A lot of people believe that money is evil, or the love of money is the root of all evil. I don't believe that. In fact, I think the opposite. Money is actually sacred - it's this potent condensed form of energy which can be used to benefit people. Money is powerful, and it's beneficial to show it respect. Let me tell you a story about what happens when you don't show respect for money, about how I lost my bitcoins.
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Losing My Bitcoins
In March 2017 I was living in Guadalajara, seems like a lifetime ago. Bitcoin was around $1200. Dash was around $40. I'd been learning a lot about Dash and I thought, this is the future. They're focused on UX, they'll have treasury funding for important projects.
I'd also just seen Dash rocket up from around $15, and I felt the fear of missing out. I hastily decided to sell my remaining bitcoins for Dash.
I looked up an exchange, Bleutrade. They had a trading pair with Dash on there. I deposited my remaining bitcoins, about 1/3 of my net worth at the time. Thus, my first key mistakes.
Simple Lessons
Lesson: pause, reflect, meditate, breathe, before I make any financial decision. I might miss an opportunity by taking a step back, it's true. But I can make many more mistakes by being hasty.
When I use a new exchange, or even use an old exchange for the first time in months, it's beneficial to check their reputation. Are there many complaints on the web saying that they've been waiting a long time for withdrawals? That's a red flag. I make a small deposit, trade and withdrawal first, to confirm their trustworthiness.
No Response
After I'd put in the money, I realised that they didn't have the trading pair I wanted. So I withdrew the bitcoins. I waited an hour, and the withdrawal still hadn't processed. Okay, that happens on some exchanges, sometimes they need to pull funds from cold storage. I put in a support request and waited.
After a week, they still hadn't replied. Eventually they locked me out of my account and the support request was deleted. Ah. Oh dear. Oh no oh no oh no. I'd lost 1/3 of my net worth.
So it looked like they'd straight ripped me off, shut me down, shut me out, and in crypto, with an exchange in a foreign country, I had no apparent recourse.
Around that time, a couple of other misfortunes occurred. I was using my phone in public after dark and it was plucked from my hands by a moto-thief. A friend was unable to fulfill an agreement and I lost my payment for a new laptop.
Capitulation
I started thinking a lot about it, trying to come to grips with what I'd lost, my own hand in it. Just a week before I'd read some story about someone using a phony ATM in Latin America and losing thousands of dollars. I thought there's no way I'd be that careless. Obviously the universe had other plans. I absolutely had been that careless, and I'd paid the price.
I thought, I could have spent that money on anything. I could have gone to Las Vegas and ordered tables, champagne, taken trips around Mexico or the world, given it to charity, to a friend in need. I could have blown it all on trifles and I'd still be better off. But I hadn't, I'd kept the money to myself, like the archetype of an old miser in his one room shack, tying his pants with twine because he didn't want to buy a belt, dying alone, a millionaire, very rich and very dead.
Then one night I was going to sleep, probably still with some emotional turmoil. I had a vision. A figure in a white hooded robe appeared in the darkness and started to speak. It said they were running things behind the scenes.
"We know you perceive what we're doing as bad. It is the revelation of a spiritual lesson. Some of what you have has been taken from you, so you can better learn the value of what remains."
Then the figure was gone.
I came to grips with losing the money, and I learnt this lesson... Being respectful of money does mean saving it, it also means spending it to improve the quality of life for yourself and those around you.
The price of hospitality
When my parents last visited me in Guadalajara, we went to a little kitchen and got breakfast. One of the old men there, don Carlos Robles, paid for our meal, just to show my parents some Mexican hospitality, to welcome them to the city and country.
My parents were amazed, they'd never experienced such hospitality in their lives, that someone you'd never met would buy you a meal just so you could feel at home. Old fashioned Mexican hospitality. For the small price of 150 pesos, he'd changed my parents' ideas of hospitality forever. Maybe you know now what I mean when I say: money is sacred.
When I enter the temple, I take off my shoes and hat, to show respect for the gravity of what is taking place. When I pick up a knife, I become present, because of the potential for injury. Likewise, when I touch silver, I first put on my gloves. People die for money, people kill for it. The proper understanding and correct intention can use it to create and sustain life, to bring joy and health. Yes my friends, money is sacred. When I touch it, I will remember its power and wonder: is this the most blissful use of this potent energy?
I should note that I did actually get my bitcoins back from Bleutrade, it just took a long time - about 20 months. You'll hear more about that in the next episode.
Shout outs
I'd like to give a shout out to Milos, who sometimes comments on the Cryptonomics Facebook page. A month ago he left this review:
I love Kurt's videos. He constantly publishes interesting and substantive content, mixed with high quality editing and thought provoking topics. I look forward to seeing his influence grow in the Fintech sphere over the next few market cycles. Cheers!
Milos sometimes disagrees with what I say, and even so he supports his positions with reason and with respect. Thanks Milos.
Thanks again to everyone who shares these posts, the videos and podcasts. That's really cool of you!
I'll leave you with this gentle blessing: may all your lessons hard-learnt, be well-learnt. Stay grateful my friends.
The Episode
You can listen to the episode on Anchor and other podcasting services here: Cryptonomics - Money is Sacred - How I lost all my bitcoins. Or watch on YouTube below:
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