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1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
My interest started with bitcoin in early 2013 when I discovered that I could make money by mining with my computer's GPU. My computer was sitting idle most of the day, so the idea of making some extra money with it appealed to me. I enjoyed computers and technology, so bitcoin was a natural fit for me as it involved both of those interests.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I don't recall ever purchasing bitcoins, I only acquired them through mining and selling products/services. Mining and faucets were the sources of my earliest earnings.
3. How did you get on the forum?
Forums are a great way to share knowledge and expand your knowledge. I was interested in learning more about mining so joining the forum was a natural progression.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Excellent question, I'll interpret mass adoption as "being widely used and an alternative to other payment methods" and focus specifically on bitcoin. I think one of the biggest roadblocks to mainstream usage is the convenience other payment methods offer.
Credit cards offer instant verification of transaction success and transaction reversals, two features bitcoin doesn't. Near-instant payment verification has been demonstrated by other cryptocurrencies, but I think we still need to solve the problem of reversable transactions while maintaining a decentralized network. Once cryptocurrencies offer the same features and guarantees of traditional payment methods, I think mass adoption will come naturally. In the meantime, I don't think people are willing to give up the conveniences offered by non-crypto payment methods.
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'll focus on official forum advertising for this question. I think ads are a good way to cover the costs of running the website, but it would be great if the ads weren't all for gambling sites. Gambling can cause people to get desperate, and Bitcointalk has seen more than it's fair share of scams over the years.
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 don't think a formal special education is required to understand what you're investing in and how it works. However, it does take time and patience to learn how bitcoin works. I've been familiar with bitcoin for a number of years but there are still black-box parts of the protocol.
4.4. You have not been active on the forum recently. What happened? Why do such experienced users forget about the forum?
You're right, it's been over three years (!) since I actively posted. What happened? Priorities changed and I became busy with other interests. Although I'm still interested in bitcoin, my area of interest has changed from mining to how the bitcoin protocol works under the hood. I really enjoyed the days when GPUs could earn reasonable money mining bitcoin, or when ASICs first came out and we were amazed by how efficient they were. I'm sure most people who GPU mined could tell you a story or two about janky mining setups - things like that made mining so enjoyable. These days it seems tough for an average Joe to make money mining, a few big players have captured the mining market with efficient and high-hashrate ASICs. That's to be expected when there's money to be made, but it's a shame that what got me into bitcoin is no longer feasible for people like me.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?
The merit system seems like a good addition. Before merit was introduced, time and time again we'd see accounts "rise the ranks" by making garbage posts, only to be sold later on to be used for signature campaign income. I'm hopeful the merit system cleaned up some of this spam, although I haven't been active enough lately to decide for myself.
As for signature campaigns, I think they can benefit everyone if managed correctly. I ran the Rollin.io signature campaign for quite some time, and managed applications with a bit of an iron first. I like to think the Rollin.io signature campaign was an example of a well-managed campaign where everybody won: Rollin.io received publicity, participants received fair pays, and the forum wasn't being polluted with spam posts.
As for signature campaigns in general, they're a bit of an unusual concept. I haven't seen them on other forums before, and I'm not sure they'd be welcome additions to other forums. I think the desire for personal gain associated with bitcoin makes it an easier sell on a forum like this.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Most helpful topic is a tough one, so I'll choose a section instead. Development & Technical Discussion has lots of great resources for learning about bitcoin's internals.
As for most helpful users, there are a few I can think of. LoyceV seems like a great asset to the forum. I've traded and talked with Blazed a number of times, he seems like a good guy. BiPolarBob made the forum interesting for a number of months with his giveaways (looks like his account has since been hacked?).
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I think I'd revisit the policies on doxxing. Admittedly, I've been involved in a couple of the witchhunts on this forum that resulted in a dox, but I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the risks. Releasing an inaccurate dox can hurt an innocent person's reputation. Thinking of the dox threads I've followed, nothing came of the dox even years after the fact. Nobody got their money back, and nobody heard from the scammer again. Doxxing seems like a bit of a wild-west technique and I'm not convinced it helps recover funds. With bitcoin, I think we need to accept that if we've been scammed, we're not getting that money back.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I've done both. I did a bit of trading on Cryptsy back in the day, and I had invested in a couple shares of bASIC-Mining. Neither of those ventures ended well.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
I remember when bitcoin hit $1000 for the first time in late 2013. I had started mining in April of that year and decided to cash out by buying some computer hardware. I suppose that could be considered a big loss too, if I had kept those coins and sold them when the price peaked in 2017 I would've done a lot better. Hindsight is 20/20.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
I think replacing middlemen with smart contracts is exciting, I could see this type of system helping to mitigate the 'transaction reversal' problem I mentioned in 4.1 if it's straightforward for everyday users.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
As soon as you buy or sell a physical good the other party knows who you are. I've bought and sold a lot of goods on this forum so it's just a precaution.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I haven't read any crypto books, but I find the Bitcoin wiki to be an excellent reference.
