I learned about Bitcoin in 2009. I thought it was a cool project but didn't buy any coins (yet). After some time, I heared about dark markets and a website called Silk Road. People were buying and selling drugs over there (yes, I know). And I was thinking that after trying LSD it would be cool to try magic mushrooms!
But I didn't know how to buy Bitcoin. I had no credit card and my bank account was empty. Paypal had blocked my account because I posted (ahem) Paris Hilton sex tape on my blog. And someone reported me. Back then it was big news, it was the first 'celebrity' tape to leak. Although we found out later she made the video and leaked it her self just to create some buzz.
Anyway, I created a second Paypal account (which they blocked again later) and went to a website I was using called Fiverr.com. I searched if anyone was selling Bitcoin and found one guy. He was selling 3 Bitcoins for $5. I bought them. One week later I told him I wanted to buy another 3 but he said now I can buy 1 BTC for $5. After cursing him and calling many names inside me, I finally decided to buy another Bitcoin from this thief.
Months passed and I never bought anything on Silk Road. And I forgot about Bitcoin. Then, one day in November 2103 I was watching the news and they were talking about the Cyprus bank crisis. And because of the crisis they said Bitcoin price reached $1.200. I was shocked and went online to check it and it was true. Called my father and asked him if I should sell. After 20 minutes explaining what is Bitcoin, he said I should better keep it. And so I did.
Then, one summer I was broke. So, I sold 1 BTC for $300. As you can imagine, the money didn't last long. So I sold another one.
Months later the police stopped me because I was driving my motorcycle without a helmet. So I got a ticket which I couldn't pay because... you guessed it, I was broke again. So I sold another Bitcoin for $750.
I promised to my self to not touch the last Bitcoin left. I transferred my wallet.dat to a USB stick to keep it safe. That's the advice I kept reading on crypto blogs. So, when Bitcoin price went to $6.000 and then $10.000 I thought it was a good time to sell 0.5 BTC.
The only problem was I couldn't find my wallet. I have 9 USB sticks and didn't remember on which one of those I put it. I searched them all anyway, but didn't find it. So I guess there are two possibilities.
- My computer was hacked or something and when I connected the USB on my PC, the wallet was stolen.
- I help my friends sometimes when they have a problem with their computer and I bring with me a USB stick on which I put some software programs earlier. And maybe one of these computers got my wallet.
Anyway, what you should learn from this story is to be careful where and how you backup your cryptocurrencies. Since then I didn't follow the crypto space much until 2 months ago when I decided to invest $100. I bought $10 from each of the top 10 cryptocurrencies. I don't have much faith on them anymore but I will explain the reasons on another post.
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