besides just talking about Crypto I needed to shout it from the rooftops. I desperately wanted to find others around me that I could share my experiences with so I created a Meetup in my area and began talking about it at work with my friends and family I just started telling everyone I ran into have you heard about BitcoinCash? “No” here let me show you” inevitably I started to hear oh that’s for drug dealers or it’s a scam. So now I thought how do I get past this obstacle that CNN and Fox News has put in front of me? I became more determined than ever to beat them at their own game. I had another hurdle to jump, so my path now came to what is an everyday product I can buy with Bitcoincash? Well, there are tons you just have to find them, and since my area of the country is about 10 years behind the rest of the country this was very difficult. But one thing I do a lot is travel and I was about to buy a plane ticket so I found CheapAir.com which accepts BitcoinCash, so I used that and discovered how easy it is, I can literally lay in bed find a flight and/or a hotel and right there without turning on the lights or getting up for my credit card number. What about overcoming only drug dealers use it (which my stepmom throws in my face almost every day) so for Christmas I purchased her some beauty products with BitcoinCash. I am constantly scouring the internet looking for more ways to spend Crypto instead of government-funded cash.
My meetups started out with 2 people 1 of which was my dad to 12 strong and growing (which does not include my dad). That may not seem like many but those 12 people have become strong and confident users of Cryptocurrency and one of them even accepts BitcoinCash for his business.
My story does not end here, and with every day there is a change with some great, some good and some not so good stories. Keep your eyes out for updates to my never ending and exciting Crypto life.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/au3tjv/how_did_i_discover_cryptocurrency_and_why_i/
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