I'm sure we all have the same type of story of regret but today was the anniversary of something I regret and probably will regret forever because I let myself down.
It was November 13, 2013 and I was living in Las Vegas. I had dabbled here and there with bitcoin because it was a topic in the tech community in which I worked and lived. I went to a few fanatical bitcoin events and even bought a little bitcoin in one of the first bitcoin ATMs.
But it was nothing I had taken seriously before that fateful night. I lived across from a shitty casino but it had my favorite slot machine called Double Dollars. I'm not sure why I liked it but while my included photo from that night appears dull, there was something about that black and yellow logo that I couldn't shake.
Double Dollars often called to me when I was taking my garbage down or literally any reason I was in my parking garage. I just loved it but it always beat me.
I had popped into the casino for no particular reason only that I had a tough day of work and my apartment was being used for some type of meetup and I figured I needed the escape of a smoke filled casino. (yes you could smoke at the crappy ones)
I put in $20 bucks and played the max of $3 and I hit the big one. It was anti-climatic actually. I expected so much more joy after rescuing $1600 from this bandit that I was into so deep but it was pretty blah.
But while I was waiting for the attendant to slowly deliver my cash (they do it slowly so you will spend money while you wait), I had decided that I was going to rush home and buy bitcoin.
Bitcoin was on the move that November and when I left the apartment it was in the $370 range and I saw this as my opportunity to buy in and finally have a reason to check the btc price. BTC was a pipe dream back then and the bitcoiners were a pretty angry bunch of fanatics who I didn't really share there bleak world view (I said at the time right?)
But something happened when I got home flush with cash. Bitcoin had gone from $370 to around $405 if I remember correctly and I somehow got it in my head that I needed 4 bitcoin instead of 3 and some fraction.
It just didnt feel right and I felt like I'd be a sucker for buying it on the way up and I'd feel the shame of buying some of that internet money used by drug dealers and killers for real world fiat currency.
I figured I'd just wait a day until the price came back to me. And then another day. And then another and then, well you know what happened. It never came back. And when the price got so high that I'd only get 3 bitcoin instead of the 4 I'd aimed for I simply lost interest.
The strange thing is that I had been checking the bitcoin price before this day arrived and every day since yet I've never bought a single bitcoin or fraction there of. I still had some change from a purchase from 2013 which amounted to a little over $40 had over estimated on the exchange fees, but that was the bulk of my btc fortune.
I don't kick myself too hard because I figure that when BTC became a 5 bagger I would have sold it and gloated to all the dummies that never bought any.
So as the Facebook showed up today reminding me of the time I beat the bandit in 2013 I get to wonder what could have been on the day I didn't buy Bitcoin.