I enjoy Stefan Molyneux podcasts on bitcoin & on the economy. The beauty of his podcasts are the rabbit hole they take you down. The last one I listened to was, "The Dangers of Dating Single Moms." It comes across as misogynistic, but you can not deny the truths contained therein. His voice is soothing, but he tends to eat and drink a bit during the podcasts, so you will have to endure a bit of lip smacking. Freedomainradio.com and his youtube channel are good sources of info. Enjoy your leisure!

Proud bitcoin use'n, 'bacca smokin', greens eatin', wife beatin' Hillbilly right here. The problem is people are brainwashed starting in elementary school when self exploration should start. It happens in every public and private school in America. Be a patriot, but do so with the knowledge of what your government is doing.

Respect the land you stand upon enough to do the right thing. Not all us Hillbillies are stupid. Religion has a stranglehold on politics in the Southern states and much of the Midwest. Between religion, education, and politics; we have ourselves an uphill battle for sure.

Random rant over.

I actually started buying more on the way down. Maybe this was the $800 coin . I think I'll hold those $20 coins for a bit longer. I'll sort it out at the end of the year.

I was planning to buy some more, but last night I was forced to spend a bit. It's hot as balls here right now, and the lights went out in the middle of cooking dinner. We do not use credit cards or even a bank (except for cashing checks). I couldn't find my wallet in the dark. My partner says, "what about those bitcoin thingies?"

Luckily I'd recently bought a few coins that I left in my exchange account. I go to gyft and buy a 250$ equivalent hotel card and secure us a nice suite with whirlpool at a local hotel. $100  card for a local restaurant, and another $100 card for another restaurant with a nicer bar. What would have been a boring, hot, and humid evening turned into a wonderful date night that wasn't planned.

Now I guess I need to figure out my basis and report gains or losses from my purchases. 

I had about $2500 to my name when I first bought $800 worth. I sold much of my holdings to reap about $7000. I was living out of my car and staying with friends and family at this point. Previously going from making 6 fgures a year to zero. I bought back in with most of this money after the bubble of 2013. It didn't take much to change my standard of living from what it was when I began.

Trading on exchanges and selling at a premium to non-traders earned me more BTC. I also got an unexpected windfall of cash (unrelated to bitcoin) later in the year (2013) that kept my hands out of my BTC holdings. Buying back in after the 2013 bubble, reinvesting proceeds from BTC sales to non-traders, and holding are the three best decisions I have ever made.

Each time I sold BTC, I bought 10% more regardless of price. I now have no car payment, rent a home with a yard; and my only three bills are car insurance, internet, and phone. I enjoy a life free from financial worry, albeit far from luxurious. I neither want nor need luxury. A good quality of life for me is one free from financial concerns. I can maintian this standard of living for quite some time because of bitcoin, luck (variance), and good decisions.

I too am excited for the opportunity that Bitcoin presents to the under-banked in any country. I'm in the US and it is remarkable how many GenXYers and millennials do not have bank accounts. The low transaction fees and relatively high transaction speeds can really increase both the velocity and amount of money that can move across continents. This is one of the best things about using bitcoin.

I've never mined a single coin. I opened a Campbx account and bought $800 (40 - 50 BTC at the time). I executed one trade on Gox in 2013 and didn't like the direction the company was going. I prefer a door I can kick in should my funds be mismanaged.

I'm sorry to hear that you are one of many hit by poor procedures practiced by many mining manufacturers. Any time a "get richer quicker" opportunity comes along; bad actors are certain to be one of the first to market. I'm not tech savvy enough to have fallen into the ASIC trap. For once, my ignorance paid off. I hope you get repaid in some way.

Thank you. I certainly got lucky with short term speculation. When I first got into bitcoin, no one in my region had ever heard of it. I still remember buying my first pizza for friends using a Gyft card. Folks still thought I was nuts for sinking real money into play money. This year; I bought a new smartphone, a vacuum cleaner, and some non-perishable foodstuffs; all with BTC. My family still thinks I'm nuts. I no longer have a bank account. I operate solely on BTC and paper.

I stopped "trading" bitcoin in fall of 2013, and began pursuing a goal of accumulation of more BTC. The ways that facilitated accumulation were as follows:

1. Localbitcoins.com: Selling BTC at a premium and rebuying immediately at the current rate is an excellent way to increase holdings. This way I was able to increase my holdings by about 10% with each trade. However, I stopped this activity when sellers were being held criminally accountable for what the buyers were doing with the BTC. It sucks that this happened; but I don't want to be the victim of an undercover that hints at whatever his alleged nefarious intentions are with the purchased bitcoin.

2. Selling to individuals outside of a centralized website (occasionally using craigslist). See #1.

3. Buying and HODLing. This is never a bad strategy.

4. Speculating (short to mid term) with about 15% of my holdings. This is by far the most risky way to increase holdings, but if timed right; the speculator looks like a genius. Follow the big players (market makers) and mimic their plays. I no longer have a stop loss due to a change in my financial situation. I just buy more when the price declines.

5. Selling things for BTC. This usually requires trust between parties or a trusted third party acting as escrow. Multisig escrow is outside the understanding of many folks.

Never buy BTC with money you need for bills or emergencies. If you choose to speculate; the speculator should be committed to the purchase longer term. BTC is rarely lower 12 months later than the date it is purchased. Be responsible. Open an exchange account. It's easy. Use a reputable one.

Warren Buffett has spoken out against bitcoin in recent interviews. However, one of my favorite Buffett quotes involves the relative unimportance of timing compared to the actual event. It goes something like this (paraphrased of course), "If you know what will happen in a given market, it matters not when it will happen."

So much emphasis is placed on the timing of a trade involving BTC that we can lose focus on the "what" we believe will happen. In short: If you don't think bitcoin will be around in the mid-term, don't buy any at all. If you think that the technology will continue to gain traction and utility, and thus value; buy without consideration of price.

Firstly, I have been a member of this board for quite some time. I lost my credentials, so a created a new account because I have something to say or would like to participate in ongoing discussions. Although I am happy that the newbie forum is no longer required; it did have some utility preventing spam and FUD.

Secondly, Bitcoin changed my life. How so; you may ask?

Before the 2013 bubble; I was relatively broke, jobless, and without a steady place to live. I heard about Bitcoin on a popular "news" show on a conservative cable network that someone else was watching. I then used the oracle (Google) to discern what opportunities may be available in this space. I had a few greenbacks left when BTC was under $20. The decision was made to buy. BTC hit $260ish, and I sold at an average of $190ish. I held 15% of the BTC I had purchased and spent another 2.5% on pizza and Gyft cards. It was a quasi-gamble that paid off.

Most of you know that BTC crashed swiftly upon reaching the peak in 2013. I was able to buy back on the way down at an average price of $65. By this time, I was able to afford to buy and hold without fear of going hungry. With the windfall of cash, I enjoyed a much higher standard of living than which I had grown accustomed. I learned something about myself, and many other people: I don't manage my cash very well. Also around this time, I received a windfall of cash (outside of BTC) while maintaining a fairly low standard of living. BTC was hovering pretty low and I continued to buy when people were bearish.

What is this cash problem? It spends so easily that it evaporates quickly. Fact: it is more difficult to spend bitcoin than it is to spend cash. This has resulted in me using bitcoin primarily as a storage of wealth. I must confess that I sold a bit of BTC on the China $1000+ bubble. I also started buying back at $800ish, and have continued to buy on the way down until recently at $400ish. Am I "worth" 1/2 as much now as I was in January? Simply; yes. However, I have a hell of a savings account that no one can take. I also believe that my savings account will be bigger in one year no matter what bitcoin does in the interim.

There are a few things that I would like for all bitcoiners to do or at least think about doing:

1. Buy more. But, BTC is going down; right? This, my friends is the time to buy IMO. So much is developing around BTC that I do not see it devaluing to any greater extent.
2. Spend some BTC on things you were already going to buy and make sure to buy back with the cash you otherwise would have spent on the product you purchased.
3. Give some to friends, family, and other good causes. Make it a non-trivial amount. This fosters adoption more than any other activity. My mom got bitcoin for Mother's Day.
4. Don't speculate for purely speculative reasons with money that you need for other things.
5. Talk with local businesses about accepting your coin for their product. Small business listens.

Bitcoin is like most things. It is not Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian. It is not Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or atheist. It is not white, black, brown, or any other race. Bitcoin is what you make it; much like your own life. It is currency and information for everyone. We have yet to realize the true potential contained therein.