I didn't literally pay my student loan with bitcoin. I had to sell it for Canadian dollars first. Thats just the thing, for a lot of people, this is way outside of what people think is possible with cryptocurrency. When I invested in bitcoin in 2015, I didn't have a well defined goal in mind. When 2017 rolled around, my investment quickly exceeded my expectations. I knew that I eventually wanted to start my own business, so having debt was definitely something I needed t get rid of. Don't think that I didn't fall into the greed trap. I didn't end up selling my bitcoin at the top in December 2017, I sold on the way back down in March of 2018. Let's break it all down.
My Student Loan
I took a computer science degree at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. This is a small town on the east coast of Canada. I got a fine education that eventually led me to learn about, and take a massive interest in cryptocurrencies. Specifically, I got invested in Dogecoin first. Yes thats right. Dogecoin. After I learned that Dogecoin is a joke, and Bitcoin wasn't, I got into bitcoin with the promise of massive gains fuelling my interest. I was thinking that in 10 years, my investment might be enough to pay off the remainder of my student loans. I was $60,000 in debt, and making 50k/year at my entry level position. After the Canadian government takes 40% of my salary, and my living expenses added up, I could barely make my loan payments. Bitcoin was my hail mary attempt at paying off my loans, and it worked.
Crypto Rich in 2017
I didn't actually get crypto rich, it just felt like I did for a short time. This really wasn't difficult to achieve though. Anyone who was in crypto in 2017 felt like a pro trader. You had to try really hard to lose money in 2017. My 2015 bitcoin investment paid off, and I was in the green enough to pay off my loans entirely. Unfortunately greed got the better of me. I didn't sell when bitcoin was at 20k, I didn't even sell when it was 15k. I sold in March 2018, long after it was clear that bitcoin was taking a massive correction. The rational was that it wasn't too late to make something good out of the gains I still had. So I did. I transferred some bitcoin to the Canadian exchange I was using at the time (QuadrigaCX). I sold my bitcoin, and deposited it into my bank account. Then I paid off the remainder of my student loans. Debt free at 25.
Back In Debt
Fast forward to today. I actually understand the difference between good debt and bad debt. There are ways to make your debt work for you, instead of against you. So that's what I'm doing now. Instead of being taken advantage of by the education and financial systems at the ripe age of 17, I voluntarily put myself in debt, so I can make more money. You have to spend money to make money. As long as I am making more money than what my loan is costing me, I am making that money work for me. Understanding debt is pivotal to understanding the gears and mechanisms behind decentralized finance. DeFi is a relatively new phenomenon to hit the world stage, with amazing amounts of potential. However, it is not for the financially illiterate. It is fairly easy to make a blunder while trying to collateralize a DeFi loan with your newly acquired Ethereum. Keep listening to the GoFullCrypto, podcast and we will dive into DeFi, and how you too can take part in the latest and greatest the finance industry has to offer.
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This story is told on the Go Full Crypto podcast. The intention is to bring up the financial literacy of our listeners so that they can take advantage of all the wonderful things the world of cryptocurrency has to offer.
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