Bitcoin Forum

If you have been here long enough and have actively participated and engaged in discussion about bitcoin in the various boards, chances are that you have become more financially literate and intellectually curious than many of your peers who are not involved in bitcoin. To put it another way, if you had taken a pretest on financial literacy before joining this forum say in 2021 assuming you were a complete bitcoin noob and scored poorly. If you are given the same test in 2024, after actively engaging in the community, you'd likely score much higher. Simply by being involved, discussing, and learning from other members, your financial literacy could easily double or more compared to when you first registered..

In addition, other things (https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1795879594899251242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1795879594899251242%7Ctwgr%5E891efc28d0e2d39bade60961a67ce9d16dcb7832%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdecrypt.co%2F233091%2Fbitcoin-investors-not-psychopaths-canadian-research-preview) that you would have seen happen to you within the time are that:

• You will tend to be intellectually curious and emotionally stable
• you will value personal growth, relationships, community over material possessions

This is the result of a study by a behavioral scientist from University of Toronto called Stefano Di Domenico (https://osf.io/yntdu), PhD presented at a Canadian Bitcoin Conference. 

Now, although the data wasn't collected on this forum specifically I find it relevant to bitcoiners in generalize and can be applied to our community. At least I speak for myself and newbies who I have watched go from making off-topic posts to engaging in intellectual discussions about bitcoin and related topics.

What do you guys think. Are the findings of the study relatable in your experience, or that of someone you know on this forum or elsewhere?

Personally I think I grew a lot from being in this forum.

Reading different kinds of threads in here made me curious and interested and therefore allowed me to go beyond what I know and really study other details about bitcoin or crypto. I also think that not only in crypto but just in life general, this forum has helped me. It has given me advices when it comes to financial and career options. The impact this forum has is definitely something researchers should study.

Can confirm. Found bitcoin when I had near-zero(knowledge of a fresh college grad with a non-finance degree) financial/economic knowledge, only the thought that I needed a 'currency' to use online without having a bank account.

After bitcoin then rose in price from approx $700 to around $3000, I was like — "what the heck is this Bitcoin thing anyway and why is it going up". Landed upon the legendary Andreas Antonopoulos videos, fell into the orange rabbit hole, and the rest is history.

As always, I consider this forum a crypto university, so I am definitely one of the examples of someone who became stable and financially solvent after joining the forum. I am not saying I just earn from the forum; I learn how to make money from crypto. At the beginning of joining the forum, I only knew about Bitcoin but wasn't aware of how it actually works. From the forum, I learned about cryptocurrency and how we can take advantage of it. I engaged in a valuable discussion thread and learned. Though there is no end point to learning, what I learned helped me a lot to become financially stable. I learn crypto marketing and trading from where I am making money from home. So if someone concentrates on learning and has good intentions, they should be financially stable here. 

His Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@aantonop

His Github with two free books on Github for reading https://github.com/lnbook/lnbook/commits?author=aantonop
Mastering Bitcoin 3rd edition (https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook)
Mastering the Lightning Network (https://github.com/lnbook/lnbook)

He has an account on this forum but left 10 years ago.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=79085

He is a legend and contributes a lot for Bitcoin community.

Because it's quite hard to become Bitcoiners.

Most people got scammed in ponzi scheme.
Most people got scammed in shitcoins.
Some people lost their coins due to bad OPSEC.
Some people lost their coins smart contract and centralized exchanges.
Even they didn't get scammed, if they keep watching the graph every minute, it means they still not trust in Bitcoin.

But, if they can overcome all the obstacles, learn from other people, or due diligence in order to safely investing in Bitcoin, they're having high knowledge.

I’m gonna be honest and say that I do feel like I am part of a much exclusive elite community compared to my peers who aren’t aware of bitcoin forum lol.

But seriously speaking, if I were to teach someone about crypto this is probably where I will direct them to. Sure there are many articles out there however to be able to converse and participate in a community-based platform is always much better.
This happens because you have to remind yourself that you are interacting with real life people with real life opinions and you have to be respectful and kind to everyone yiu encounter.

Totally agree with this one, if I wasn't exposed to bitcoin at all when I was still in high school, I'd probably be barely scraping by right now when it comes to money and financial matters because even with a job, I still can't do what I want to do most of the time which is trying to buy the stuff that I want without any worries about my payment for bills and daily necessities. I find it hard that people that are still not exposed to bitcoin investing are still existing especially those people that are at my age, that's really surprising and like people don't really care about the fact that they should be investing into something to get profit for their future expenses? I mean it weirds me out but I do get it because not everyone has an extra money to spare when it comes to investment as not everyone who works have a really good paying jobs and even if they do, most people would choose the happiness of buying stuff that would help them along the way rather than risking it on something that they don't know much about.

without any form of doubt, one of the greatest achievements I've had both financially and intellectually is being a part of this forum. a journey that started as mere trying to blend into the system has now grown to becoming the source of my mental and financial development. If you're actively engaging in the forum discussion and you're still struggling financially, it means you have a big issue to deal with. I mean, is there any financial concept we've not discussed here? And the beautiful thing I love here is that you're not just talking to people that aren't talking there financial life seriously or that have no result to show up for. Apart from this being a Bitcoin discussion niche, I can boldly say that this is the most organized and active financial forum I've ever come across.

When I started, I had zero knowledge on Bitcoin And the whole crypto ecosystem and had to struggle to read multiples of threads so as to even have a grasp of the basic knowledge that will help me strive well here. Could only contribute in my local board because other board discussion appeared too complex for me but with time, things have changed and my thought process and intellectual capacity has broadened too well that I can comfortably air out my views on other board without sounding too foolish. Still remembered that I made so many inaccurate replies on the speculation board that were considered off topic to some thread and I had to learn so many things and accepted all the critics and it has helped me grow in the forum till this moment.

The advantage of being a part of this forum suppases mere growing in rank or even joining a particular signature campaign. The aspect of the forum discussion that causes you to exploit your inquisitive prowess and causes you to think outside of the box when engaging in the forum discussion is an advantage you can't undermine.

Well said. I think the multiple boards sectioned and divided into more sub-sections is really smart and makes it very easy to navigate through. Sure there could be some improvements to make here and there however I think in general it’s really good and simple compared to other platforms out there.

I also think that the merit system along with the trust system makes it easier to identify which ones to kind of look out for in a sense.

Joining this forum made me to understand that there a lot going on that one needs to learn. One thing I observed is that you will keep on learning something new everyday here in the forum and that would broaden your knowledge on bitcoin and bitcoin related stuffs. I was a noob when I joined the forum with no hope of investment, but this community made it possible for me to exploit from cryptocurrency through the knowledge that I got here.

I am also more financially buoyant compared to then. This forum has helped a lot of members to plan and have opportunities for other means of income. Most of my friends don't understand a bit in bitcoin, but look at me given the opportunity to invest in a future gold and the latest form of currency with great value. Knowledge is power.

This is True.
I got to know about bitcoin talk as a result of my interest in bounties and airdrops but after surfing through several forums and topics here, I realized that there are several ways to be empowered through bitcoin. All I need is better exposure, enlightenment and constant activity on the platform. Read more and be open minded, then you start to gain more.

The findings are relatable in my experience because I have witnessed my own development as well, which has only happened because I have become a regular member of the forum who doesn't just come online to make posts and go off, but I actually read people's contributions across the different boards, commenting when necessary and just reading when there is nothing to say, or what I have to say has been said.

I have met many P2P agents who are not members of this forum, and the difference in knowledge is very obvious because there are many things they know nothing about, but to others who know nothing about cryptocurrency, they look the most knowledgeable based on the business they operate.

This forum remains very educational.

I also think that Bitcoin or cryptocurrency really boost my financial literacy and personal growth.
Honestly I don't think that I would be interested in investment if not for cryptocurrency, I also think that I would be so focus only to work and save money.
Investment plays a huge role to my life now and I am glad that I found out about cryptocurrency.

Well, thanks for proving what @Davidvictorson just said. Good thing that you did get interested in bitcoin but I don't think that total disinterest is a real thing for you to happen OP, I'm pretty sure that you're going to be interested to any investment that will be shown to you no matter because you're going to be seeing the money that will be involved, you might've also fallen for a lot of Ponzi schemes if it weren't for you not getting interested in bitcoin. I guess, life has ways in preventing us from downfalls and tragedies, it's just up to us if we take the opportunity or ignore it.

I think this applies to me personally because over the time of joining this forum, up until now, I have grown financially exponentially equivalent to my time spent here and with much active participation, I have learnt to be more independent and rely more on my financial wit, than on someone else's when making a financial decision.

I have also learnt to navigate debt by investment of more time and coins in Bitcoin, because whether anyone would like to agree or not, the future of Bitcoin dominance is here and it showed to observers and investors alike after the halving, that Bitcoin has a strong potential of dominating the financial aspect in the world more than BRICS currency or Brexit or dollar would.

Yes, I so much agree to what you just said above, about how been a Bitcoiner, and not just a Bitcoiner, but an active member of this forum over the years is likely to boosts a person's financial literacy and personal growth, as regards to the level of information he/she may have gained from active discussion. Because taking myself as an example, I must say that a lot of transformations has already changed from me been a Newbie, many years ago,  and me today as a Hero member", as this forum has actually helped me understand the importance of choice of words, as person may not know you physically, but with your choice of words been use for discussion, he/she is likely to predict your kind of person. Likewise, I have also learnt how to gamble with a money I can always afford to lose, and e.t.c.

If you're involved in doing what is right, then it will always come to your subconsciousness that you're growing on every aspects, this is a foreman mentality that makes an investment and is aware of doing the right thing, because there is no how you could make bitcoin investment without having a basic literate demands from you, this starts by how you learn, the time you have sacrificed and the things you have done that makes everything works for you as expected with bitcoin.

It is great to know a currency like BTC, when you use BTC you understand that you can use a currency that gives you the chance to control your money without any central authority in control of the network, you also learn how important financial privacy is.

The BTC community is also an interesting one, be it in this forum or in any other platform, and if you actively engage in discussions with other users in the community, you are going to learn a lot financially, so i kind of agree with this study.

I agree, it sure does! The number one thing bitcoin taught me is time management.

I feel financial literacy comes when studying any currency based hobby or career path. The personal growth part when it comes to Bitcoin is so much more IMO.

Bitcoin is a symbol of free will. It's very binary. Studying it from a philosophical standpoint opened my eyes to exactly how this world works.

Go bitcoin! 😁🧡

Well I can confirm that I am more financially literate because of two moves I made
in the past....

1.) Becoming a Bitcoiner and
2.) Joining the forum

I would also like to add that I wouldnt be the most literate financially but I know more now
that I did before particularly about inflation, quantitative easing and the benefits Bitcoin
offer about being your own bank.

Also listening to Michael Saylor has been a revelation for me in the past.

Yep, this problem is actually what I witnessed here, also happened to me. Before joining Bitcoin, I didn't know much about financial knowledge, but my exposure to Bitcoin helped me learn more about the financial system.

I once told a friend that what we get from Bitcoin is not only profit but also comes with a lot of different knowledge. There were times when I studied a lot of things and realized that the nature of some things is based on standards, and changes in the process of adaptation. Anyway really grateful to Bitcoin, it helps me a lot in life.

Looking back through the years I have been here, what I have learnt and how it has impacted my life outside of the forum is really relatable to all what you’ve said in this post. This place is a forum of bitcoin discussion primarily but it has helped me in many ways beyond just knowing about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. How I relate with people in the outside world and online, how I envision things and how I also deal with my financial intuition has also greatly changed being in term of privacy, security and management. All thanks to the forum for making me a student of learnt in this great university of knowledge called bitcoin talk forum. These are the few that comes to my mind now, but I just know it has really impacted a lot in me that I couldn’t have asked for something better elsewhere.

I agree that it boost financial literacy. Bitcoin has made me learn about several things I wouldn’t have wanted to learn voluntarily. It has also made me understand how finance works in countries and what really happens between us and the bank and government. And Bitcointalk made it even more interesting because I’ve learnt even more.

It is obvious that we tend to grow knowledge on something where we show our interest whether it's Bitcoin or anything and about the financial literacy which is completely true cause if we have to understand bitcoin completely then we should understand about

• money,
• what is the difference between centralization and decentralization
• What is inflation

And many more of these topics will really give an idea of what is the real reason behind the existence of bitcoin and decentralization.[/list]

I fully agree with the op. Over many years on this forum, I've really boosted my understanding of Economics and the world of finances, well beyond what I would have known otherwise. I had an Economics course at university, but I've learned much less there than I did gradually by reading various articles to understand the context of various discussions on this forum better. It's really nice to see that this isn't just my experience but the result of an academic study.
As for additional things, I think I've always been intellectually curious and valued other things above material possessions, but I suppose the volatility of Bitcoin and learning to accept it did contribute to emotional stability.

The impact of this forum on me cannot be overemphasized. Unlike in school, where we were just taught theoretical knowledge without linking it to real-life experience, this forum transfers practical knowledge. Bitcoin knowledge has taught me patience, attention to detail, and the importance of doing research.

I reside in a place where people want to get returns from investment within a few months, but my orientation has changed because this forum has made me believe in long-term investment. You cannot use a wallet or protect your Bitcoin without paying attention to details. You will have to be careful when sending money because a single mistake can cause losses. Unlike bank transactions, where you will have the option of seeing the account number, bank, and account name, Bitcoin transactions are just an address. Bitcoin knowledge also instills the attitude of verifying information before believing. I can never invest in any project without doing extensive research because of the knowledge I gained here.

Undoubtedly, what you have said is the truth in my own case. Since I became active on this forum and have been reading the old topics on this board and other boards of the forum, I have gain a packed knowledge about Bitcoin different from when I was not yet on this forum. I already knew about Bitcoin before joining the forum but I didn't know things that I have gotten to know after joining the forum.