Bitcoin Forum

I was doing some cleanup in my store yesterday and I saw my books that I used for storing vital information about Bitcoin in 2016 and 2017, these books have some good and bad memories behind them.

https://i.postimg.cc/VsFjpw8n/eZLL2mS.jpg


When I started my Bitcoin journey years ago, I had nothing, yet, a day will not pass by, that I will not stare at Bitcoin value online, I came to know about Bitcoin when I was looking for how to make money online, and my desire to have some Bitcoin in my wallet grew so much that I started hunting for satoshis through faucets.

If you are into Bitcoin in 2016/2017 these faucets should sound familiar to you, I am sure that these faucets are not working anymore today,  even if they do, its not worth it anymore.

https://i.postimg.cc/YS3rkdqn/9m0sq27.jpg  https://i.postimg.cc/sxVmZDp9/iCZtajQ.jpg


I did this for a whole year, from the mid of 2016, claiming every hours and some are every 30 minutes, after a year of gathering some satoshis I ended up losing them all because of free wallet and xapo wallet,  I don't know they are custodial wallets, I couldn't even tell the difference between an open source wallet and closed source in that period.

After losing everything, I started buying some Bitcoins using my pocket money, I was suppose to use the money to buy some foods and transport myself to school, I was so obsessed that I prefer walking down to school almost everyday, but in the end I had to go back and sell some part of the Bitcoin, because the suffering was too much, believe me,  Bitcoin investment is not easy for those that have no good source of income.

I switched completely from faucets to airdrop in March 2017 and the result was way better than expected,  I made my first 500$ through few airdrops and I quickly use it to buy some Bitcoin, I felt so happy and I abandoned free wallet and xapo and moved to Copay wallet, this was how I knew about recovery seeds.

In December of 2017 my Bitcoin have added good value,  that same month was when my little brother got so sick and nearly gave up, I had no choice but to sell some of my Bitcoin again, because it got to a point where my parents can't afford the hospital bill anymore.

They were surprised how I got the money, I was asked some questions later as if I was in a courtroom facing a panel, they don't believe at first but later they did, we had an amazing Xmas, again,  selling some part of my Bitcoin.

In 2018 the bear market hitted so hard that I sold all my Bitcoin,  the biggest mistake that cost me,  I expected Bitcoin to keep growing and growing, with some ignorance in my body, how could I have known that Bitcoin will be volatile at some point? Lack of learning and doing some research I guess.

I summoned my courage in 2018, I restarted my journey once again,  by learning more than chasing,  this was how I was able to finally understand more about Bitcoin, I should have known, and focus more on reading about every possible mistake someone could make.

Till this day, i am still unable to get the exact amount of Bitcoin I sold at the time, all because of fear and panic, I should have just held than let the bear market scare me out.

I hope someone learn one or two from my journey, if you can't afford Bitcoin, find a source of income first, enough to feed your needs and enough for savings or else you will go back to the last savior you have ( Your Bitcoin wallet) and spend it all to survive.

There is nothing that beats learning, maybe I would have had a different outcome if I focused more on learning. Because I will understand how valuable Bitcoin will be in the future.

How did you know about Bitcoin in 2016, 2017 and know about those faucets but did not join the forum earlier?

You only joined Bitcointalk in 2022, about less one year and one month ago. It is good to know that you are Bitcoin adopter since 2016, 2017 and you are survivor since the past bear market and a current one because you are still here, around Bitcoin, this market and are a member of this forum.

Would you mind sharing what happened with you since 2016 till 2022, please.

Today you can claim Bitcoin at this faucet: https://freebitco.in/site/bitcoin-faucet/

I am not sure about other faucets.

A first Bitcoin faucet is Get 5 free bitcoins from freebitcoins.appspot.com (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=183.0) in June 2010.

He probably didn't know about it earlier, just like me I have always loved and studied everything I know about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency since I left secondary school 5 years ago.but not until this year, when a friend of mine introduced me to this forum and explained what it is to me, so I decided to join. since I joined, I have learnt even more than I knew before about crypto.   
   You didn't make any mistakes bro, you only used your Bitcoin to solve some personal problems.

This is elite advice and anyone who couldn't read the whole thread should focus on this.
Bitcoin is not a way to make money, but an investment option to save up a part of your income for the future.

Knowledge is invaluable. If one acquires knowledge before considering any investment their chances of being successful in the long run is much higher.
Successful in this context means either choosing the right asset and holding for a reasonable timeframe or avoiding wrong investments.

I knew the forum existed, I have once stumbled on the forum before but I see no reason to join, I just prefer using google search engine to find my answers, also, I was more attractive to design of the website I visited, seeing how Bitcointalk forum is just white and black with nothing more I closed the website, probably my second mistake.

If I had just take my time to at least read why the forum existed, I would have learned a lot.

I just knew that Nakamoto Satoshi has an account on this forum not too long ago, imagine.

I really like that all through the journey of getting and either losing or spending your bitcoins, you always found the courage to continue. You  have made changes to your method of getting bitcoins for keeping over the years and it nice.

You were focused on something on just getting bitcoins which is good but not better than getting knowledge too. If you had an interest in learning, you would have been excited seeing a community of people with the same interest in bitcoins as you where you can really learn from, and that would have made you want to become a member. While looking for ways to earn, get and gather bitcoins, learning should also be encouraged among newbies.

Even it's not that too long ago still that gives you that nostalgic feeling on how you had your humble beginnings. I also remember that's like the era of faucets where most newbies started with them.

Selling on 2018 was like a move that you'll never forget. A friend of mine that holds quite good amount of bitcoin back on 2018 sold everything that he's got, and the reason? He's too stressed with the price and thought that it will drop more. My last news about him is that he's no longer in the market.

Those that haven't got a bitcoin yet, there's no competition that you're being forced to join. There's the chill and easy way of DCA and that's the best strategy to accumulate whatever is the experience that you've gone with.

Oh man, this does bring back memories. I had my notepads too (yeah even those faucet sites right in the beginning!). All the different sites, schemes, you name it, I had them down.

I even still have a bookmark folder of all the things I'd need to check on daily, weekly.

Plenty of bitcointalk bookmarks too. How to consolidate satoshis, how to do this, and that.

90% of the links don't work anymore. Or are just defunct pages.

This is correct, it is impossible to be a long term BTC investor if you do not have a job or a source of income, because even if you plan to hold your BTC for years, you will always have to spend from it for emergencies and to settle basic needs. I have heard there are traders who only trade as their job, i really don't know how they manage to do it, but i feel one should not trade or invest in BTC as their only job, even if you think you are an expert, there would be days profit would not come, and you may have to go borrowing to survive.

Do not feel that selling your BTC is the worst thing you could have done if you sold for an emergency situation, probably you can regret it if you sold because of panic or fud, or to lavish the money on things unimportant.

interesting story, maybe if I look at files or history I might find something similar, where I found out about bitcoin in 2017, and I think I got a lot of memories, starting from this forum to learning to trade and following some ico,ieo,private sale , anything related to crypto.

That's a good discovery, it will help you in recalling the past experience you have had about bitcoin and some other possible mistakes and right decisions you've made, this is one of the importance of archiving information, one day it will be a reference point to others and self, i hope it's either you're happy to have gone through the past history or rather forsaken some of the ugly mistakes you have done unknowingly, now that you're good at doing it, you could teach others who are newbies to learn from your experience and make the right path with bitcoin.

I personally found out about faucets far before I found out about Bitcointalk as well. And guess what? Probably a lot of Bitcoiners today found out about Bitcointalk far later down their path, and maybe a good chunk of them probably haven't heard of Bitcointalk at all.

Fun fact: you don't necessarily need to go through Bitcointalk to be a bitcoiner.

Ahhh, that's a good discovery, it turns out that you saved it in open, which is still stored today even though it's been several years since I forgot about it, this reminds us of our past when looking for bitcoins from faucets.

This is an important experience where you have told everything about the past which could generate more than the airdrop and also some faucets that are claimed every 30 minutes or even once an hour, and since then it has been an extraordinary experience for you, of course we have experience things like where to start small and also free to earn a few cents on bitcoin.

About 2018 it was a dark year where bitcoin fell even worse this worsened the crypto market situation but at least you have become a hero for your own family because you have helped lighten the burden on the family including your own sister's expenses.

I also will not forget the past.

Wow! It seems like you have found some old gold. What a journey you had, and don't regret your decisions. Your overall journey made you what you are now.
You sold your bitcoins for your basic need, and there is no point in regret. But the most important part is that now you understand your mistakes and learn lessons from them.

Agree, I have been saying this in other threads, Knowledge is key. Treat every day
as a school day!

As you learn more and more everyday you will realise why you need Bitcoin in your life.

What is remarkable is how the OP has never faltered in his quest to have Bitcoin, there
have been many opportunities to give up but has always been drawn to it. Brilliant.

It should not be a mistake of selling Bitcoin if its more about profit taking, no one knows the future of Bitcoin before so many sells their holdings while some took the risk and now enjoying Bitcoin more. Lucky to those who started early in cryptomarket, they are able to witness all the trend of Bitcoin and I’m sure they are more wiser now. Good to see old memories with Bitcoin, I’m sure you are so proud of yourself to starting early with Bitcoin.

I think newbies should read this thread so they understand better why it’s important to use open sourced wallets like Electrum. I’m sorry you lost your bitcoins using non custodial wallets. I’m not familiar with free wallet, they probably shut down before I got into the crypto space. Xapo wallet is not even a real bitcoin wallet, they do not give users private keys or seed phrase. I have read bad reviews (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5317396.0) about them on the forum and online.
Like Mahirap said, there was nothing else you could have done at the time. You used the resources you had to take care of your little bro. That’s something to be proud of. You didn’t let your challenges stop you, on the bright sided it opened your eyes to learning more about bitcoin. 2018 till date is good enough time to learn and save some bitcoins. I hope you’re seeing good results.

I like your courage on staying focus to have bitcoin investment even after so many challenges you pass through due to lack of knowledge about bitcoin. Someone that don't have enough money to take care of his responsibilities should not rush into buying bitcoin but to learn,so that after proper knowledge of it.

I know so many newbies out there who don't know about this forum will be passing through this same challenge that you went through and might not be able to have the courage which you had to chase the knowledge of bitcoin and they will give it up. Some will be deceived by bitcoin FUD and that will be the end of their crypto journey.

One's experience in life is what makes us and how well we used such experience will determine the aftermath of any other circumstances we find ourselves in, and continue with the investment spirit.

OP has kept believing in bitcoin for close six years. This is encouraging members like us that are still in the industry. I have always wanted to be a long-term Bitcoin investor which is why I will never put my coin in the custody of any third party because they cannot be trusted. I might be wrong, but I have not invested in any other currency apart from bitcoin. Regardless of the amount of profit most of these shitcoin promises I have never had the motivation to buy them because as a new bitcoin have a full coincidence. Congratulations OP for your discovery and I hope you have learned your lessons

I still have my notebooks with all the faucets written down too.  Usernames and passwords for each of them.  Most of my Satoshi is now gone too.  It was so hard to keep up with all of them at the same time.  But you know you are an O G if you have this in your memory lane.  Faucets is how I started.  Soon, if Bitcoin continues an uprise like it did previously, they will be only part of Bitcoin's history and nothing more.

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

You supported your family while also suffering some losses as a result of market panic. For you, it's a pricey lesson. Bitcoin, though, really helps you to save your brother, so that's plenty. Though I haven't made money from them, most of us are aware of faucet websites. But cryptocurrency changed my life. Made a decent income from cryptocurrency through digital marketing. I lost a lot as well and learned techniques. Since you now have a thorough understanding of Bitcoin, I hope you actually make money. You simply need to be patient.

I could recall my early days into bitcoin and blockchain as a whole. I actually did same too. In my case I wrote every details of exchange where I got registered with both mining app I downloaded which some of them were scam and later ran away with people's funds. My details are still very much recorded and kept safe till this morning. I could also remember while taking my time to check my wallets every night one after the other accordingly as I have wrote Dem in my note and I will do them till the last account almost every day. This post of yours reminds me of my early days in Crypto. The memories are still very fresh. Although I had challenges because nobody believed in the system then so I was just on my own doing my things. I did rendered assistance to many, I had things sorted out, my family was also not left out too, too many things to mention but I was happy it all came from this direction.
Today I have achieved more from bitcoin than any other sources I have had then. It is a story worth telling.

Same here but I don't store information on notebooks, I had them on my notepad.  Though I have my BTC address and other altcoin address private key printed in a paper, and kept them since 2016.  Those address used to have a good amount of balance and now is emptied out.  Still, looking at those things brings me back to the age where faucet is one good way of earning Satoshi and other altcoins. 



Definitely it is not a mistake to sell part of our asset specifically Bitcoin  for our survival or in time of emergency.  Life is more precious than anything else.  Money and Bitcoin can be re-earned or re-accumulate  while life if lost will be gone forever.

What do you mean by investment option to save up a part of your income for the future? What if the future fall within the bear market? Every investor and investment aim is to make more money. If we are not interested in making profit other than the save up for the future, we can save our money in banks instead. The only way I will agree with you is by saying Bitcoin is not a ponzi or get rich quick scheme/project.

Reading complex PDFs on what Bitcoin is all about is very simple and easy to flow. You're absolutely right about the fact that Bitcoin can not been seen as a ponzi scheme or get rich quick project. The developers of bitcoin are discreet and also the purpose for which it was intended in the market. Some see it as a breakthrough from finance instability while others see it as a pathway to their downfall. On a second thought, Bitcoin have risen countless individuals in the market and have also drained most of them, on the terms regarding on when the market is favorable for traders.

Good ol' days! I remember those times when faucets are the trend before. Before, when you are just patient and not lazy, you can get a lot of money doing a lot of tasks or surveys, offerwalls, etc. that is paying Bitcoin, all good. I know a lot of people who started without pulling out money from their pocket, they just offer their time or just did some work to do.
Which I really appreciate people like this, like OP! Good job!

When making an investment you do not leave a small window open for when you plan to take profits cause you cannot accurately predict when you would hit your preferred RoI.
If I bought Bitcoin as an investment and plan to hold long term, I can take that to be 6-15 years. At any point within those nine years I can take profit and if an asset stays in the bear for almost a decade it's a terrible investment.

Fiat is a terrible option for savings. Bitcoin is designed to function as a Store of value and also as an investment, it now depends on what I want to use it for.

You did little or no mistakes. The little mistake you made was not leaening and understand bitcoin strategies in the first place. You also did well by using your little profit from your initial investment to solv family problem which anyone in your shoe would have done same thing. Well, this is a big lesson to you and also to some of us hear who have not learned about bitcoin bear market. Some people will invest in bitcoin without understanding the consequences of bear market and also fully depending on bitcoin. People that thinks that bitcoin has no or little profit are people who are not open to leaening.  For instance, i knew about bitcoin in 2019. Then i was not interested because i paid no interest in it. Some of my friends who knew more about it then are doing so well now, they told me about it but i needed quick money. Not untill last year when a friend explained more of it, that it is a gradual peocess and patience is also involved. I learnt that i need another source of income aside bitcoin because if i depend only on bitcoin, it will definately affect my investment.

I agree with you, we living creatures have the necessities of life, so if we sell the btc that we have it is definitely urgent, not for wasted, because everyone who invests in Bitcoin must make it a long-term asset and can be cashed out at any time, even though incur a loss as part of the risk
sometimes I also regret selling my btc at a lower price than before, but instead of owing money to people, I better sell what I have to make ends meet

Looking for how to make money online was the thing that drove most persons I know and have spoken to into bitcoin investment. The most exciting the about it is that, that was the foundation of learning how to do your own research. I am totally impressed with how much intentional and detailed with your search and the actions you took in that direction.



Lol, I did this faucet thing some time at the beginning. No sooner did I realse that it was just a was of my precious time and my phone's battery and internet data subscription. So, I stopped and looked for more legit and easy way to get in.



You must have been really determined with this, I didn't even last a week with it. Maybe because I didn't have anyone guide me on how to really go about it.


You really did surmount a lot of challenges to get to where you are now in your bitcoin journey. I am glad you didn't give because you may not have found this great forum. We learn everyday and I hope that the newbie reading this can learn a thing or two from your story.

Whatever we run at this time of course must have some knowledge so that we are not caught in a problem, and you have been studying Bitcoin for so long and I am sure now you can enjoy such great results from Bitcoin, all the efforts we do must have ups and downs then the belief to be able to achieve a desire we certainly have to try as much as possible, So your experience in the world of Bitcoin will certainly be a great motivation for new users who are currently struggling to be able to profit in the world of Bitcoin.

I read in your story about the Xapo wallet and remembered the story associated with it, I also used it once to collect Satoshi from different sites and games and at one point I just forgot about it because I started using other wallets.And that year my friend called me and said that he received a letter in the mail that the service would be closed and withdraw his money.I checked my balance and was surprised that there was about 200 dollars.Such finds are very encouraging.

Yeah, it is good old days. I am very happy that time when I withdraw 10$ free in a week using faucets only. I think it is around 2017 or earlier 2018, there are many faucets that will give you free Satoshi and eth as well. Many people that time think that crypto is not real and it is only for MLM and it is only use to scam people, many of my friends that time didn't believe but now I see they are already invested on it.

Op is very lucky to have found out his book containing some Bitcoin topics and write up. I could remember when I started Bitcoin then, I have some books like 3 that I wrote some important words there including key point, lectures, and my research.

Now some of the books is not in my possession again so I just have to keep some that I can still have access to since I can still make use of them as time goes on. I also have some books I was using then to write notes on cryptocurrency trading that I can still have access to. We need to keep all these books because they can contain important information.

It's great that you continue on your journey without giving up on bitcoin; it shows that you believe in bitcoin and that you are willing to do research on it. I also understand that investing in bitcoin is a good idea for young people who are capable of doing so. Wow, I really like the story of your journey with bitcoin, and I feel terrible about the way you sold your bitcoin to save your brother.

Yea, I still remember the days when freebitco.in were giving away 1000 satoshis per hour (or was it 500.. so long ago)  ::)  Most people told me that it was a waste of time and simply "dust" ...but when the Bitcoin price hit $60 000+... I used that money to fund a Ledger Nano.  ;D

I also had about 7 browser tabs open to catch the faucet, the moment when the time expired. I then realized that it was much better to gather information and to join signature campaigns ...and this bumped my Bitcoin hoard significantly.

The best thing about this was not the bitcoins I gathered, but the valuable knowledge I gathered.  ;)

It's great if you continue your journey with bitcoins and try to collect more. It means you have realized the importance of bitcoin because you have good experience with it.

If we talk about the past, faucets have helped many people to start their journey in crypto and they can earn lots of bitcoins from faucets. Especially at that time, we could get rewards from faucets for free even though there were limits to getting them.

We will remember the past, the good and the bad, for future learning that might be useful for us later. And if we have made mistakes in the past, we can avoid them because we have had previous experiences.

Showing such examples is very important so that as many people as possible can avoid this mistake. By the way, I read that Electrum is also not the best wallet for storing bitcoins, in my opinion, a large amount was recently stolen from someone here on the forum, although I did not understand how this happened.

In any case, a hardware wallet today is considered a reliable way to store our bitcoins.

After reading your thread I am very motivated because it is so difficult the journey you take that so many records you keep to be able to understand about the world of Bitcoin, and I believe you are currently one of the people who have been successful in the crypto world and already have considerable assets for the future, so now there are so many new news that we must read because the crypto world is growing like you Say faucets that are no longer working and have all been replaced with new, more effective tricks, so I want to follow in your footsteps to learn more quickly about the crypto world.

Nostalgic indeed. Those days were I think the market price of Bitcoin arise. The next year is when market prices reached and broke the all time high and afterwards correction occur, the rest is history. Another impact is for the new ones to realize that things aren't easy in this industry. Many 'professionals' at the present started from scratch and they simply showed their determination which brought them to where they are at the present.
Faucets are indeed a thing which gave profit to the early users in this industry. Also, the profitable signature campaigns way back those years. This reminded me of the feeling when I first earned my payout from the first project I engaged myself into which was already big back then. Airdrops as well are mostly paying before unlike with what we are seeing right now wherein most are not. Brings back indeed good memories.

I remember a lot from your stories, I found some of my bitcoin books as well that I bought from minerjones it was pretty cool and had awesome contents,

https://i.imgur.com/zPgnBMm.jpg https://i.imgur.com/k5nqFta.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0PqQ0sb.jpg https://i.imgur.com/HMObVem.jpg

I also do a lot of faucets back in the day and it was a good experience for sure, doing faucets I think all of my claims only do around 30-50$ on multiple websites. But I think it was freebitco.in which I earned a lot, at that moment I do every possible way to earn bitcoin including bounties, airdrops, ICO, campaigns, etc. I admit it was really difficult to invest in bitcoin especially when you don't have a source of income, in my early days when I learn bitcoin I was only a student so even though I want to invest I didn't really have money to do it. But when I already started to earn bitcoin that is also what I used to invest and multiply my funds.

You have a long journey and learn a lot of things from that experience, you could always come back since the market is always open and has a lot of opportunity, I did sell my bitcoin as well when the bear market, but I didn't give up since from what I learn we still have a lot of opportunity and room for profit.

This is damn interesting to see. I am looking at it as lost and found treasure stuff. I used to write the private keys, wallet info and even various sites that I used to visit as interest. I bet I would find similar books in my closet if started cleaning up. The reason I have kept them locked away is due to the fact that slowly I adopted new tech. For example most of the portfolio is now on hardware wallet. Instead of having too many software wallets I am keeping segregated funds over hardware and couple of Soft wallets only. This has reduced write up a lot. It’s also very risky. For example let us say our books were found by someone else or we would have lost them forever, so as to bitcoin with it.

It’s good post to understand that information is so vital and tender when it comes to written info! Be careful and Store it wisely guys.

wow, it seems that everyone remembers that amazing past, I also remember how the process was at that time with several accidents in the market which caused the price of bitcoin to fall and reap the insult that bitcoin will die, I am very happy that there are still many people who are safe and not leaving bitcoin from that time. maybe i also need to go through some obsolete documents in my filing and find something maybe unexpected one can get today from bitcoin, if i'm not mistaken also i had several wallets at that time to get bitcoin and other coins.

Wow 5 Bitcoin is a big thing right now.  That's crazy!.  But it makes sense because the price of BTC then was not what it is today.  I'm sorry because I got to know this forum in 2016 but I didn't study and do activities in this forum because at that time I didn't have enough community and information regarding this forum.  Maybe if time could be turned back, I want to learn BTC and trade cryptocurrency in that year then I will invest until this year :D

your story is very interesting, and I like the way you work hard to achieve your goal, which is to have bitcoin,

but of course, to achieve success, of course, you need to struggle because all successful people, of course, mostly come from the bottom first and feel suffering.

hopefully good luck to all of us in this forum.

This is a great example to follow. I thought that it is better to trade altcoins, that they can give the best profit, and that there is nothing wrong with storing my coins on the exchange, but as it turned out, it is very dangerous, it’s good that I found out about it in time.

That was historical especially when the time bitcoin passed its all time high. Way back 2018 where I first know crypto but dont understand it fully. i just heard it from my classmate then it gets my attention, the price of it was too far to what it is right now. Everytime I remember it, the what ifs comes in my mind like, what If I have the means to buy 1 bitcoin when I first knew it, what if I keep holding my crypto in my wallet for years? But those are just what ifs, im still greatful to know crypto at a young age because it helps me a lot and I found friends in my crypto journey who are pushing me to become succesful to in life.

That's nice of you to write down your story here on the forum. It's always nice to read other people's story with cryptos, even if they made mistakes. The funny thing is that 2016 was also the year when I got bitcoins, but unlike you I didn't buy any books. I only used online articles and the forum here to learn about bitcoin's. Now with hindsight I wish I would have invested more time into my crypto education. My biggest mistake was in 2016/7 to sell all my coins again and not stick around for the long run. Looking at bitcoin as a great tool to save money longterm is the best approach.

great experience and quite unique data storage so that you can find memories that maybe everyone who first profited from the faucet became a rice box fighter for some profit, The dark atmosphere in 2017 on bitcoin I still remember it, I want to share stories too but it seems that the equipment and material that I wrote on my journey the first time I touched bitcoin might have been lost somewhere, because at that time I didn't really archive the writings that I made to get some satoshi, if only at that time I didn't panic and sell The bitcoin that I own and hold until now maybe I have a more luxurious life today, that regret. :-[

What an encouraging story, this is what many people need to be in the strong mood to accumulate Bitcoin, we all have our regrets as investors, I got serious about Bitcoin too very late, if not I would have invested some money that I wasted on unnecessary things in the past, so much regrets but I thank the almighty, I am still alive and striving.

Newbies in Bitcoining can surely learn a lot with your story OP but for us experienced Bitcoiners, we already know those because we have been on the same boat by the time we are just getting started. If let say you are more knowledgeable in Bitcoin, there are still scenarios that you can't avoid and there is still a chance that you will use/spend your Bitcoins.

This is something that we must not regret. If you want to know how much Bitcoin you have sold, you can always check your wallet history. If it doesn't have that option, you can try copying your receiving address and paste it in some Bitcoin block explorer like https://www.blockchain.com/explorer or https://blockchair.com/ . They should show the total Bitcoins that you have received in your wallet.

I don't know how I missed this topic but it was really educative knowing how others made mistake during their early bitcoin journey. Mistake is actually the best teacher but ignorance sometimes do drag us back, I was so eager and have always wished to be there when it all started and have said to myself in different imagination about the amount of BTC I would have stacked up if I only new about bitcoin much but after reading this thread some question just kept ringing in my head  and it was how do I know if I wouldn't have made similar mistakes or even more grevious mistake like this. Well I just I hope I won't have a situation that will lead me to sell almost all my coins in my portfolio especially now that we are heading towards a possible halving that can boost the market to a new price ATH.

You're right, mistakes are the best teacher for whoever you are and surely it will help you a lot in terms of self-development and abilities. Many people are so ignorant of bitcoin's potential that they don't want to learn, but some people who have known so much before also made mistakes that they only regret today. If you don't want to repeat the same mistakes, then make them your best teacher for your upcoming days in bitcoin.

You can't completely avoid financially pressing situation as long as you don't have a lot of savings in reserve. You should not invest in bitcoin with all your savings budget if you have no other reserves. No one knows if they are financially secure in the future, so make sure you have some money in reserve before you decide to invest.

I remember that I also do the same!! What a treasure. I remember the days that I list faucet names on a notebook that I have to open it on computer that I am using. Most of the faucet back then is bombarded with ads and unlimited captcha problems and the current reward that time is so low but yeah if we convert it to today price, I can consider it as a good side hustle today if they offer the same reward but yeah faucets are dead. I wonder where is my same old notebook that I have back then.

What a good find man!

Yeah man, it was a wonderful unforgettable experience, those faucets pay themselves through ads, that's how they are able to keep those websites running, a single click to earn Satoshi on the faucet can display 4-6 ads and that generates money for the faucet owners too, it was only freebitco that has almost zero ads popping up on your computer but still they display other projects banner on their websites too, I am sure they are getting paid for doing that.

I wish faucets are still available today for young crypto projects that are very cheap but I guess it's not profitable to run anymore, only standalone websites that have other ways of making money are still in business, freebitco is also a gambling website that's why they are still up and running.

I don't have any bitcoin books. However, I wrote a very small general introduction guide to bitcoin can't remember but I was very happy with it thinking that I know everything about bitcoin by then  ;D

I know I should also be having good nostalgia from those days, although my days were really in 2017, but they were when I was so busy researching and supporting so many projects. Investing my own money and really "following the dream". Crash hurt me so bad though that I almost left, especially because I used so much of my BTC to "diversify" into alts.

Lessons were so learned that year lol.

I enjoyed your story and it is inspirational to those of us, like me who is still learning the best approach to investing in Bitcoin.
You were consistent despite the failure you had, you even made sacrifices and the money you saved up in BTC was of a better value when it was needed mostly.
This is why the decentralized system isn't going to fail as most fear.
Perhaps if your parents had known then that you had some crypto or close family knew, they would have found a way to sabotage your savings process with you regretting why you let them in on your plans.

You also won new fans and members who believe in cryptocurrency and the decentralized system in the persons of your parents, your brother and all those who must have heard how you provided funds when all hope was lost.

Way to go OP.

Some of these old moves still haunt me today, I also focused on some altcoins, I spent money on graphic cards, but I made the mistake of mining altcoins, I could have focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum only, and maybe today I would have become an Ethereum whale at least but instead I started mining shit coins, then I don't even look at those coins like they are shit, who would have thought 🤔 so?

I ended up losing everything because those shitcoins have no value after a few months, some turned to scam, we all have learned the hard way but it's a greater lesson that are worth it, at least we aren't the same person we used to be back then, and brother, that's a big achievement.

Altcoins are shitcoins and very scarce altcoins can survive after one year or better one market cycle (about 4 years). If we check longer time like 2 market cycles, the number of survival altcoins will drop dramatically.

Most of altcoins die with time and with market cycles so it's painful to invest in altcoins. It is more painful if you invest in graphic cards for mining altcoins and see their prices drop with time but it's not worse. Their trading volumes fall with time, exchanges will delist coins with low trading volumes and I see it is more convenient and less risky to buy altcoins directly than mining them with graphic cards.

Best to avoid altcoins (shitcoins) and use most of your capital for Bitcoin.

I don't think you should blame yourself so much, I believe it is lack of appropriate knowledge of cryptocurrency that lead you to that direction. at first many of us were just told about cryptocurrency industry that when we invested in bitcoin we are going to make some profit with time but getting there some of us cannot differentiate Bitcoin from others altcoins,due to no appreciate knowledge, many of us  think they are same and insist for us to due to our own further research we refused and follow the steps people that introduced use to cryptocurrency industry or just follow the ideas of people that buying altcoin with aim of making quick profit, so buying shitcoin  because it  was pumping at time, thinking that how it will continue moving and with time we see it again dropping significantly in price, in our were mind because of we ignorance we keep hold it even it continue dropping thinking that one day it will pick again but at end it become dead coin.

From my little experience with investing in shitcoin, I will never invest in or advise anybody to invest in shitcoin again, especially any member who cannot do their own appropriate research for the shitcoin he or she wants to invest in. I invested in shitcoin when I saw the price of the shitcoin pumping seriously, but when I just invested in it for a few days, I lost over 60% of my invested funds just in a few days, and the way I was holding it, the price was continuing to drop, so I just sold it off in loss, and when I checked it back after a few months, the coin had become a dead coin.

Altcoins? They are just the result of boring, desperate efforts to copy Bitcoin's genius. Its like trying to make a better wheel when its already been made. One cycle, two cycles... how many cycles does it take for people to see the blatantly obvious truth?

Mining altcoins with graphic cards? Its not just a bad bet; its illogical. Why would you waste your time and money on these short-lived projects when Bitcoin is the true king and the only one that matters? Exchanges are taking altcoins off their lists because even they know that these tokens dont last forever. Putting money into them is like throwing it into a hole with no bottom and hoping it will magically float back up.

It makes me laugh that people still fall for these so-called "altcoins." Bitcoin is the only choice that makes sense and is worth it. Everyone else is making things up.

That was an opportunity that time for you to have a bitcoin early, but we know the struggles of life we need to set a side some things do not help into our current state, so you keep choosing your family and there's nothing wrong with that because you have the opportunity, but you don't have the stand to invest as possible this can really serve a lesson that next in your journey will surely take this again. People too much overwhelming the use of the bitcoin so they make an investment without a proper execution because of FOMO at the end they will use their investment to survive in the daily basis. Hoping soon most of us will catch up for the next halving.

Exactly my thought, although most people have made this early mistake but if we kinda look at it from one angle it's not actually a mistake but I would understand why it's supposedly called that maybe because of the lack of  proper planning and strategy towards the early Bitcoin investment you made but mistakes are actually meant to be a lesson for us and people around us to take to correction. But there is plenty of opportunity to make the right move in your Bitcoin investment as BTC is still very much in a stage where we can still make something out of it, the only issue here is to play the HODL game and accumulate as much and wait for time to fulfill its course.

Seems excited with your journey how to know Bitcoin and face panic moment for selling all bitcoin assets when price going down, ever in your position but I am most loyal holding some cryptocurrency assets more than several year but get disappointed result after my coins holding delist from exchange market. Its not wrong when take decision for holding bitcoin assets but we have manage well when time for selling and buy back later.

Not totally mistake when selling your bitcoin assets last several year, don't imagine with how much expensive current bitcoin price right now but remember you help your brother life by selling bitcoin assets. Still not late for investing in bitcoin right now and you have much knowledge with joining airdrop and spent it in Bitcoin for long term investment.

I believe you. I read your whole post and I felt what you have gone through. I can understand how it feels when you say bitcoin investment is not easy for those who don't have a good source of income.
This is because when I started my journey with bitcoin I was as hungry for it as you were and tried to grab every opportunity to accumulate some coins.
Even I didn't have any income back then and so accumulating BTC was a tough task. As days passed the wallet balance kept growing.
I had sold some of my earnings in bitcoin on few occasions which I don't regret. It was a good journey for me fortunately.

Exactly, this is really meant to some thread such as "Bitcoin is not for everyone". I mean we're all aware on Bitcoin's existence so as we studied and we know the potential of it or it's benefit. But the common problems from some people is the money sources for investment. Let's say that you really have a good paying job, but the fact that everyday we all can't predict the outcome that there might be some problem in life and issues that would be needing some financial money.

I always keep saying that, if you don't have the money to invest in Bitcoin yet, then you could focus on investing in yourself first with knowledge. So when the time comes you already have the funds to invest then it would be easier for you to be in crypto currency. Cuz FOMO is literally could destroy anyone's money by just impulsively betting their money and wanting it to profit quickly.

I bought my first bitcoin in 2016 and I used it in a ponzi scheme that didn't go well for me. The 0.0338 BTC I bought is worth about $944 in today's market value and I lost everything to ponzi. I don't beat myself over it because I believe if there are no mistakes, then there won't be any lesson. The OP went through a great deal in stacking his Bitcoin holdings and made the big mistake of investing it in altcoin mining that cost him everything. Unlike my case, he should be happy that he was able to do something good with it, using part of it to give his family a good Christmas celebration and also to support his sick brother is commendable and something he should be proud of.

OP you have believed in bitcoin for years and have been automatic with it.  Long 6/7 years ago you invested in Bitcoin and kept that invested money in a wallet lost. But since you got it back again and again, it is really good and commendable for you that we should learn from this, because if you have faith you always get everything back as you got it. I think if you are looking for a source of income in Bitcoin you must have faith and trust in it, but you can make a profit by investing. If a person is interested in investing in Bitcoin, if he does not have money, he must learn to save some money and invest with the money he has saved. And from your tutorial we must learn how transparent and certain the future of Bitcoin is so we never forget to invest in Bitcoin.

I still get temptation every now and then, especially when you see some shitcoins make massive PR campaigns but this time I treat it like a gamble, money I don't expect to get back, while never again sacrificing the precious BTC holdings that take so long to build.

I'll never be rich but I'm never gonna put BTC in losing shitcoins again.

Slow and steady, it's our biggest lesson right?

If I can gamble on online casinos every now and then why can't I take little risks on altcoins? This is what my mind used to say to me, but after learning my lesson I now take risks with well built altcoins like Cardano and bnb, if Bitcoin creates a new low I believe Bnb can shake up some dollars and go lower, maybe 40$ per Bnb again, then that's when I will take risk on altcoins, but for now BTC is my main conclusion.

It's such a shame that to make life changing money from Bitcoin now requires a higher amount of money, this is why most of us still decide to buy altcoins to get a better boost on our ROI when the bull market arrives.

Right people with limited source of income or very low find it hard to invest in it because they need to satisfy their personal needs first of all and it's not a compulsion that we should do because the rule also states invest what you can afford to loose so it becomes more hard for such people as they can't handle losses in terms of their savings.So gain some extra income to set aside some amount you would invest without any risk.

You can! Just like I do!

But then, you have to start accepting the fact that it is shitcoins, not some new revolutionary creation, and you have to admit that it is gambling.

We are total opposites it seems. I learnt that all my time spent researching and being part of great communities means nothing because my "investment" into altcoins are just gambling. You switched the other way :)

Just be careful of expectations. When you gamble you expect to lose so it's ok. But if you invest time and future hopes, shitcoins losing will harm your personal wellbeing.

There are many people involved with crypto from start who have not joined this forum yet. Different people have different priorities and thus this forum might not be priority for those people. Another possibility is that he belongs to some country where this forum is not very popular. Later when more people from his location started becoming active here, they might have shared it with him and thus he joined.

It is very necessary to have additional income if you want to invest.
Every investment will definitely be risky and the risk of investing in crypto will be greater if you are not prepared for rapid price fluctuations.

I also fall into the category of people with limited additional income.
only a few hundred dollars for a month that I can get, and part of it I set aside for regular investment.

It is also supported by a few percent signature income and the rest is used for the needs of me and my family.
Any investment is easy, provided you have a stable extra income and don't really need it for other needs.

Investing money on Binance coin is far better than visiting the casino or gambling online, you called bnb shitcoin and I don't say it isn't, but taking risks with these shitcoins is more safer than gambling I repeat, because you can analyse how or which project can bring you good return.

You can gamble on 20 altcoins like someone I knew did, with $2000 and he made over 100k in 2021, I don't need to prove anything to make this looks real, but all I am saying is it's a better chance that you will make money than gambling in casino.

I made most money from altcoins too, even than Bitcoin, but many people don't want to believe this, I can gamble with $2000 and get nothing on casinos, but it's near impossible to slit $2000 among some good alts aka shitcoins to you, just one project is enough to give you all your initial investment back, with better ROI too.

After Bitcoin investment and mining, trading follows, after that it's altcoins investment, and gambling online is the last online money making activity I get involved with, and so far, gambling as the lowest returns.

Absolutely, I agree with you that investing in Bitcoin is not good when you have no such source of income. Because when a person is hand-to-mouth for a living and he earns hardly at least two meals a day, how might he invest in Bitcoin? Despite the fact that bitcoin is an excellent investment, if a person lacks a reliable source of income and has a family or child that depends on him, there is nothing else for them to depend on without his income. So he will therefore find it challenging to invest in bitcoin because it has such a volatile nature, so it is not suitable to invest in it for a person who does not have a sufficient source of income because bitcoin brings us a huge amount of profit and vice versa, the same amount of loss.

So at the end of the conclusion, I want to say that if a person does not have a reliable source of income through which he completes his daily tasks, it would be too risky for him to invest in Bitcoin because if the price goes down and he invests all of his income and suddenly there are some incidents, mishaps, and disasters with it, what will he do to monitor or solve his problem immediately?
So it is better for him to invest in those who do not have too much volitality.

You can repeat that all day my friend but I also repeat to you, no amount of analysis or research can ever make a difference. I learn in 2017, I saw all the professional research, I saw the detailed analysis into which coin has better tech etc. BNB has zero new tech, clones of everything else BUT better marketing and self pump, that's why they got up.

And you do need to prove things when you say shit like gambling on altcoins makes you better money than gambling. How can a guy who promotes research and analysis say things without need for proof?

In the altcoin section of this forum, I dare you to find people who actually invest in alts with research and they made profit because of that research. With proof, of course :)

I'm not saying gambling is a way to make money, please remember. I'm saying altcoin "investment" is actually gambling! I quote myself:

At the same time, it's a cool and instructive story. It's great that you still don't give up and keep learning.

It's November 20th today and I am here to tell you that my altcoin portfolio, every single altcoins in my wallet are going crazy, I am insanely in huge profit right now and the best performer in my wallet is kaspa, I bought last year 2022 at $0.003 and today it's up $0.14, there are few others like and I don't need to make mention of the names, I did my own research and took the risk.

Saying that no matter how good one is as analysis altcoin investment is gambling is not entirely wrong, I accept this because one or two my die or exit scam but you will still get the best result doing this than gambling, I am also a gambler and I am putting these two side by side, so far altcoin investment have given me better ROI in this bear market than gambling.

Just because people aren't talking about their good fortune from altcoins in the alt discussion doesn't mean it's not happening, to me, investing in fantom was not gambling, investing in Matic was not gambling, investing in avalanche was never gambling, their utility just stands out.

True, this bitcoin is not popular or cannot be easily seen by those non-cryptocurreny users, or, in short, it is not known in the world unless you know about bitcoin. Well, maybe because many crypto holders get their assets from this forum through signature campaigns or other services.

I admired the dedication of the OP, even theres a hurdles he keeps on giving time and effort to bitcoin for himself which is what should a lot of people must have and learn from the experience of the OP, many saying that it is too late to invest in bitcoin now, no they are wrong its never too late, they just know the big events of bitcoin that's why they are saying that, but in reality you could earn in bitcoin without that big events, you could earn in different ways, holding, buy and sell at appropriate point, trading, or staking and etc, you can choose on what method you can do, that's why we need to learn from the OP's experience that its never too late to invest in bitcoin you just need to have the dedication and urge to earn.

That's also my goal; that's why, even though I started in bitcoin or crypto currency in 2020, I'm still here because I'm still learning and, at the same time, earning.

It's November 20th today and I am here to tell you that my altcoin portfolio, every single altcoins in my wallet are going crazy, I am insanely in huge profit right now and the best performer in my wallet is kaspa, I bought last year 2022 at $0.003 and today it's up $0.14, there are few others like and I don't need to make mention of the names, I did my own research and took the risk.

Saying that no matter how good one is as analysis altcoin investment is gambling is not entirely wrong, I accept this because one or two my die or exit scam but you will still get the best result doing this than gambling, I am also a gambler and I am putting these two side by side, so far altcoin investment have given me better ROI in this bear market than gambling.

Just because people aren't talking about their good fortune from altcoins in the alt discussion doesn't mean it's not happening, to me, investing in fantom was not gambling, investing in Matic was not gambling, investing in avalanche was never gambling, their utility just stands out.
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Good for you, but I don't see how that changes the points I made about gambling 3 months ago :)

Every single alt going crazy is EXPECTED because duh Bitcoin did.

When you make statements you need evidence. Evidence becomes strong with sample size. You show me (without proof) you made crazy amounts of money, I will tell you many more people lost their money trading in the last few months.

Because like you, they practically gambled. You won they lost.

Show me how you "used" fantom, mativ, ava etc. I'll show you any day how I used Bitcoin.

@Slaman29 I don't know if this is coming too late already, but yes I do have my proof but sharing it on here feels somehow to me, because I bet some people knows me off the forum and I and trying to avoid them knowing my worth, if there is other way I can prove to you then it's on, at least we are here to share crypto knowledge, there are alts that have given me more than x10, and I have full confidence to reveal them to you, but not on the forum.

There are few I got that have killed double zeros already, mostly gaming projects, and I did took profits on few back into Bitcoin.

I guess we just have to take your word for it then. But for me, if you really want to help the forum, you really want to encourage crypto use, then you must evidence with provable examples.

Anyone can claim anything. In gambling section this is the case, loads of posters claiming stuff, no actual bets made, I think the same must apply to trading and investment. 'Knowledge' is easy to write online. Without accountability, I feel its more harm than good.