When I first heard about Bitcoin I thought it was nonsense. I don’t know why I thought this, I just assumed it. I never researched it and never looked into it back then. This was my opinion straight away.

When I read the news that Bitcoin had broken $100 I thought these people must be insane to pay this for a stupid digital coin.

But something and I don’t remember what (and it bothers me) made me look into it deeper one day. I wanted to understand where the value came from.

When I did, it blew my mind.

I bought my first BTC in 2013.

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![me](http://home.planet.nl/~bonge008/BLOG/wow/123.JPG)
*Went for a walk near the river yesterday.*

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The user experience of buying my first BTC wasn’t great at all. It was crap. I didn’t really know what I was doing installing a wallet, downloading a blockchain, fiddling with public and private keys, buying 1 BTC from some dodgy website (that’s now really great). Having this BTC sit in my wallet with no-one to trade it with. 

But when the value went up I quickly bought some more. I earned around 2300 euro in 5 weeks. Yes, you can say I was hooked from that moment.

Nowadays I am no longer financially hooked to crypto. Although it's still fun to see my portfolio go up. 

But I no longer see cryptocurrencies as speculative vehicles (with the right projects). I do believe they will transform the world. I'm strengthened in my opinion because I can slowly see crypto technology maturing. It's also becoming more mainstream slowly.

Today I listened to an hour talk on a Dutch radio station about Ethereum! (I think that's major).

# It's easier now

I guess from a point of view of someone that is just learning about cryptocurrencies today it is still a lot of trouble trying to figure everything out. 

But I can tell you that the whole space is a lot easier to use now than when I started and there is a lot more functionality. 

Shapeshifting coins into other coins is a blessing. Having easier wallets to manage all your coins. STEEM that just uses usernames for transactions to just name a few.

This whole process will continue to evolve to a point where you won't even know you are using blockchain technology.

![me](http://home.planet.nl/~bonge008/BLOG/wow/123456789.JPG)
*My dog had a great time.*

# I did stop trying to convince others.

I am more enthusiastic about crypto than I ever was. Yet, I talk about it less and less. I used to start conversations trying to teach people about this new technology. But only 2 actually bought some.

Now, talking about it, kinda makes me feel like a Jehovah's witness. I'm sure they have as much faith in what they believe as I do about crypto technology but I still kinda ask them to leave when they knock on my door. Kinda what my friends and family do when I mention crypto.

I guess part of the reason I also keep it more to myself is that investing in crypto today can be pretty expensive. When I bought my first bitcoin it was $250 (my first ether was $2) wich is doable for most. and fun. Nowadays it's a bit more for those projects.

Yet, there are still projects out there with massive potential that are still affordable. But it comes at a price. You really need to educate yourself in this space to find them and understand them. But not everyone is willing to do. But it's so worth it and a lot of fun. 

Steemit in that regard is a blessing to me. It's a whole platform with like-minded people. Just yesterday I invested in a new project ([here](https://steemit.com/ethereum/@dana-edwards/iex-ec-has-a-great-board-of-advisors-which-includes-reps-from-genesis-mining-gatecoin-wanxiang-blockchain-lab-and-more)) that was recommended by a user here. That's so valuable. I'm very grateful for this platform.

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