Bitcoin Forum

I got to know about BTC in 2016 through a friend who introduced me to a pyramid scheme. I bought 0.0334 units of BTC at $20.9. I didn't know the risks associated with online wallets then, so I stored it in my blockchain.com wallet. I sent the BTC to an upline member hoping to receive it back from 2 downline members I introduced to the scheme. To cut the story short the pyramid scheme turned out to be a scam and I lost my BTC. Today, I was browsing through my phone and I stumbled on my blockchain.com wallet and I decided to check it out, lo and behold the value of the BTC in my wallet left me with mixed emotions. I was happy being that even in bear market, the BTC that I bought at $20.98 has appreciated to $566.11 and also I was sad because I wish I had invested in BTC instead of the pyramid scheme.

I didn't buy Bitcoin until 3 years after. I really missed that golden opportunity to get it at such rate. Well the good news is that... The bear market is a good time to fill my bags and I got myself some BTC and I'll hodl unto it. You never can tell what price BTC could hit in the coming years.

Transaction hash of my first BTC purchase 2016: https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/transaction/0ffb4d64715a09d61491dab5d2ecceb7bd67f52aea61da19e4d168d8bf24caa1

I can relate to this. I already lof of Bitcoins lost in the early days of my journey when I started to introduce Bitcoin.
I also a lot of pyramid or Ponzi schemes I joined before and even if I didn't deposit a ton of money before, I made a lot by just inviting someone, that's how I am dedicated before but later on, most of their earnings are lost to a lot of scams and altcoins that I bought using my Bitcoin. This will be a lesson for us.

This is an important point, no one knows how bitcoin will go in the future, and actually the value of bitcoin will grow by itself without involving any scheme.

You're not the only one who's sorry, I think people just rushed to get riches on the "profitable" methods of the past by spending $10-20 bitcoins which they didn't think were worth much back then.

Unfortunate. I'm very certain we all had our fair share of mistakes with varying degrees of financial damage. What matters most is what you do today after you learned your lesson. Best of luck!

All of us have our own fair share of newbie days. To many, that means falling victim to all kinds of schemes. I used to be a victim as well. I learned lessons from it, but I payed for it a bit dearly. Later on in my Bitcoin journey, I fell victim once again, this time to a centralized exchange that went bankrupt. Again, I learned my lessons, but not before I payed for it.

I guess many of us here in the Bitcoin community share the same rough road. But we're still here. We're still going forward. Instead of crying over spilled milk, we're making the most of the opportunities at hand. I guess there's a reward waiting for us in the end. Or so I hope.

Mistakes made in the past shape character in the present and the future. Mistakes like this are common, regardless of the various cases experienced, regret always comes when knowing the true reality. Bitcoin will continue to run, bitcoin growth cannot be separated from fluctuations that require you to be patient when the price is below.

No need to rush to get riches in an instant way, walk slowly, sooner or later you will arrive at your destination safely. Remember, never keep any assets on an exchange for a long time, the risk of loss is very vulnerable if something unexpected happens to the exchange.

I'm sure the majority of us here do have the worst experience before as a newbie. Honestly, even experienced ones still fall on sh*t.

Isn't it good that we experienced those as that became our fundamentals and foundation in building a good crypto experience?

The feeling of being regrettable and disappointed is just usual but we have to move on. Cheer up!

I wouldn't call it as a mistake, it's a small achievement for you since you can hold it after 3 years, so congratulations for holding Bitcoin after 6 years. At least you're accidentally remember your old wallet and your cellphone still able to survive for six years long, usually people change or lost their phone after 2-3 years.

The most important part is, just buy Bitcoin when it's still cheap and hold it for long time.

Don't feel so bad about it. Everyone had their mistakes in this bitcoin journey. I remember to have made more than 0,001BTC daily back then only on faucets, planning to grow those earnings into something substantial. 100,000 satoshis on those times didn't worth too much, I think something around 0,40$-0,50$. But I wasn't disappointed about that, because I believed on the big potential of PONZI SCHEMES! :D

There were a plenty of offers where you could earn more than 1% daily over your investments at the conservative ponzi schemes, as there were also the turbo ones offering 10% daily or so. Then I believed that could be true, although under the name of cloud mining services. All those opportunities made me believe it should be possible to grow micro earnings to hundreds or thousands on long term.

And indeed it was possible, but not through scam schemes, rather through the simple act of holding! And it's never too late to start holding. Forget previous losses, have a new beginning from zero with bitcoin, it's still time to prepare yourself for the next bull run!

I guess majority of us here, at one point in time, have been scam with this kind of pyramiding scheme that you have been introduced. And I think this is the stigma that left a bad test for bitcoin, and that it became synonymous to scams like pyramiding. I myself was a victim of bitcoin doubler, and just like you thinks that I can double my money and have a downline. But in less than a month, the website closed and the rest is history. Don't regret it though and charge this to experience, move up and accumulate bitcoin because this is the perfect time - bear market.

now you get a valuable experience. although it's you don't lose big enough if you see the capital you spent when buying Bitcoin.
now you have seen the opportunity, the market is down, and this is an opportunity for you to make a profit by investing in Bitcoin. it may take more time, but now the market can move faster than in the past. it is due to the popularity of the Bitcoin market which is growing quite rapidly. Now you see an opportunity, and you can do it. I hope you succeed this time, even though you also have to spend more capital, unlike the first time you bought your Bitcoin.

There are a lot of stories like that. Bitcoin started trading at $0.008. By the time it reached $1 there was virtually no people left of those that still holded, who bought at $0.008. From $1 to $100 the same thing. The one who makes a 20x or 30x often sells because he doesn't know what the future is going to look like and prefers to have the money in hand now.

There are worse stories. Like those who bought at the top of the cycle only to panic sell shortly after because prices fell, only to see in the next cycle that the price went much higher.

OP have missed the opportunity, and now he's on the right track. Even now it isn't too late, you've got more time left to experience the best out of bitcoin. Maybe the profiting won't be the same as what you missed. This is common and most of the users could've experienced it.

I personally hadn't trapped into pyramid schemes, I was fooled by multiplier schemes and lost good number of bitcoins believing in a centralized wallet application. Later through P2P transaction one user cheated me while trading. From then onwards I used to be very careful handling bitcoin.

I have made a lot of mistakes, I was dazzled by desire, I kept buying in the bull market, and increased leverage, resulting in a serious shrinkage of funds, but there were also gains. After experiencing all this, I became mature, started to learn, and improved my consciousness. Know.

The size of your images are too big, kindly use height=400 to lower the size.

I have used BTC to invest in a Ponzi scheme called MMM years ago and I bought BTC worth of 200$ at the time, I am very sure the that value today will be in thousands of dollars, some times we learn the hardest way to gain more knowledge.

At least you still get your life going, you are still alive so you still have the chance to make a big difference someday, do not give up to, buy BTC and HOLd, we can see a new All Time High in 2025 or so.

It seems that people who knew Bitcoin very early or around 2016 onwards experienced almost the same thing, fell into a ponzi scheme or what is no less booming in the past is cloud mining, how many buy mining packages to get returns and it only works just for a while because in the end it will deceived, only cex.io where we can participate in cloud mining because they do own and run their own mining, the rest is just a scam company and only has a website without mining equipment.

Your losses are ~21$, not ~566$ as you think. You shouldn't be upset about them.

Now you are convinced that the pyramid scheme and bitcoin are not the same thing. Also, only those that are stored only with you, and not with friends or acquaintances who promise to give / return btc, can be considered your bitcoin.

You missed one opportunity - it doesn't matter. There will always be new opportunities, like now, in a bear market. The main thing is to invest in btc, and not in pyramids.

So you are surprised that a pyramid scheme turned into a scam? How shocking! ;D I didn't see that coming. ;D
I was scammed with 100 USD worth of BTC by a guy on Discord years ago, when the Bitcoin price was around 10K USD. Then the BTC price went to 60K USD, so I kept thinking that I've lost 600 USD not 100 USD. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We all make mistakes and we all get scammed by someone at some point. There's no point of regretting about the money we've lost. We just have to learn from our mistakes and avoid them in the future. A guy, who makes the same mistake twice is in idiot.

Happened to all. I am sure there are people that spent their bitcoin when the price was $500 or $1,000 or $2,000 or so on. You shouldn't be regretting. You probably sold because you had to or because you wanted to take your profit. People should stop being obsessed with holding "toxicity" mentality. If you want to take profit, take it and later when you can afford to buy more, buy.
Instead of looking at your previous transaction, why not buy again and hold some so you don't regret in the future once again?

More or less everyone of us has gone through such situations in our early days in crypto industry. Its better to take this as learning opportunity and dont repeat this mistake in future when we have bigger crypto portfoilio. Its also true that most of us never realized the vulnerabilities of crypto until it happen with us.
Just move on and keep accumlating BTC.

Most of us have experienced this and there is nothing to regret because it is an experience and it makes us more mature. So now the most important thing is how can we learn from our past experience and become learning in the future to keep holding on to BTC, even though many are skeptical about BTC in the future but we must still believe that BTC will be able to touch 100K USD in the future. The point is to hold on and believe and learn from the past.

The mistakes led to you being who you are. Now you know that buying bitcoin at low prices man better profits guaranteed in future. We can be rest assured, that we will not see the same condition as altcoin in bitcoin. Hence the importance of mistakes, they teach you a lesson.

You can be sure that many others have committed similar mistakes or lost money where they could have made money but dont let that dishearten you, rather this should be an impetus to be more consistent with trading.

Forgive yourself because you were ignorant at that time.

I've made a big mistake when I was got introduced to bitcoin and I deny it. That was a mistake for me if not I could have know what I achieved from that time to now, because when I was got introduced to btc by brother I now told him that if there getting money on bitcoin why he still they poor he didn't cash out,he now laugh at me that I don't know anything that's why I'm saying that.
Till when I see bitcoin change his life he become a responsible man for him self he didn't depend on anyone any more... That was when I realize bitcoin is king I now join

I think you have learnt your lesson from the mistake you made previously, currently you are regretting why you didn't invest in bitcoin in 2016, this is another opportunity for you, we are in bear market currently, I think you are having another chance to invest in bitcoin now so that you won't endup regretting why you didn't invest enough money in bitcoin in 2023, I will advice you to use this bear market opportunity to accumulate more bitcoin and hold, later in the future you will endup smiling and you will never regret why you invested in bitcoin.

Removing the ponzi story, those were like the golden days of our lives when we take time to look at our accounts and by the time we had it years ago.

It's not late and there's still time and opportunity left for everybody. All of us made a mistake for which we either have sold it too early not knowing on how huge the jump of its price potentially it will be during those days.

Well, it's time to move on and face the reality and just keep it as a lesson that we should live and learn.

I'm pretty sure we all have the same mistakes that we've made years ago.

I didn't lose the Bitcoins that I bought thru a pyramid scheme, but I lost the Satoshis that I got from faucets in a cloud mining website that turned out to be a scam. It might sound funny but if only I kept all of my earnings in faucets and decided to hold it until now or at least at the peak of 2021, I might've earned some huge money for free just by solving those captchas and holding it for a very long time. Unfortunately, I was a newbie back then and I learned from it. Aside from that, it's also my last time that I tried to do faucets and didn't do it until now.

For sure, we've all made some huge mistakes in the past. Things like "A friend introduced you to Bitcoin years ago and you ignored it..." or "I sold my Bitcoins that I bought years ago and if I held it for a longer period of time, I might've got more profits..." etc. We can't control it anymore because it's the past but what we can control is our future. Learning from our mistakes is the best thing to do. Making better decisions for the future is the best thing to do.

Right, an actual pyramid scheme actually sold actual bitcoin? That's definitely the first time I've heard of it. Pretty sure you're referring to one of those Bitcoin doublers or HYIP thingies (I know it's pedantic but it does make a difference).


You never lost it if you never withdrew them to your own wallet, which at least OP did ;)

To be fair, I've used "cloud mining" sites that actually paid out, but they were paying out cents for a lot of work on your end. Wouldn't call them scams, just a big waste of time.

Almost everyone here has made one or two mistakes that they now regret, due partly to how difficult it is to trust something new that comes your way as quickly as possible.

Many people learn about Bitcoin when the price is very low, but fail to invest because it came with a different idea that some people with less knowledge about technology and the internet can't simply accept very quickly, which is why most people miss out on early Bitcoin investment.

It is not too late to invest because we anticipate a price increase in the coming years.
There is no price too high for you to buy Bitcoin if you truly believe in the transparency and future of Bitcoin because it has given us control over our wealth by allowing us to conduct transactions without the involvement of a third party such as banks.

I completely agree with you because that's not a mistake to use bitcoins. Instead of calling it a mistake I call it a lesson and an experience to help me in the future, just like you said, all these transactions histories and prices show he is using these wallet addresses for a long time and that's very good to see unlike many other people he could save this wallet for this long time and during this time he got obviously many lessons and this is one of them.

Mistakes happen but what made the mistake worth it is that we learn from it.  Nothing much to say but it is never too late if we start accumulating now.  We have 1 more year for halving and 2 years for possible another record breaking ATH so we have plenty of time to fill our purse with Bitcoin.



If I am not mistaken, @OP lost the coins that he bought in 2016, since he sent it to his upline in hopes that his downline will do the same a typical pyramiding scheme where your upline earn from you and you earn from your downline, he sent it in hopes that it will double if his 2 downline follow the process but sadly his 2 downline is wiser and never sent BTC to their upline which is the OP.

I dare say that not only you but almost all of us here have made the same mistake as you, and this is normal, nothing to regret because then we were all newbies and didn't have any experience in the market. If you regret your bitcoin, I will regret it a thousand times more than you because I used to buy and sell a few dozen to a few hundred bitcoins in 2014 and 2015 when the bitcoin price was at a few hundred dollars.

No one knows the future and those experiences tell us that investing in bitcoin is never a bad decision and we should start over as soon as possible. Don't just regret, but let the opportunity pass again.

Very many crypto users have experienced something like you, even they lost such a large asset because of a small mistake they made, but this is all a lesson for all of us in order to be more careful in storing assets and applying security as much as possible Because there are so many people who want to get bitcoins for free even if what they do is not according to the rules, So now we have to bounce back to invest in bitcoin so that all the losses we have experienced in the past can be recovered, if we believe all there must be a way.

If I had known what would happen at this moment, I would have borrowed money from my parents to buy bitcoins and kept the bitcoins in a separate wallet. And I will return the money I borrowed from my parents by paying it off monthly. But there is nothing to regret because we cannot go back in time and buy as many bitcoins as possible. We can only keep trying to collect as much bitcoin as possible and store it for sale in the future when the price increases. And we are still lucky to be allowed to start now even though the bitcoin price is now above $ 16k.

That's right, I have lost so much money while trying to make some money from starting my own crypto exchange and a crypto casino as well, both ventures became a scam hole because whoever I tried to hire just took my money and deleted me from contacts and blocked me. I tried to do so many things where I would pay the person for the job, and they would just leave after that too, even in 2022 as well.

I wanted to hire a web dev to build a simple website, and yet they ended up stealing the money, even though I agreed on 50% upfront and 50% when the job is done, they just take the 50% and leave basically. There are way too many scammers and its hard not to fall for any single one of them.

The pyramid scheme is also known as a quick-rich scheme where many people got to fall into this kind of investment because it looks promising and tempting. I can relate to that situation OP because one of my friends got also into that scam and even tried to invite me but lucky because I have no money at that time, I didn't join him. We will just know a few days that the founder has been arrested because of a scam issue and money laundering.

That is the beginning of why many people think that Bitcoin is a scam investment because many people use the word "bitcoin" to scam people.

I know how you feel sokani, a lot of friends come to me telling me one of those pyramid stories, looks like is the way that lot of people get introduced, to cryptos. But it's sad because after getting scammed they don't want to know more about cryptos. And that's why I always tell them to invest direct in bitcoin or altcoins and not in pyramidal schemes that always have a sad end.

Don't worry; we've all been in the same position, myself included. I was first involved in Bitcoin somewhere in 2013 or 2014, earning petty amounts from faucets and PTC websites that a few years later would be worth a fortune. On top of that, I had also bought 0.30-0.40 BTC for less than $100; I don't remember exact amounts, but you get my point. All of it was wasted on dumb online stuff, including gaming accounts. Not only did I waste my purchased Bitcoin, but I also spent the majority of what I earned through various sources. 

Do I regret it? Yes and no; on the one hand, I couldn't have known while I was a simple teenager with no major knowledge; on the other hand, my main regret is not sticking with Bitcoin then and abandoning it until 2017.

It seems like we all have in common but what is important is we learned from those mistakes and never forget those important lesson. That was the most common mistakes of a newbie who doesn't have a certain knowledge about how the real world will corrupt you.

Those ponzi, doubler, and pyramid are most common mistakes when we're being introduced in crypto especially in Bitcoin. I myself had a fair share of mistakes when someone invited me to join on something that I don't know, though I've lost some money but fortunately, it's not that big but it's unfortunate if you look at the price before and now there's a slight regret. :D

we have had our own share of moments like this. but what if you spent your btc at important things like bills or food? you may regret it today but if it helped you significantly before, then for me it was already worth it. no one knew that btc will hit a very good price. so if you think there's bright future for btc, why not start collecting some satoshis again?

every past mistake must provide a useful lesson in the future,
avoid ponzi schemes, try it yourself by saving don't be tempted by someone's reward
rest assured you will get your own benefits in investing even though it is small but safe

Hopefully, what @OP writes echoes to other people who has yet experienced the things he experienced.  Investing in Bitcoin is very good but investing in ponzi scams are way more too bad.  I can see that @OP not only wanted to share his Bitcoin experience which he regreted not investing fully on it during 2016 but to share with us how he made a mistake participating in pyramiding ponzi scam that not only eats his Bitcoin but also make him idle for some time until he realized that Bitcoin is really essential as an investment.

Many of us for sure have made the same mistake and we really cannot do a thing about it. Bitcoin and this technology was less appreciated before simply because it is still a new 'thing' in the world of currencies. Potential is there indeed but in order to appreciate something you have to see it first. Why do we think there are people who sold early? because they don't know that its market price could be as high as we've witnessed. If they do know before for sure they won't and that's something we cannot change from the past. What's done is done. But why are people hesitating to buy at the present if there are chances for a higher market value in the future? 'coz no one is certain of it. If we would observe, we're on the same position as before.

Bitcoin wasn't as acknowledged in 2016 as it is now. Let me also point out that there are still people claiming that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are a huge Ponzi scheme. With that being said, I don't blame OP for going for not getting involved earlier, but pyramid schemes aren't new by any means. Although the OP might feel stupid or taken advantage of, he's not the first and certainly not the last victim of such schemes. The point from such stories is to learn from your past mistakes in order to avoid repeating them in the future.

I also spent some time in a Ponzi so-called cloud mining scam back in 2014, I earned a few bucks and was lucky enough not to deposit any money there. It didn't even last two months.

I think this condition or buying bitcoin at the same price as you bought few years ago will never even happen again for now because it is very impossible to happen.
But on the other hand, instead of regretting what has happened, I think it's better now to create new conditions where you really have to focus on the present and the future.
Maybe not as cheap as a few years ago, but right now I think it's still worth it to buy bitcoin, especially with the ongoing bearish conditions, there's nothing wrong with DCA from now on.
Regret will not make changes to anything now, let the past be memories and experiences, because the future still awaits our struggles and self-determination.

It can be said that what OP went through is also what investors from 2013 and 2014 went through because, at that time, Ponzi projects were trendy and it was not unusual for us to invest in them. But in my opinion, there is no regret because no one knows the future, if everyone knows bitcoin is as successful as it is today, we are all dollar millionaires.

You're right, rather than regret, why don't we invest now when everything is still very cheap if we look 10 years into the future? The opportunity is still there and whether we continue to miss it or take it is for us to decide.

Buying into a ponzi is happening everyday and the victims are mostly newbies who are in for some quick cash. The ones spreading such scams are the affiliate marketers and they only want their 10% commission and have sold their morality for it.

Definitely worth it, prices are having a upward trend today and so my views are bullish for now but let us await a few more days before confirming that. Even if not doing DCA we can buy low and then sell high keeping our patience over the holding period.

Of course bitcoin might no longer be in dirt cheap prices unless something huge goes wrong, but we can accumulate at lower prices and continue selling when it hits all time highs.

Just dont end up giving your money to someone who promises extraordinary claims.

Ponzi schemes for greedy people get unreasonable profits, they deposit assets without considering the losses and fraud from ponzi schemes, but unfortunately profit is a choice to blind the mind to think. I have a different analysis from the OP case above that he has trusted a friends suggestion to invest ponzi based using Bitcoin and but he doesn't really have any bitcoins in his wallet other than just to use the deposit to the ponzi platform address, he doesn't even have any remaining balance from his wallet until now, so Op still lost $20 at the bitcoin price at the time and didn't have to remember losing $566 due to overestimation was painful.

What you just posted here reminds me of the naivety that befell me in the early times I knew about crypto. I had far more Bitcoin and other crypto transactions than you, to the point that almost all the companies that were paying me for my services between 2016-2022 paid with crypto. But I was just exchanging it for fiat then until last year when I joined BTT and become serious with my trading and investment of coins.

This is painful, and I don't want to think back regarding that, and you should just let go as well.

Well first of all sorry for your losses but this experience is kinda normal with many folks here in the forum during their early years of knowing bitcoin. A mistake is unavoidable in the life of a human and its also part of the learning cycle because the best lessons is always learnt when we make mistakes but all together i just hope you have learnt from your mistakes.

But you can still atleast try to gather enough btc again seeing that market now is low, you can buy at a low price now and hodl it till btc goes up again. Like you said no one knows when the price is going to pump up again so stop regretting and just keep hoarding enough  btc you can get your hands on to because the time is coming when people that Missed this golden opportunity will also lament and say this word of regret "how wish i knew it will rise again ". So buckle up and start buying bro the future is bright.

Right now what we really need is to just wait and it depends on your patience whether you are ready for this or not but I think when we are sure to be here we should be ready to wait because this is part of the risk we have to live with.
On the other hand, regarding DCA and waiting to buy at a lower price, I don't think it's a problem, but on the other hand, it also depends on conditions, I think.
I am not too technically savvy and am still in the further learning stage so rather than waiting for something that is not too certain for me it is better to be at DCA because it is still worth it for myself. Of course if bitcoin is still going to rock bottom that's even better because I can buy more of it than before.

Yes, im also into that path on which i have really waste up lots or tons of coins back in the past due to those hyips and ponzi that we do have specially on 2016-2017 years where the market is been
flooded out by lots of these schemes and since im just a noob back then and im that greedy when it comes to making money or minding on making myself rich then im really that pouring all
of my money out of those investments and ended up on being scam, until i do make myself that knowledgeable out of those experience.Yes, it is really that regretful that
you are really that losing tons of potentially make huge money due to market increase but its never too late to go back to square one.

Almost all of us gone through to this kind of things when we are just starting out.  The good thing is that we were not discouraged, instead we continue to persevere and learn more about Bitcoin and its ecosystem.  It is still early to join or rejoin the Bitcoin economy since the industry is still very young.  We are still at a decade while Bitcoin mining is scheduled to last for more than 10 decades.  So there is still a lot of room for Bitcoin market to grow.


Aside from moving on, we should also learn a lesson from it especially if it pains us thinking way back.

It is a big lesson, you finally know that investing in Bitcoin is more trusted than others.
If you missed the opportunity to invest in Bitcoin at that time, you have another chance to invest in Bitcoin this time. We are in the bearish season, it is the best time to fill our bags. However, choose the right wallet to hold the Bitcoin until the bullrun season. Don't trust CEX wallets, it is better to keep the Bitcoin in hardware wallets or private wallets.

Yep, OP just too trusted his friend, so he wants to invest in the pyramid scheme. He was probably a beginner and didn't know much about crypto investment at that time. So, we can understand that OP can be trapped in a scam project.

Basically, he lost $20 but it is valued at about $566 now.
He regrets not saving his BTC, instead invested the BTC in a pyramid scheme.

Everyone have got some stories behind and looking back will make us feel painful. This is common, because of the growth bitcoin have attained over the short time period. Myself had experienced similar growth out of altcoins, and I missed the opportunity to sell those holdings. Later they got delisted which is the sad part. Rather than thinking about the past it is good to stay strong and focus on the present. Even then onwards it is possible to make good holding.

I assume everyone in Crypto have their own story with the different types of scams that were widespreaded in a certain period of Crypto history, so I won't talk about it, but I want to draw attentions to the developed awarness among Crypto community regarding these types of scam, it was easy for them to scam people, especially newcomers like your case in that period as there weren't many resources to check the credibility of a project. Now, as many cases have happened and a lot of people have their own story, it's harder for any scam project to collect the amount of Bitcoin the old scams were collecting, most newcomers now may come across stories that prevent them from following scams as they learn from other's mistakes, as well as the scarcity of Bitcoin is increasing with the same level that people look at it as precious holding.

As a newbie in crypto, if you are not properly guided in it, there's a very tendency for you to fall victim to scams as a newbie. Sadly, you lost your bitcoin in such a manner. Nevertheless, as you are already aware of what the future of bitcoin can be if you choose to hodl it for years, that means you have learned that an investment made in bitcoin today can give you many profits in the future.

Actually, the bear mistake is the best time to fill your portfolio with bitcoin if you have a long-term investment plan on bitcoin.

These are the numerous mistakes we make at the initial start. At first it is a scam then fud, panic sell upon any slight down market trend. I have learnt a whole lot from these experience. I believe this type of most needs the new bie to see and read so they could learn from it. It happened really. Most of us here had such experience which we are likely regretting today if we had the knowledge then we would not have sold but hold the digital gold but we got scammed by those that knows more than we do as new bie. That I believe is amongst the Crypto experience many if us onboard this platform had before our eyes opened to know the real worth of what we are holding.

Open your eyes do not trade for peanuts!

We are all ones being a noob back into those early years or previous ones on which there are really decisions and perceptions towards crypto things which ended as a disaster specially where we are really that prone when it comes to lots of scams and frauds around in the market.We do have that limited kind of knowledge which it would really be just that normal that we would be experiencing those mistakes and errors.

There's no point on making yourself do look and goes back into those mistakes because if you do keep it in mind then it would really be just giving off some stress and might be the result
that it would really be affecting on what you are currently engaging off with.

we all started as a newbie in this market, so one way or another we all had that kind of experience. from such experience, we learned new things, tips, or tricks to survive and gain profit from this market. it is how we move on from past mistakes. no one is immune to losses or mistakes. even the so-called experts today have had their fair share of failures. so don't be too hard on yourself, we all have gone thru such phase of losing.

There are a ton of people in your position that experience the same emotions whenever they reflect back on how early and "unserious" they took bitcoin about 6 or 7 years ago.
In my opinion, it's still early and anyone who doesn't hodl might have the biggest regrets of their lives. Just invest and hodl month in and month out. In another 7 years, the narrative will have changed.

hahaha believe me dude your mistake can be a lesson for everyone. and you are not alone here I bet there is dozen of people who like you and I have same mistake Im totally sell of my bitcoin even bitcoin not reach 1000$ around 500-600$ and i have almost 5 BTC in total  ;D ;D and not touching crypto for 4+ years and Im back in 2020 and broke but hey Never losing a hope right, and Never Try Never Know Right  ;)

Bigger mistake I made when selling Bitcoin under $10,000 and ever cut loss when investing in Doge coins, I don't remember with how many time mistake made in cryptocurrency due early for selling cryptocurrency assets and some time most loyal become diamond hands by holding for longer time until my portfolio drop drastically.

I think if you less risk with many mistake later, make good management with your altcoin assets, don't worry when have to cut loss and make percentage with altcoin assets increase dump under 20% for cut loss. Use the same method when Bitcoin or altcoin assets holding increasing up above 20% for selling without become long term holding.

I was scammed also before by those pyramiding schemes, as I was just starting out and not aware of them. I think most of us went through with it or tried it out out of curiosity, but again, I learned a moral lesson from it, so we shouldn't be trying it again.
 
Also regarding the bitcoin that was left you are lucky that you remember it also it was huge amount . I also can relate to this but in a exchange (bittrex) i forgot my bitcoin i think last 2018 it is not huge but it help us buying needs since i sold it immediately 

I seem to have pretty much the same experience with ponzi schemes. because I used to get caught up in ponzi projects and the like. even i have many donwline. But I didn't use bitcoin to invest in a ponzi scheme and I still remember that time we used TRX and Doge. I used to have quite a lot of trx and doge coins. and at that time the price was really cheap. but unfortunately I have sold them all. but what's funny is that at that time I didn't really study cryptocurrencies at all. I only play ponzi investing and because the investment uses trx and doge coins. so i bought and used it without digging deep into bitcoin and others. But the lesson I learned at that time was never to approach that kind of thing (ponzi scheme) again. because I also experienced bankruptcy because of that. And after going bankrupt, I realized and got deeper into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. and how to build a good investment from scratch again.

now I just want to focus on raising money and investing for the long term in bitcoin. and I also trade and invest short and medium term in altcoins.because indeed the bearish market is now feasible to be used to re-accumulate bitcoins.

At that time, bitcoin was nothing, and no one cared about it, so we didn't trust it and sold it is normal, with no regrets. But in the present, when we are still in its infancy and already know the potential of bitcoin, it would be a mistake if we do not invest now but only regret the past. I also believe that if we invest in bitcoin now and hold for 7-10 years, we will also get what we missed 7 years ago. For me at this stage, it is still called too early to invest.

If you joined the cryptocurrency market in 2014, it could be said that whether it is a new or old investor, most will invest in those Ponzi projects. Because it was the only model to make money at that time, we did not have ICO, DEFI, NFT, or P2E ...,it can be said that there will be no choice to make a profit if you do not invest in Ponzi.

I think OP or anyone should not regret it because no one can know what will happen in the future. If OP regrets what he has lost, my regret will be hundreds of times larger than him when the number of Bitcoins I trade, investing at that time to hundreds of Bitcoin per day.

I say, "Do not cry over spilled Milk" .... just learn from that mistake and push forward with the new knowledge that you acquired. I had many friends who got into the same situation with these Ponzi schemes and even after several warning, still invested money into it.

Then they got burnt and now they are blaming "Bitcoin" as the evil technology.... not the stupidity of them investing in a Ponzi scheme that used Bitcoin as a payment option. (It is important to notice the underlined and bold section of this sentence)

You handled this brilliantly .... you learnt from the mistake... acquired the correct knowledge... and tried again. Well Done!

Got such bad experience all the time. It's unrealistic to how the prices of bitcoin is soaring all the time and we are not there when it was tiny one. Thats what they call as missing the train and I can concur that I have missed this train many many times myself. Problem is not with my patience or my hodling capacity but it is about the requirement of money on monthly basis. I could not save up everything in the crypto, I need to sell bitcoin many times to keep  up with the daily needs. I am not sure how those guys are hodling all the time, but they might be having some serious real world job with good paycheck every month.  :)
Sadly, situation is not same for everyone.

you are not alone, experiences like that are felt by more people. save bitcoins when we have enough left over every month. but in the end, what is accumulated must also be reduced little by little to cover the needs that are not covered by our monthly income.
but still grateful even though disappointed. because finally the assets collected can also be utilized. maybe a failed investment plan. but Bitcoin has already helped enough people's lives.

most people must have experienced failure first, but for those who have experienced failure it must be made a lesson for the future so that
more careful.

need to remember most successful people, must have failed at first. I hope that in the future you will be successful.

That is really sad to be involved with Bitcoins in 2016 and not buying large amounts back then, I made the very same mistake like you. My first introduction into Bitcoins came in also in 2016 when I was trading CSGO skins actively. Every time I cashed out my winnings for real money the websites offered me withdraw the money from the exchange in Bitcoins at a much lower fee than via bank transfers. So for roughly 1 year I was buying and selling bitcoins a lot and managed to get my hands on a lot of coins. In one case opening alone I managed to get a 1000 USD skin which was my biggest profit. For that I bought a new bicycle which got stolen 2 years later. Sometimes I still think about if I just had kept all my bitcoins back then and not sell any, it would have been a nice profit today. Unfortunately we can't turn back time and need to live with our decisions. At least I learned from that to never sell all my bitcoins ever again.

Everyone must feel the same way and especially those who have been in this industry for a long time, and no one would have thought that at that time the price of bitcoin would be even higher.
and i am judging this out of greed but doing it in a very profitable position and being seduced by fantastic profit values or maybe a new and amazing experience that makes me feel the urge to sell for fear that the price will drop again or disappear, which is actually a good start for get a higher price.
but all of that will be a good experience and lesson for the future, that the price of bitcoin will continue to increase even though there are always decreases because long-term bitcoin is a very absolute choice and will not disappoint as long as patience and faith are still there.

yup feel it have been in your position lol, well nothing can do on spilled milk. better focus on future opportunity

I just couldn't help myself to laugh and be sad again because I did have the same mistakes way back 2016. Truly, there's a lot here in this forum that had committed the same mistake we did because we just don't really know bitcoin's future and I remember that at that time, scams are just too many to mention that we couldn't figure out anymore which investments are really profitable and true.

I've gone through all the comments and I want to say thank you guys for stopping by and dropping your thoughts on the subject. I would like to correct the impression that I'm not crying over spilled milk, Yes... I regretted it and I've learnt my lessons. I only lost a couple of bucks but some persons here lost more than I did. Why I shared my sad experience is to discourage some persons out there who might want to make the same mistake because I don't think ponzi scheme is ending anything soon, it will always be rebranded, repackaged and resold to unsuspecting individuals. Instead of investing in such a scheme, it would be more profiting and rewarding to invest in Bitcoin. My post is also to encourage Bitcoin hodlers to treasure their asset and hold on to it because it's going to be worth more in the future.


 

Maybe for now we haven't been able to get a golden opportunity like the previous year because the price of bitcoin is now higher than three years ago, but in the bear market that we are currently experiencing, this is also a good momentum for us to buy every time there is a decline.
Although in the future no one knows for sure to what extent the price of bitcoin will increase in value, many people are always optimistic when the next bitcoin halving event in 2024 will allow bitcoin to reach a new ATH again.

Most people, including myself, are victims of such blunders. During my undergraduate days, a friend of mine begged me to acquire Bitcoin, which I had no interest in. After much deliberation, I reluctantly purchased $50 worth of Bitcoin at the time, despite the fact that I could have purchased $1,000 worth of it.After a few months, I made some profit from the $50, then I refunded my money.
 
The remainder of the money was then invested in various Ponzi schemes because that was the one that piqued my interest the most, but it remains my greatest regret to this day: I had the opportunity to become a millionaire at a young age, but I did not take advantage of it. 

Everyone have their story to tell about missing out on the golden opportunity to bag bitcoin when it was still low in price, worth over $500, it took only courage for some to keep hold of bitcoin till present knowing fully well about the massive pump and heavy dump of the project. Bitcoin will continue to shoot higher in price, but it will definitely take long time count before it rises to $100k as predicted by TA analysts. During the bear season, it's confirmed to bagged bitcoins and altcoins to portfolio inother to aimed at the profits levels.

At some point of time we have all been there wishing we should have bought more BTC or we should not have sold our coins back then.
This just proves how much bitcoin is worth and it is better to use it as a store of value than a payment method.
I guess its too precious to spend it as a payment. Not even Satoshi would have imagined bitcoin to be so precious that people would regret to spend it as a payment. LOL.
But the truth is that we all want more BTC since we know its price is bound to increase more in future.

All of us have had sweet and bitter experiences when we started working in the world of crypto, especially bitcoin, just like you, I also initially doubted that bitcoin was a promising investment until several times I refused friends invitations to invest in bitcoin, even when my friends said if bitcoin is an investment for the future, I would say that it is just a fantasy because it is an investment that has no real form, but now that the price of bitcoin has reached tens of thousands, and we can only regret the golden opportunity we have missed :'(.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D Righttt you feel it too hahahah. Oh, by the way, there is dozen of HYIP (High Yield Investment Program) that is obviously a Ponzi Scheme back couple of years ago that offer up to 100% in a week but fool me I do believe that and lose a lot of it, there is actually site that provide hyip monitoring and maybe there is still one or two out there  so better stay out guys there is no getting rich quick  :D

It is nice to hear from someone which learned from their mistakes as there are many newbies out there which make the mistake of investing in those Ponzi schemes, and despite being scammed they keep investing in them as they are too greedy to give up the illusion of making money in this way.

There are also people that are too hard on themselves and they either leave the market completely or they are afraid to invest in anything, and this is a mistake too, after all while there are some users which have never lost a single satoshi, they are the exception rather than the rule, most bitcoin users have lost some money at some time, so be glad you learned this lesson for cheap as there are many others which paid a fortune to learn the same lesson as you.

Nothing they can do right now but to wait for months or years to recover back what they have lost and I'm pretty sure that those who invested some money they cannot afford to lose, has been regretting all these days and might gonna consider to withdraw despite of their losses. Nevertheless, that's just how life goes by in the crypto industry, either you lose or you win in your chosen investment.

It's a good idea OP not to allow what happened in the past to stop you not to buy Bitcoin in this bearish season, because this is the best season many investors used to get it right with their investment. I think, another opportunity is here again for those that missed the opportunity to embrace this period to purchase Bitcoin and hold for like 2 or 3 before he or she can sell to make a good income. I believe, Bitcoin price will definitely hit higher in a way  both long term investors and short term investors will have access to achieve massive income in the future.

True story!
I know the OP is not alone to this. I've seen similar stories and that was way back before 2015 I guess. There were a group of crypto enthusiast who offers free seminars and lecture regarding cryptocurrency and it's functions, but at the end of the lecture, they will offer you an investment options with their own project/coin, which eventually turned out to be a pyramid scam again. I don't know how they have resolved that case, but one thing is for sure, not so many people got scammed during those days, because cryptocurrency wasn't as popular as now before.

It made me laugh to imagine that while in the investment, you are waiting a few days for your pay and are beginning to consider how you will spend it or if you want to reinvest it. But I can't imagine that those scammers before were really smarter than us and were able to persuade us, and also, the awareness before of HYIPs was not as strong as it is now, so everyone of us will really say, "Don't be fooled by that as it is a scam." But, once again, that's a good starting point for us to learn more about how to earn bitcoin, and it's not an investment as we previously thought.

This sentence i quoted from the OP is actually misleading, some persons might read this and think that there are actually some pyramid schemes that are legitimate.
Every pyramid scheme are all scam, this is why they are called pyramid scheme in the first place.

Anyways, this is a very popular way most of us lost our precious bitcoin back then, most especially those from the African countries, it is really disappointing when i try to remember the amount of Bitcoin i actually lost to this type of scheme, and thinking about what they are currently worth is even disheartening, but all the same, it has happened, and we've learned from it, Bitcoin price is currently cheap when compared to its previous all time high price, there is still opportunity for us to accumulate bitcoin to the best of our financial ability.

The massive adoption and purchase by investors is no guarantee that Bitcoin will continue to rise in price.
That's why I often say that the price of Bitcoin is determined by Bitcoin itself, no one will be able to control it, and Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency asset whose price is not centered by anything and anyone.
If the buyer is a large investor and has extensive knowledge of Bitcoin and crypto, even though the market is falling and Bitcoin is going through a phase where the price reaches its lowest point then it is clear that they can be patient and continue to hold their assets in the long term until the price of Bitcoin can be corrected reaching its new highest ATH.

To be honest no one during 2016, knew that Bitcoins Will really turn into a big deal or an asset. Many of us just invested in Bitcoins due to the Digital Goods or when necessary we bought some Bitcoins. So yes if you didn’t fell for that scam at that time, by now you have sold it only. Yes I remember that back in those days these types of scams were pretty famous. Cloud Mining, Level Investments were the most scams in these crypto times. Always avoid these type of fishy investments. Currently take advantage of the bear market and if possible buy as many Bitcoins you want. In future definitely you will sell these in high price.

Truly I could never make myself believe how these hyip monitoring list sites made money to keep doing it, but then I found that those web pages were flooded with scam sites peddling their bullshit. I gradually understood that the referral commission that these websites make is way more than what they invested to get the web page running. Hence they continue to do so and the extra comes in as profit. Thing is that the owners of these sites know that the HYIPs are scam but they only care about money and not morals.

Such mistakes have been common with many users, but it is important to now forget them and remember only the lesson for that will help them avoid scams in the future but legitimately make money as well.

2016 is the year of the ponzi scheme, and 2017 is the year of cloud mining, in which even mobile phones can mine via browser and others will purchase powerups to increase hash power. Also, bitcoin was inexpensive at the time. I remember those times and they made me laugh; I was once scammed in a ponzi scheme and never tried it again, nor any other seemingly too good to be true investments. Though, for sure, we learn from them, so it is still a good move for us as long as we have a lesson that we get.