Topic: I feel like bitcoin is a losing battle - page 2. (Read 1522 times)

First of all let me answer your question. The chances are >99% that a joe shmo like both of us had at least ONE PENNY to trade in-person. In 2011 transaction fees were completely optional and you could have literally bought a single Satoshi. I attended a couple very small Bitcoin user meetings, and even a guy off the street with $1 of recycling money could have bought SOME and saved it with a library computer.

below is an optional personal anecdote that doesn't actually prove anything, but I'd like to include it

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I realize I won't win a poverty contest with you, but I'd still like to explain what this has been like. I was extremely frustrated in 2011 that I couldn't buy more. I wasn't blessed with set aside resources, I was in debt and went deeper in debt to buy BTC. I was living paycheck-to-paycheck and spending 3+ hours a day sitting/standing in public transit and biking. I thought I was "helping" my friends and family by telling them about it years ago, but instead they have been urging me to sell the whole time. I can't really blame them - here's a guy who can't even handle his own finances, spending what little he's got on semi-legal imaginary internet money.
They told me that after the June 2011 rally, the April 2013 rally, and the most recent $1000 rally.

So now here I am, still working hard every day. I've got even less to show for it than I would have if I had never heard about Bitcoin... except for a dusty cold wallet, encrypted and split up - which might not even be worth anything by the time I finally decrypt most of it. It's not even a particularly enormous amount of money (hence the 4am job) but at least now it's something I feel is "significant" or "worthwhile", not the pocket change I squeezed out in 2011. Yes I'm still saving most of it, because it's been a good idea all along and most people still fail to understand what it's capable of (decentralized crowdfunding, prediction markets, entire legal systems, etc).

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/anecdote

Gavin's Bitcoin Faucet was giving out like 0.05ish BTC in early 2011, so each visit would be around $25 now. And right now $25 would be a smart amount of money for a broke person to save in Bitcoin. You can go to some faucets and save at least some small amount for three years from now. Just don't choose to tell me you don't have choices - don't tell me it's more worth your time to argue with me.

Or you can draw me a nice color picture of an octopus riding an elephant while they are both holding balloons, and I'll send you 0.009 BTC. Offer valid only for skottiejay until 2014-05-31

But none of us got our coins for free either. Try buying $10 worth today. It will always be a risk, but if you had done that just last week you would be profitable right now. There are no guarantees, but your going to kick yourself again if BTC hits $5K by the end of the year. Risk what you can afford to loose, then stop looking at prices for a year.
We are in the early adoption phase and one day you may be reading about how unfair it was that you only paid hundreds for your coins.

I try day in and day out to look at things that have happened to me since 2011 and earlier, and say there's a reason for that happening. 3 family members in a span of a couple months getting cancer, losing my house, etc these things happened for a reason. All I want is a piece of the pie, whether or not it be through BTC or other forms. I would like to see my grandmother before she passes (terminal cancer 6-8 months) and visit my other family members in ill health. There's no use in me trying to get a job where I'm at, it's literally a haul into town and with gas prices being as high as they are, what are the chances it's going to pay off? I can't work anyways, remember.

Trying not to be bummed out when you've got the world on your shoulders is easier said than done.

It's a losing battle to me because I cannot in any way shape or form get bitcoin, I don't have the equipment to buy a device and I don't have the money to invest. I'm not entirely new to bitcoin, but I know that right now mining is a lost game. So what is there left to do?

Who says I'm not fighting? I'm giving up after a long fight, I got back into the game because I thought it would be a perfect time to, but after doing research I'm not doing it right, or I'm behind the 8-ball. I guess.

i don't know what to say really.. sometimes you just have to look at your shitty life and say "fuck it, it doesn't even matter.. there's no point in being bummed out by my misfortunes."

This is a good point. You can't say your loosing the battle if your not fighting. 

You first saw BTC at $14.. now it's at $580...  it went from hundreds using it to millions and it's a losing battle?!?!?

really wasn't harsh to be honest, but you have to admit what are the chances of some joe schmo like me just winding up with the equipment or money to invest in something that people have already had a head start on? and no, i really couldn't just come up with a few bitcoins when they were 15 or something back in 2011. i had no choice but to choose between having my lights turn on or eating, i made a habit of going to dollar general (in the states) and buying 20 dollar cereal. for a while i had episodes of blacking out because i wasn't eating enough. this isn't fiction it's truth, the hard reality is not everybody is equally blessed with the set aside resources, and not everybody can see what's coming in the future. in my case, such is life.

I don't really think I was in it for the "good rich scheme" at first, I thought it was genuinely interesting and hey, it's money that nobody can touch right? But when things started getting tougher monetary wise and I couldn't make ends meet and ended up with just the shirt on my back and a couple possessions facing foreclosure on my house I mean....

Anyways, yeah it's harsh and it's cruel but I just feel as if maybe newbies should be given more of a chance.

i think it's the most common bitcoin peril.. to enter the game for a get-rich scheme, only to find out you were too late. and then feeling down about it, and not owning the responsibility.

i'm starting the "Money from G-d site".

basically a free bank for everyone.  with 2800+ bitcoins in it (whatever you donate).  and anyone can withdrawal whatever amount of money they want for free.

as long as they study the koran

I'm just like you.

My wrong move was buying hardware from BFL. It payed itself of and bought me a nice cellphone but I have very little BTC.

As far as bitcoin is concerned I think it's the future, of course it could go down the drain.

This is still a very risky investment Hell it can double in 6 months or it could go down to $100.... You still have the same choice you had then.

You could get a bunch of BTC and the price could go to 2k.... or to $200....

No-one can make decisions for you.

I found out about Bitcoin about the same time as you, and I've got real-world money problems too. The only difference between us is that I made sacrifices (and continue to) so I could buy and hold.

Did you go out to eat, or go out to the movies in the last 3 years? Just giving away coins for free wouldn't be fair to people who see it for what it is and made a personal sacrifice to save money. No one with an internet connection complaining here is living on a subsistence wage.

I've got unemployed and disabled family members, massive student loans, and start my hazardous job at 4:00 in the fucking morning six days a week. If I were more bullish I'd retire on Bitcoin right now, but plan to work through a few more bubble cycles and keep saving money. Because excuses won't put my kids through college.

If life was easy I would have bought more in 2011 too. Sorry to be so harsh, but I honestly don't believe you couldn't have saved just a few bitcoins over three years, and acting like it's impossible is trivializing the efforts of everyone who did. Again, I apologize for this overly-emotional response.

i've only been around for a year and know exactly how you feel. it's been a struggle, trying day in and day out to amass a little stash of bitcoins. such is life, i guess.

Just start collecting now, buy little amounts, work for some BTC, rent your signature and put whatever you earn onto a cold wallet. In 20 years from now when BTC is worth 1M each you'll be more then happy you did!

Look at me, I'm just starting. How depressing should this be for me? but I cheer up. 

I understand your stress over all these issues. Perhaps I can help with some strategy on the bitcoin side? The first thing to consider is that your chances of profiting from bitcoin are not diminished by others holding coins. Remember, there are no coins. We are just slicing up a pie into ever smaller pieces. If you buy on BTC today and it goes up tomorrow it does not matter what the price was. Focus on the % of growth not the price.
Don't waste your time with faucets, alt coins, mining, derivatives, investments, etc. If you believe it will go up just buy btc at market cost. What I then do is wait for say a 20% increase then I spend my coins to buy stuff. After purchasing items for bitcoin I restock my wallet and repeat the whole thing over.
As far as others getting a better deal... It didn't happen. Those who bought coins early on took a much much greater risk than you. The same is true of Microsoft stock. Those who bought when home computing was a joke made big money. The miners who got rich took even more chances investing in hardware and burning electricity. Satoshi did not invent a system for people to get rich, he invented a system of rewards and constraints that reward hard work but does not give anything to anyone.
Hope this helps.

My gut at the time was telling me "is this for real?" 

But seriously, it seems like I probably should have done something then, this is true. But I could only cpu mine at the time. I do not have a fancy rig, and GPU mining was out of the question.

Am I ready? I don't know to be honest, it seems as if I just want to give up because of how far behind I am and how little resources I have available to make **** happen.

Hey bud,

Sorry to hear about all the hardship you've gone through and are going through. Please don't lose focus though. Its in your best interest to trust your gut! Back in 2011 your gut told you something, it told you that BTC was the way of the future and it still is. This is just the calm before the storm. Back when btc crashed from 250 down to 50 it took about 5 months to start moving again.. We've been in a slump for sure, but the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter. The winkelvos ETF is going to NASDAK. Just that alone will allow every institutional investor to get in on BTC without actually holding or taking care or BTC. Once the ETF is out, I know mutual funds will start to include the ETF as well which will allow anyone in the world to invest in BTC through their bank.

To the moon we go. This is the last chance for many of us to get into BTC at a reasonable price.. next stop is 5K.

Are you ready?

Listen, I'm not trying to claim that I should be "entitled" to anything, I know I should have done "x and y" back when but you know what? Now with stakes so high and the price and difficulty for anyone starting out it's almost like "you had your chance ha ha look us now" while you are diving in virtual money bins. I certainly didn't have the money and resources in 2011, and I don't now. I'm going through a very long and trying battle with disability, (aka: trying to receive it) and I am physically unable to work, I'm not looking for a "get rich" scheme but something to help leverage some of the costs of being unable to live at any comfortable lifestyle without having to sell everything I own (which I have) to decide whether or not I need medicine or food.

There you have your sob story.