My decade long Odyssey with Bitcoin

Throwaway account for obvious reasons. My Bitcoin Journey: From Skeptic to Hodler ????

Back in 2011-2012, I stumbled upon the concept of Bitcoin for the first time. My initial reaction? “This is dumb and doomed to fail.” I didn’t bother reading the whitepaper or attempting to understand blockchain technology. It sounded too niche, too risky, and frankly, unnecessary.

Fast forward to 2013, something changed. Curiosity got the best of me, and I finally decided to dig deeper. I read everything I could find. That’s when the pieces began to click: the unrelenting debasement of fiat currency, the immutable cap of 21 million Bitcoin—it all made sense. A lightbulb went off, and my perspective did a 180.

At the time, buying Bitcoin in Canada wasn’t exactly a cakewalk. So, I decided to try mining instead. I picked up a couple of used Bitcoin miners (anyone remember Butterfly Labs?) and got started. My humble setup churned out about 1% of a Bitcoin per day. Looking back, that’s laughable. But back then, I was worried I might not even break even—miners and laptops weren’t cheap, and I had sunk a lot of money into the venture.

Pro-tip I discovered along the way: placing my miner next to my furnace air return had the dual benefit of heating my home and earning Bitcoin simultaneously. With electric heating, it made perfect sense. It didn’t take long to realize mining alone wasn’t going to make me rich. That’s when I turned to buying Bitcoin directly. Mt. Gox seemed like the go-to platform at the time, but wire transferring to Japan felt sketchy. Lucky for me, I stayed away—dodging that bullet just before the crash. Instead, I tried LocalBitcoins, which was its own kind of sketchy. I vividly remember depositing cash into strangers’ bank accounts, snapping deposit receipts, and waiting for my Bitcoin. Looking back, it was absurd, but it worked. I ended up snagging about 7 BTC for roughly $350 USD each in 2014.

The next few years weren’t easy. Bitcoin seemed to be perpetually teetering on the edge of failure. Article after article proclaimed it was heading to zero. Friends and family? They thought I was crazy. With a baby on the way and money tight, it took every ounce of conviction I had to keep buying in. Everyone, even people I respected, called it “rat poison squared.” But I believed in it and made sacrifices to hold my position.

By 2017, I doubled down and threw another $5,000 into BTC from none other than Quadriga CX. I went with my gut and pulled off all of my Bitcoin before they collapsed in 2018. Insane. In total, I accumulated about 10 BTC. And here I am—having held through every gut-wrenching crash - Diamond hands. The skeptics around me? They’ve long given up telling me to sell. I like to remind them that I told them to buy at $350, $1000, $10,000 etc! Today, I have enough BTC to retire comfortably, pay off my mortgage, and secure my family’s future. My only regret was not going all in - should have sold my crappy stonks and gone full BTC.

Will I sell it all? Hell no. I might liquidate a small chunk to ease the mortgage, but most of it? NOT. F*CKING. SELLING. ???? TO THE MOON! ????