Almost a decade ago I learned of Bitcoin through the Joe Rogan message board. When he had to close that cesspool of great knowledge of fringe markets, societies, and illegal UFC links, most of the group migrated to a new site. In that period of time, life was pretty hectic. Any bitcoin I had was received as a reward for risky behavior or a poker game. Sometimes both could be said of the same coin until I lost it thinking two pair was good. As the early days dragged on, I stashed a few coins and found new hobbies, developed new relationships. I forgot about the coins until a few years ago. I used them to pay some debts and completely forgot about the space until a few months ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected both of my actual jobs but I now had the time and money to start making more serious investment moves in the crypto markets. I found I was no longer fluent in the language of the crypto world. Mainly DeFi was gaining ground where it was once thought impossible and referral systems have become a test of security as well as hype machines. 

The first thing I did when deciding to rejoin the crypto craze was to see if any of my old information worked. Turned out, I have 4 NEO and about $140 BTC and ETH in a Coinbase account. I found two thumb drives but forgot the keys/passwords. No telling what is on them. I decided to invest another $500 spread equally between Tezos, DAI, Ox, Chainlink, and Maker. I left them on the basic Coinbase account and start searching for a wallet. 

I don't know if or when Bitcoin or ETH will fork again. Same for any other coin until I can do more research. I do know I want to benefit if possible. Missing out previous forks hurts too much to make that mistake again. I decided to download the Brave Browser, made some search queries, and found Publish0x. Then I heard of Atomic Wallet when I saw the $15 AWS promotional ad on the side of the screen. I decided to give it a shot. 

I clicked the ad, went through the steps, and had the wallet booted up on my laptop. I started running through options and settings, trying to get the feel of the wallet's functions and features. I noticed there was a $0.00 balance, and thought perhaps the AWS would be issued within a few days or a week. I glanced at the ad again, clicked through to the Atomic site to read the FAQ section, but had no luck finding an answer. So I sent $50 of BTC to the wallet, thinking that is usually a decent benchmark of use to earn most of the free referrals on any product. I waited a couple of days. Nothing. 

First impressions are huge, Atomic failed. I did a search and found out that Atomic had suspended this program due to abuse from a substantial amount of users. This was concerning. If the most public-facing engagement of the wallet's marketing is failing, how much could I trust the wallet to be supported long term? I then decided to still with the KISS system since I was now mid-30's and lacking the knowledge required to invest more while making riskier moves. Keep It Simple Stupid. Download the Coinbase wallet, write down all info, and keep the sprawl of accounts and coins to a minimum. While Atomic Wallet might be running the best marketing program, the end results did not garner much trust.

When storing my money or investing in projects, the first thing needed is trust. Atomic Wallet did not earn that, much as I did not earn $15 worth of AWS. While I might be giving Trust Wallet or some other staking/lending wallet a try soon, I'm not sure why I would come back to Atomic knowing other projects are offering the same services with the same headaches, hiccups, or half-hearted promises of rewards for use.