How I missed out on Bitcoin at $100
Many of us have stories about how we missed out on Bitcoin at certain prices, or maybe missed out on Shiba Inu's meteoric rise this year. This is my story of how I missed out on the most important change in money since paper bills.
When Bitcoin came out, there was almost no publicity or news about it for years, so it was operating in an information gray zone. Where I live is notoriously behind the rest of the country in terms of technology and infrastructure, so it's not like I was in Silicon Valley and just snubbed my nose at it. I had been trading in precious metals for a few years and had turned quite the profit. A friend of mine approached me about this new digital online currency that's called a coin but you don't get any actual coins. He told me it was only around $100 and they "mine" them with computers, and then you can buy some things on some anonymous site called the Silk Road. I was at first confused and intrigued by his description of this bit coin. He proceeded to tell me how it revolutionized online shopping and how he's been ordering things from all over the world, shipped direct to his house. Then he told me WHAT he was ordering... Illicit drugs. Turns out my buddy was on the dark web and ordering some heavy stuff. Needless to say I never accepted any packages from him, and shortly thereafter cut ties with my friend.
The few interactions I had with the friend about Bitcoin had definitely NOT portrayed the project in a good light and I was immediately sceptical of the Bitcoin project as a whole, not knowing it wasn't tied to the Silk Road. I assumed it was solely for drug running and possibly funding terrorists, so the last I heard he was selling all his silver and gold to buy Bitcoin. I assumed to buy more drugs. "Poor guy" I thought, "he's been duped into turning his savings into a string of numbers and will probably blow it all on heroin or something worse."
I missed it
It was too late by the time I was genuinely interested in Bitcoin. I didn't have any money to invest, and was going through some hard times due to illness. I didn't even own a car at the time. Looking back there is no way I would have liquidated my position in precious metals, a tangible real asset, for some string of numbers.
My inaccurate prediction for what would become of Bitcoin
I assumed Bitcoin and silk road would be raided and shutdown by the DEA and the feds for drug running. Once I learned they were separate and Bitcoin was a monetary instrument, I assumed the Treasury would shut it down. I assumed, made a donkey out of myself big time, again and again incorrectly that Bitcoin would never reach widespread acceptance and that all other cryptos would be shutdown right alongside it.
I was SUPER wrong!
I don't live life with regrets or what ifs so I'm not kicking myself for not getting into crypto sooner, just working hard to make up lost time, while investing as LITTLE of my own money as possible.
