First of all I want to thank zasad@ for doing this series and also for inviting me, as it connects the community and is very interesting to read.
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I became interested in bitcoin at a very young age of just 14 years. Back then I watched many youtube videos explaining technical stuff and also saw a video about Bitcoin mining with a USB Miner. I quickly found out that there was not a very good profit in it (by research on bitcointalk) and therefor mined for fun on my laptop.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Since I was not able to mine bitcoin in any large quantity I wanted to purchase bitcoin and also got some crypto by hanging around in chats on crypto exchanges like BTC-E.com. Since I was not 18 years and didn't had a bank account I had to convince my parents to let me invest the little money I had at that time.
3. How did you get on the forum?
Mainly research about mining and to understand what bitcoin actually was.
4.1. What is the situation with cryptocurrencies in Germany? Are there any problems when exchanging for fiat? What is the best city or place in Germany for cryptocurrency holders?
The situation in Germany is actually not that bad for bitcoin, but I have to say that there were much better times in the past. In 2014/2015 I knew some shops that would accept bitcoin and it was a quiet easy and convenient experience to buy stuff with bitcoin. If you want my honest opinion, I think all the owners later got rich because of their bitcoin and therefore went out of business to enjoy their lives.
Also there is a trend for more and more KYC in Germany. What would be my hope is that people would start to request more bitcoin payment, so there would be an incentive for shops to again accept this payment option.
Since I don't live in Germany anymore I can't tell you about the current situation from first hand experience however.
4.2. Is there a future for GPU mining? What are GPU miners doing in your country now?
I don't think that there is a future for bitcoin mining, since there are very smart companies working on ASIC miners. Also there is a trend to more eco friendly solutions in every field. GPU miners are always a compromise, since you use the GPUs for a purpose they were not designed for.
4.3. How to properly dispose of the mined cryptocurrency (how much to hold, how much to sell)?
If you want to mine as a business model, then the question is clear. You will put out your operating cost and the cost to refinance your hardware. If you mine for the fun of it, then there is no clear answer. As a bitcoin enthusiast I would probably say don't sell anything.
4.4. What do you think will happen to bitcoin in 2028 after the halving, when its mining will be very expensive?
If you have cheap electricity your mining operation will be alright. If you have expensive electricity your mining operation will fail. This is also right now the case and will always stay the same.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
The merit system has some issues, but the benefits outweigh the negative aspects.
Signature campaigns help me to finance my studies. For this I am very grateful.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
This is very specific for each user. To me the most helpful topics are the topics where my specific question is answered.
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I would implement a wiki. Right now we have a large amount of very smart people here, that have a lot of knowledge. Who knows what will happen in 10 years. Maybe bitcoin will face a long lasting crisis and all this knowledge is lost because people are interested in new stuff. It is always important to preserve knowledge for later.
There could be some kind of statistics like on
https://bpip.org8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I buy bitcoin when I have the possibility.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Biggest loss is probably that I did not had the money to invest in bitcoin, when I first got to know about it. Also I was not the best to store bitcoin and lost a lot to exchanges that were taken down and also to lost private keys.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
This is not my topic.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Precaution. There are many people here that are not anonymous and are still doing fine.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
none
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Bitcoin
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2023?
50K