Source: Alejandro Tocornal, Unsplash
I got into crypto because the banks turned me down for a home loan. I'd withdrawn what I had in my 401k retirement savings to have a 15-20% down payment, had excellent credit history, and had a growing business I needed the second home to accommodate, but they didn't care. After 3 months or so of going from lender to lender getting rejected, researching different loan products that fit my situation, and being ignored by the bankers I tried to talk to, my ambition was finally crushed. With my unique home business setup, I calculated that by the time I would qualify for a loan on the next house I wanted, I could save up the cash for it myself. Few things will make you see the banking system as totally futile as an experience like that.
2 years previous I had quit my job and bought a house that I lived in the basement of while renting 3 other rooms out (and for awhile rented out 2 couches out as well). Then, I started a dog sitting business that grew to the point of having 8 dogs a day on average there as well, and it was growing. In order to accommodate that growth, I needed another house, and I was responsible with my finances to be positioned for that responsibility.
But the thing I couldn't affect was that the massive tax breaks I got for my businesses also decreased my taxable income, and made it look like I didn't make much to banks. From there they used a ratio that effectively counted my house mortgage payment against me a second time. The final lender I applied with was okay with my current financials, but rejected me because of how much I'd made 2 years prior.
The worst thing was, with everyone I talked to, there was nothing they said or did that an automatic computer system couldn't have done. No explanations that weren't generic, no ability to look at how my situation was different, and I was actually a good loan candidate.
So when I started down the rabbit hole and started hearing about smart contracts, Defi, and cutting banks out, I was pretty sold. Since I had been saving up money, I knew I needed to invest it somehow, and I went to Robert Kiyosaki to learn about what to do there. He had some videos about Bitcoin that led me to people in that space, and I started down the rabbit hole. That was about 11 months ago, and it wasn't a pretty process getting to the point I am now, but not nearly as messy as a lot of people's stories.
At first I got introduced to Bitcoin maxis, and wasn't ready to risk money on other cryptos. I saw ETH at $400 and didn't know anything about what that meant, Bitcoin was still something I wanted to understand better. By the time I was ready to try alts, ETH was at $4300. I bought almost the exact top before it plummeted to about half that, my BTC buys previously had been almost as badly timed right before the big crash last May.
For the first 3 months or so, I only had losses on all my coins. But I wasn't going to sell, I just kept buying more. Eventually, things went back up and I more or less evened out. I tried watching technical analysis videos, but I was still basically looking up random Youtubers and didn't know who to listen to, what information to prioritize, etc. I wanted to check out blockchain games and played a lot of League of Kingdoms. I pretty quickly decided the earn mechanics weren't for me, but was seeing success at the game so I let it consume more and more of my time until I couldn't take it anymore.
Eventually, I decided I needed to control the quality of info I was getting, which mostly led to watching mostly Coin Bureau and little else, although I also had a really good twitter feed of a variety of sources. Then around October I stumbled across something fantastic in my community- the world's first brick and mortar crypto store- Crypto World. It was cool that there was basically a crypto club in my community that also sold miners, 3D printed ornament stuff, and other random merch, but I live in a place that's not super techy or crypto aware/friendly, so my expectations weren't too high at first.
But I've been blown away, and over the last 6 months been able to get a much more holistic understanding of the cryptosphere, and at the same time go deeper on things I care about, being introduced to up and coming projects I care about (such as Hive, which someone from there introduced me to and helped me get started with). This week I got my first helium node from another member of the community, and the guy gave me a couple antennas with it for less than it would have cost me to get the miner from the manufacturer. They had guest CPAs do a segment on how to do your taxes, lobbyists and politicians shaping legislation for our state, and even a Korean VC who has strong ties with their government who is funding startups in our area. One of the people leading it, Bits be Trippin' is a youtuber getting a Netflix special done on him.
I've learned so much from the speakers and community members, some but most of which is not on their YouTube. I've been able to better direct my own research as a result as well. The great thing is, they're franchising out, making stores all over. They've also started a nonprofit to help with crypto education and adoption in our community, and beyond, called "Crypto without Borders." Right now they're trying to connect with the mayor of Cool Valley Missouri, a town of less than 1500 people right by us, who made headlines by starting a program to give everyone in his town $1000 free Bitcoin, if they take education classes.
I don't really know what my path forward looks like, I only see the next step at a time, if that. The adventure is what I signed up for, and it has not disappointed. I keep learning more every day, doing better with getting good information and processing it well, making the right investments, explaining things to people, and using the projects myself. Undoubtedly things are heading a good direction, and the journey is worth it too. WAGMI