I was asked by Zasad to provide an interview so here it goes.
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?I became interested in cryptocurrencies in July 2017. I know almost the exact day because I started my journey through crypto world by accumulating about 3k EUR and buying my mining rig. It had 4x Nvidia cards and I learned so much about the crypto space while setting it up and choosing shit coins to mine. In the end I settled on dual mining ETH and stopped tinkering with it all the time. That left me enough free time to learn some trading basics and try my luck on exchanges.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?My first satoshis weren't bought, I traded for them or later on earned some on this forum by selling services (translation, coding). I actually bought BTC for fiat first time when we were in bear market in 2018 and BTC has just fallen to 6K. I was sure it would not go any lower. We all know how that went but I didn't panic sell I bought more around 3.5K. Too bad I had very little spare cash at the time so we are talking small amounts.
Why I bought? Very simple, I believe in BTC long term.
3. How did you get on the forum?I needed to read quite a lot of stuff while setting my mining rig and this place was
the place to find most of the answers and software.
4.1 What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?There is whole bunch of usual answers like government policies, market manipulation or whatever. I am actually thinking that biggest obstacle to mass adoption is user experience. I am doing stuff on computers my whole life and that includes web design and coding in several programing languages and I have to read tutorials and loose hours whenever I want to do something a bit more advanced in crypto sphere. We need to buckle up, stop complaining and start building user friendly interfaces and installation programs. I am actually hoping to transition my work full time to crypto space and do something about that but I still haven't found that one perfect serious project to help me on the way.
4.2 How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?I don't think it influences the whole bitcointalk community that much, either positive or negative. Yes those campaigns lead to more spamming but there will be spam as long as there are campaigns and they integral part of this forum and it would not be the same without them. Gambling discussion section is like a second home to me and I love conversations I am having there with some users. Other users which just spam and don't say anything constructive I report and put on ignore list. Works for me.
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?I can't judge if it is enough for everybody but it was more than enough for me, but I am very realistic person and not prone to FOMO & FUD. I needed about a year to stand on my trading legs and I am happy to report that the journey has been mostly successful with few bumps along the way.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?Both have their positive and negative effects which has been discussed in detail all over the Meta section and I don't feel like adding much to that. Yes there is misuse but in general they are important and good part of bitcointalk experience and I got used to them. Merit got introduced while I was Full member and it considerably slowed my climb trough the ranks but at the same time new rank feels like a much bigger achievement so all good.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?Really tough to point out. There is a lot of useful topics and very helpful users. I will not even try to list them since I would be doing a disservice to the ones I forget to mention and this interview would end up using second post as well.
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?Nothing really, I would try to change users to be a little more tolerable of others opinions or reduce the spam in some sections but I don't see a way to enforce stuff like that and keep the spirit of the forum.
Actually I would post official rules of the forum and then made moderators enforce them equally across all sections and seniority.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?I trade on exchanges and usually invest in projects after they are already established. I had some small/short/riskier investments during ICO fever but mainly I invested in well established projects which I consider will have a bright future with intent to keep them at least few years.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?Most of my trading is quite boring but since you want a story...
My first airdrop (ETHD) which brought me real money will be something I'll never forget. The project was a total shitcoin without anything positive going for it but I sold my airdrops for about 500$. Money from nothing is a real crypto story
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
To balance that out I was a victim of scam once as well. I am usually quite careful and those quick money offers that sound too good to be true I am avoiding even subconsciously but I have fallen for scam website of one ICO project. Not quite sure which one was it but it was an ICO on NEO network, it was a great project and it did quite well but I invested my 500$ on wrong site. It was a combination of running out of time and wife nagging about me having to do something. I consider that as tuition for life school.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?I still have to do a lot of research in that direction. I don't know nearly enough to make competent decisions regarding DeFi. I am sure DeFi has future and I am also sure that most of the projects coming out now are total shit. So I am waiting for real projects to rise to the top or to find enough time to do proper research and FA which would make me comfortable to throw some money DeFI way.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?It is definitely a precaution. There is quite a few guys from Croatian local that know me personally and several more high rank users which know my real name. I am always for hanging out with fellow bitcoin enthusiasts and that is hard to do anonymously. If you are a known member and visiting Croatia for holidays contact me on PM and let's go get some drinks.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?I never read a single cryptocurrency book. Most of my technical knowledge came through tutorials, this forum or YouTube videos. YouTube has actually been my biggest source of info and I used to watch TA videos while walking my dog several times a day.
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?My choices are all well known and quite boring but I am in for a long run and I don't need to do 10x next week.
1. Bitcoin
2. Etherium
3. BNB, LINK, DOT
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?Let's go with 15K USD but as I already said I am in this for the long run and I don't really care what the price will be at the end of 2020. I am more interested what it will be in 10 or 20 years and I have a high expectations for cryptocurrencies and blockchains in the future.
15. P.S. (Optional)
I was really surprised you contacted me for this interview, I just hope somebody found it interesting since it did take a nice chunk of my very precious free time
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)