How I Beat Bitcoin in Just 8 Months
I’ve loved the opportunities that blockchain technology have promised since I first heard of Bitcoin: a form of currency that was borderless, transparent, and deflationary. I don’t know if it is still all of those things since it has become a mainstream phenomena. But there are, certainly, other coins that are executing the mission of Satoshi Nakamoto. And I’m super excited to see that the technology still provides those benefits in addition to many more.
Before Bitcoin hit the big time, I was lucky enough to have been sitting on $25,000 that I could invest and octuple my money before the new year! I entered the market like many others, through Coinbase. I signed up and sent them a copy of my driver’s license and I was ready to go. Coinbase allowed me to purchase somewhere around $300 with my debit card in my first transaction, so of course I made an order for the full amount. To my surprise, my bank denied the transaction because Coinbase uses a bank in the UK to process transactions from the USA. I bank with an institution that caters to 18 year old basic trainees in Fort Sill, Oklahoma; so they are super suspicious of international transactions. They put a hold on my card and I had to call them the next day to get them to unlock it… and all of that hassle caused me to delay my first investment while I took care of the demands of life.
The company I was working for at that time was failing to capitalize on a 50% increase in retained earnings and subsequently entered into a phase of scapegoating and witchhunting. I saw two options, either pick up a pitchfork and lead a witchhunt or pivot to another livelyhood. Since I left the Army, I’ve espoused the philosophy of the Non-Aggression Principle so that knocked the pitchfork and torches option off the table. It was clear to me that I had to pursue my income through investing in the blockchain.
So I’m sitting on this cash, looking at a career change, Bitcoin is at $2,000, and 8 months down the road it’s going to break through the roof and be worth $16,000. Of course… I plunked all my money down on attending a coding bootcamp that went defunct in November.
Shortly before I made the decision to invest in myself instead of Bitcoin, Vin Armani asked on his podcast, “Would you rather be the guy who owns some cryptocurrency, or the guy who makes cryptocurrency?” And before that, Jack Spirko spoke on his podcast about how blockchain would allow us to create virtual nations. Even if my investment in a cryptocurrency made me a multimillionaire, it wouldn’t make me a pioneer for liberty and self-ownership. I bet the whole pot on becoming a Solidity developer, someone who could write smart-contracts and constitutions for virtual nations.
I learned how to develop web-applications at The Iron Yard: front-end, back-end, and the React.js framework. I told everybody that would listen about my grand plans using blockchain technologies. At my graduation, the director of my campus told everyone in attendance that she had never heard anyone talk about blockchain as much as I had. I started my next job at a chemical factory in Memphis the week following and during my free time I got myself spun up Solidity and Truffle. I went to all of the meetups and hackerspaces that I could during my free time. I discovered that Memphis actually had a robust blockchain community sponsored by local business leaders and the University of Memphis. I even found a guy who was in the process of establishing a Solidity development shop!
I asked that man for an internship because I was in a position where I could and would work for free as long as I got to work with the technology that I love. Fortunately, Memphis doesn’t actually have that many React developers and the venn diagram of Memphis React developers and Memphis Solidity developers intersects at exactly me. So now, I am a blockchain front-end engineer working on exciting projects and interacting with awesome people, even if only part-time.
Do I lament the $175,000 profit I forfeited? Absolutely not. How many times in a lifetime can a person strike gold? My guess is just a handful of times at best. But how many times can a person create a cryptocurrency, found a virtual nation, win a development contract, host a hackathon, or meet amazing new people? There is no limit!
I sincerely hope that each person who reads this is following their passion and their passion is rewarding them as richly as mine. And, if your passion is blockchain development, I’ll bet everything that you’re not just striking gold… You’ve got diamonds in your pockets forever :-)
