Topic: How did you get into bitcoin? (Read 1980 times)

Primarily from 2010 slashdot articles, as well as the occasional whisper about bitcoin on virtual currency sites and precious metals sites.

my cousin told me about this way back 2010 he even give me a 2 btc but im not intrested that time then around dec or january he called me from canada that he lost the coins in mtgox and i just lost around 16 or 15k$ well that makes me into bitcoin now the poor guy lost his 12 btc

A friend in the army was talking about it really early, this was in 2010, march-april, he also introduced me to reddit and I've been a lurker for a year til I made an account and recently reached three years.

He said he used it to buy digital goods for some online games, and that he could get the coins through his computer to pay for it, basically turning electricity into a form of payment for his wow gold. He was living at home so electricity was free for him, somewhat.

Forgot about it, started hearing it in the news mid 2013, decided not to buy since I'm still studying and never really have any extra income/money to spare.

Since november-december I've been mining altcoins trying to make bitcoins that I can save and hopefully make a nice profit in the next couple of years.

Gambling has been a major issue in my efforts to save btc though.

I found the bitcoin from Google web search & joined. Now I am happy as a bitcoin member.

What's your story? Where did you hear about it first? What got you interested? What made you stay?

Tenborru - On a certain site accepting bitcoin  - Reading Satoshis white paper - Hanging out and learning the system and understanding the potential involved

I heard about it a few times last year, but didn't pay much attention to it.  The the first bitcoin atm opened near where I live, I started to pay more attention to it. Started investing in it in January by buying some miners. Been buying and selling bitcoin for a couple months now.

1 year ago I wanted to buy trees from a dispensary was typing all sorts of stuff ran into a silkroad article and that pretty much changed my life after that and here i am now I want to open up a community center with BTC one day now and have a mining farm in it so we wont have to rely on grants as a main source of income for projects and events for the community. All i want to do is good if/when i make it to my goal.

I heard about it in 2011, but started to be more interested after seeing some tv news show about Bitcoin. Really like how its develops.

Introduction

I remember being introduced back in Jan 2011 during a dinner party among friends.  One friend was so excited about it, wanted to be a miner.  He only thought of it as a get rich scheme.  I looked it up on Wiki, and decided to pass along with the rest of the dinner party.  My computer didn't have the minimum specs and this Bitcoin thing wasn't enough motivation for me to get something more powerful.  The friend that wanted to mine was the only one among us that had specs to meet the minimum graphics requirements.  

Loosely followed along,  saw the news late Spring 2011 and the bubble peak to $30 USD then crash down to the single digits.  Bitcoin was still largely ignored by mainstream media. Asked my friend about it, and he said he never ended up mining.

In 2013, during the Cyprus bail-in Bitcoin finally made waves in the mainstream media.  I still thought it was still just magic internet money riding on pure speculation.  Of course, Bitcoin crashed again but still maintained lofty heights over 2011 prices.  Late 2013 it blew up to $1,200 USD and continued to make headlines.  As expected it crashed but maintained lofty heights over the Cyprus bubble.  I continued to ignore it, as I thought the train had already left the station.




The Epiphany

On some random forum, saw references to the Zeitgeist Movement and it was told that their videos on YouTube would blow your mind.  Just like the Matrix, when Neo took the red pill I had an awakening.  



When Mt Gox fell in late January people on that same random forum were all laughing at Bitcoin calling it a Ponzi scheme.  Because the thread originator was Law Enforcement whom I've met in real life (and can be an ass), I defended Bitcoin just to be a thorn in his side (me being a rebel).  In order to debate my position, I started doing research and began to realize that Bitcoin is fundamentally sound.  It also appears to be a solution for issues outlined in the Zeitgeist movement, and by that reasoning still way under-valued.  Around March, I finally bought my first Bitcoin from a seller on eBay (of all places) and began using it as currency.  I also made a vow to purchase and set aside at least $100 worth every week.

The friend that originally introduced me to Bitcoin, I've expressed his need to accumulate.  Even just one.  He brushes it off with no interest.  My reasons are fundamental, but his interests are just speculative and from that point of view he thinks the ship has already sailed.  





Current goal is to own at least 4 bitcoins by June 2014.  Right now, I'm just shy of 1.  

Some random AD on some website which eventually led me somehow to this forum.

I got into bitcoin (way too late ) through the media. I really liked the whole anonymous and fee-free payments. No banks or governments to regulate it

I got into PTC and faucets, it was easy free money. 

I killed a man and found a paper wallet in his back pocket. Now I'm rich.

(I'm kidding, this was poking fun at the "bitcoin = criminal money" myth)

from the internet and media.

my friends were talking about it....but they never thought of getting it as i thought of...

My friend and I heard about it at the end of 2013, did a ton of research, split an S1 early in 2014, and now we have 17 S1's plus 5 more on the way.

I see it as a great long-term hedge on an emerging technology, and am thrilled to see where people much smarter than me take it. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to convey it, especially mining, to other people.

If only we had seen this in 2011 or before...

In 2012 finding this article by Erik Voorhees http://evoorhees.blogspot.com/2012/04/bitcoin-libertarian-introduction.html

 via http://www.reddit.com/r/Anarcho_Capitalism/

A bit of a long story.
My boss' business friend (owner of a small business in Seattle) was having lunch with us one summer day and mentioned Bitcoin in passing.  Most of the conversation went way above my head.

I got home and asked my wife if she heard about it.
Sure enough, she mentions that she saw it on CNN.

I read about it that same evening.
One week later I was mining.

Fast forward about 2 years and I have a huge scrypt mining farm in my garage, about 4TH/s SHA-256 mining and a diverse collection of coins.

 

Youtube, tons of information to be had there when they aren't blocking the flow with their censorship.  I remember there was alot of hesitation but still alot of interest back then.  Funny thinking back and seeing how far Bitcoin has come.

4chan in 2009. was given 20 BTC from a very generous miner. I know, I know, I was young