Well since the sticky said I needed more than a hello to make an intro I guess I'll give my intro to my crypto journey
. I remember first seeing Bitcoin years ago on sites like TPB where uploaders had their BTC addresses in their vid descriptions and not even really thinking anything beyond it being some type of way to donate money and going about my business not thinking twice about it. This was back when it was probably only a couple hundred bucks 
. Also remember reading the news article on Silk Road and thinking dayummmm more on what the site sold then the aspect on the actual site currency. Once again, paying Bitcoin no mind. I started to buy some to make a payment around 2015 on a RP text based mud (wonder if anyone even knows what that is anymore) to commit the ultimate gaming sin...pay to play
; advance my character by paying money rather then putting in the time like the old timers had (but the damn gap was so wide I could never catch up). Anyways one of the options was Bitcoin, and of course I had seen Bitcoin public addresses regularly for years on torrent sites so I was like "F it I'm gonna try to do it like this. Might as well learn to do it since more places are accepting it (as in the game I wanted to play)." So the mud owner had a couple of Bitcoin exchange links so I opened one up and started to register. It told me it would take a couple of days to connect bank account. Once again I was like "F this I'm ready to get my character goods now." So ended up closing it all out and just using Paypal. Fast forward to this last September. I was in the mood to play some online poker and do some sports betting so I went to Bovada which I hadn't played on in years (because I had been hardcore mudding on that game!). I went to see how to deposit money on there ready to go the old Western Union route like back in the day and once more I see the Bitcoin route. Now anyone who uses online poker/ sports betting sites knows the entire deposit/ withdrawal aspect is a pain the butt. So I see they are allabout the Bitcoin deposit/ withdrawal method. I mean instant money on your account. Also see withdrawals are just as fast. They are really pushing the Bitcoin. So I start doing a little investigating the how to/ where to get Bitcoin and see a whole reddit thread from others who wanted to put money on Bovada and the paths they used from Coinbase to wallets to Bovada. So I go setup a CB account and drop like $300 on there using my credit card and the whole path to Bovada was nice and easy.
But while I'm on there I'm seeing how far Bitcoin has come just in the prior months so quickly and wheels start grinding in my head. It had just been $1200 a couple months back, and was currently in a correction after having dropped to $3100. I have an okay grasp of stock charts and see it is bottoming out and about to begin moving up at $3600 (where I first jumped in!) and dropped my little ol' $1750 I could spare onto CB for BTC. Within 3 weeks Bitcoin was up to $5500. Within 1 week my money was lost on Bovada. Using all of my skill at reading stock charts and indicators to see where Bitcoin would head next now that it had reached this glorious amount so quickly, I realized it was about to tank back to the $4,000's, possibly even the $3,000's, so I quickly cashed out and put my money on eTrade to put my saavy stock reading charts to the test. My $1750 was now $2800 and I was the next Warren Buffet, as I so prominently displayed my newfound riches to all of all of my coworkers and managers (majority had never heard of Bitcoin...of course now the whole world knows).
A few weeks later when Bitcoin was now at $12,000 (ya I totally dropped the ball on that one) and my up and down luck on stocks had brought me to $4200 then back down to $2600, I decided it was time to start educating myself more on crypto currency, and the blockchain, in general. So here I am. A day late and a dollar short...
