I'm leaving Bitcoin

[135cc]

No, this isn't related to the Bitcoinica hack. The hack just makes the choices obvious and straightforward.

I, Zhou Tong (Zhou is my surname), will discontinue all involvement in Bitcoin-related projects after the Bitcoinica incident has been fully resolved until further notice.

I always believe in Bitcoin, or simply anything that brings people financial liberty. I have heavily invested in Bitcoin (I purchased one 1,000 BTC gold coin from Casascius and will keep it for as long as I can). And I have enjoyed what I have done for the Bitcoin community.

Really, thank you for all the wonderful support. It feels great to have an experimental project become the "best thing since sliced bread", and run one of the most profitable businesses in a new economy. Bitcoinica has a total historical revenue equivalent to about 0.67% of the whole Bitcoin economy. Not even Apple can match this record in the real world economies.

The first time I read about Bitcoin was in late 2010. My first reaction was "these coins are cheap, maybe it just doesn't work". I learned about Bitcoin again in mid 2011, when the first bubble started. I bought my first Bitcoin when it fell to $8. I told all my close friends and classmates about Bitcoin, simply because I think it's a cool idea. The idea of a margin trading platform quickly went into my mind, and I started working on Bitcoinica.

I lied about the time it took to build Bitcoinica. (I said I spent one week on it.) I started on September 4, 2011 and launched on September 9, 2011. Just four and half days. In a week, trading volume passed one million dollars. I started making profits like crazy.

In November, an investor approached me to acquire Bitcoinica. Due to regulatory concerns, I agreed to the deal and signed the agreement. Bitcoinica was sold for a good price. However, since the investor is unable to arrange for a replacement team, I continued to become the sole operator until Team Intersango took over two weeks ago. The investor let me keep all profits until late January, the official handover time. After handover, he continued to offer generous salary and performance bonus every month. The investor demands his identity to be protected so I won't share more information on this.

I left school in Singapore and decided to continue my education in Australia. I made the decision because of the Internet industry, and the hacker culture. I'm a web developer and I want to become a really good one. I want to work with smart hackers and wonderful designers to change the world. Singapore isn't particularly good at this. (Obviously, US West Coast should be a better choice, but for some other reasons I didn't consider US.)

I have started working on another project (not Bitcoin-related) that is going to make a little difference on the Internet. So far I have achieved great progress and I'm pretty confident about this new venture.

My life hasn't changed much except that I became more confident after Bitcoinica's success. I realized that I have the power to make something profitable. Such kind of confidence is extremely hard to get, until you really experience a significant success. I worked on several projects before, and all of them failed eventually. I thought I was confident because I kept building new stuff and improving myself. But the real confidence comes from the success itself.

I failed at one thing though, that is generating value for the society. Bitcoinica did create a place for people to trade more efficiently and provide liquidity to the market. However, speculation is a zero-sum game (or negative-sum, strictly saying). I know there can be many justifications for Bitcoinica's value, but all of them are against my intuition and values.

With the confidence and the innate intuition to build wonderful things for a better world, I decided to move on. I didn't quit Bitcoinica because it's the only source of income that I currently have.

I know that my time is valuable and industry establishment is really important. I don't want my name to be remembered by only Bitcoiners. It's true that I believe in Bitcoin's potential, but not everyone believes. If I'm a influential person I wouldn't have to do this, but the best way to be known in the Internet industry is to build products that save people time, money and headaches.

I'm going to be a young entrepreneur that solves problems for everyone. I leave Bitcoin only because it doesn't help address my real needs. Making money isn't that important after all.

I'll be a Bitcoin lover forever, and I will come back to this forum regularly to discuss about the future that's in our own hands! I will keep the 1,000 BTC  gold coin as a lifetime investment and I'm pretty confident that it'll be the best investment ever in my life.

Bitcoin FTW!

i was so amazed after read your story about your bitcoin's life, its so impressing. Well, you've done a lot of things in bitcoin community, and i hope your life will be more successfull from now. God bless you!

[quyenpann198]

you can't leave Bitcoin Wink


Good luck kicking Facebook's ass!   ;p

[Belec]

Why are you leaving bitcoin,bitcoin is the best crypto curenccy on the whole internet.Bitcoin has a bright future i mean bitcoin is the future.I just started bitcoin and all i can think is how awesome it is,that is my thought but you can do what you wanna do bro.So if it was me i wouldnt leave bitcoin.

[ubay]

At the end of the sentence, you say this

I'll be a Bitcoin lover forever, and I will come back to this forum regularly to discuss about the future that's in our own hands! I will keep the 1,000 BTC  gold coin as a lifetime investment and I'm pretty confident that it'll be the best investment ever in my life.

Which means you do not leave bitcoin completely, you prefer bitcoin as a lifetime investment by holding 1000 bitcoin. That's a huge amount for now, I hope you are active again in this forum and share success stories among forum users.

[miraj0007]

I'm not going to leave Bitcoins because I want to change life by earning Bitcoin. Today many people of the world have changed their lives by earning Bitcoin. I just want to change my life with Bitcoin. I think the government of every country should be allowed to use Bitcoin.

[Batask]

I'm not going to leave Bitcoins because I want to change life by earning Bitcoin. Today many people of the world have changed their lives by earning Bitcoin. I just want to change my life with Bitcoin. I think the government of every country should be allowed to use Bitcoin.

Yes this is true I strongly agree with you mate, many people change theirnlife because of bitcoin, bitcoin helps thousands of people, i will never leave bitcoin no matter happen, bitcoin helps me a lot last year, no matter what happen, ill keep holding if it falls down. Bitcoin give us hope to earn.

[bigblackdeck45]

Not gonna lie I felt sad and kinda feel bad for you man. So sad to see someone like you go but if that's what you think and want to do then go ahead man. Hope one day you will return to bitcoin and help it make great again. I know once you love something with all your heartband put passion on it so much you just can't unlove it and forget just like that. I know you will be back again and we will wait for you here.

[Gyromancer]

I think people who leave bitcoin are the less fortunate. Indeed the state of bitcoin market is difficult to predict so that we only get uncertainty. However, the decision to leave the bitcoin is wrong if you want a big profit. Bitcoin is only for people who are patient and willing to work hard. The patience that we apply in bitcoin is unlimited so we must never give up in the face of every circumstance. It is your right to leave bitcoin but unfortunately if this great business you leave behind. I also met the people around me who have started to give up to see the state of bitcoin. They have no motivation to work in this difficult time. Yeah, it's all back to you who are undergoing.

[Leonon1Ellis]

Don't be a fool. It's not all or nothing in life. The older you get the more you realize that. In the past year your work has made the Bitcoin scene more interesting, more unpredictable, more vibrant. You've had one hell of a crash course in entrepreneurship.

[JavaScriptlk]

I've enjoyed most of the occupations I've applied myself to, but am happy that I shifted out of one and into another as I look back on things.Groups of people who are really interested in technical solutions that help everyone!

[Romanlevi1980]

Good move to make the formal announcement, evidently not everyone gathered that you were moving on notwithstanding it was the obvious course.You're certainly making the right choice and I've been repeatedly impressed both by your ability to deliver and your values.

[previously123]

Congrats sir. You not only did an absolutely amazing thing for the Bitcoin community, but you also made a savy 1,000 BTC investment and are now sitting on a small fortune. I thought it was pretty cool to see now 2 years later that he actually still came out on top even after everything.

[olites]

I never had a good time at Bitcoin, and I was beside this time, and I would be left at the bad times. Do not leave any time. Because by bitkayen I dream about doing well. I will go with Bitakayena, Achi, and I'll stay.

[cposeidon123]

Good luck on your new venture, hope that you will become successful, this words you said made inspiration and I hope that what you want to pursue you will be successful. 

[ombir]

You did create value for Bitcoin.
If you keep working you will get the benefit yourself Stability has been a real benefit

[Tiger Junk]

I think people who leave bitcoin are the less fortunate. Indeed the state of bitcoin market is difficult to predict so that we only get uncertainty. However, the decision to leave the bitcoin is wrong if you want a big profit. Bitcoin is only for people who are patient and willing to work hard. The patience that we apply in bitcoin is unlimited so we must never give up in the face of every circumstance. It is your right to leave bitcoin but unfortunately if this great business you leave behind. I also met the people around me who have started to give up to see the state of bitcoin. They have no motivation to work in this difficult time. Yeah, it's all back to you who are undergoing.

For as long as I feel safe and secured with bitcoin and it doesn’t cause me harm at all I wouldn’t leave bitcoin. That’s the first thing that I considered. Of course if bitcoin continues to become a good help in me in terms of my financial aspects.

[Kirito-kun]

I think people who leave bitcoin are the less fortunate. Indeed the state of bitcoin market is difficult to predict so that we only get uncertainty. However, the decision to leave the bitcoin is wrong if you want a big profit. Bitcoin is only for people who are patient and willing to work hard. The patience that we apply in bitcoin is unlimited so we must never give up in the face of every circumstance. It is your right to leave bitcoin but unfortunately if this great business you leave behind. I also met the people around me who have started to give up to see the state of bitcoin. They have no motivation to work in this difficult time. Yeah, it's all back to you who are undergoing.

For as long as I feel safe and secured with bitcoin and it doesn’t cause me harm at all I wouldn’t leave bitcoin. That’s the first thing that I considered. Of course if bitcoin continues to become a good help in me in terms of my financial aspects.

Indeed, actually it never comes once to my mind that I'll leave this bitcoin if it scam me. All of us can experience horrible situation in this field but it doesn't mean we shoud give up, this is just a trial and it is nothing from us, if you think that you were unlucky because you've been scam then how about those skilled who loss their big amount of money then? It's just normal everybody might be stumble but it depends on us on what will be the outcome.

[blocklancer8]

if it has been decided and well thought out is very good, and the decision to leave bitcoin into everyone's choice. hopefully be a blessing wherever you are and the investment will be very helpful in your future.

[mohammedmattar]

It is a difficult decision, but in the end it is your future and you are the one who sets its course
You seem to be a smart young man and you  know your priorities well
I wish you a good scientific life
We are always waiting for you to discuss together and enrich the Bitcoin community

[ay0d1]

The phrase "I'M LEAVING BITCION" might have crossed any lover of btc at one time or the other due to different reasons, yet we are still stock to it despite rise and fall. It means one day everybody will be a winner