My Bitcoin Story: From Skeptic to Bitcoin SV

I didn’t enter Bitcoin space until 2017. Here is my journey to where I’m at now.

Heard about Bitcoin, and wasn’t ready (2008)

I heard about Bitcoin on a Ron Paul fan website. Out of curiosity of the Libertarian movement and AnCap theory I went on a quest to learn more. My whole life I have only really know Capitalist, Socialism, and Communist. That’s all I’ve been taught in the School system.

During the 2008 US Presidential Election, I became intrigued by Ron Paul. His ideology was far different from that of the National Republican Platform. Flat Tax via a Fair Tax because Federal Income tax is “Theft”, Pacifism so no warmongering and proxy wars, Right to Bear arms (no gun laws), and various other stuff that the Republicans would consider unacceptable.

I was going thru a time in my life as a Democrat that I was starting to reconsider my Political Ideology. Sure free stuff is cool and Democrats will give you it, but I was starting to realize that the big picture is more important.

Flirted with the idea (2009)

People in my High School were talking about how PayPal sucked and Merchant Accounts are a joke. So I asked did they even make that Bitcoin thing? I heard there is something called a Bitcoin and it’s better than PayPal in some aspects.

Most classmates though I was nuts, and a future darknet criminal. Because that’s what Bitcoin is only good for at, and speculation.

I forgot about Bitcoin, maybe my classmates were right. Or it wasn’t time for worldwide usage as real money.

Enough of PayPal

For a long time my Mom would sell our stuff on eBay. To make some money on the side. It was a fruitful side hustle. Seemed easy enough and for many years no issues. Then we got one return and PayPal make it, so we could not print shipping labels until the return was done. We were outraged, sure we could have set up a VIP Parcel or Endicia account and used other means for shipping labels.

I searched for information and heard tons of bad stories like PayPal accounts getting terminated over a charge back percentage. $25 Chargeback Fees, and there were security breaches on eBay and PayPal.

So Mom decided to stop selling stuff on eBay for a very long time. I moved on to other means to sell.

Swap Meets

I tried Craigslist, Offerup, and Letgo. Would complete like 6 transactions a year at the most. Too many scammers, low ballers, and flakes that never followed thru on meeting you.

It became more wasted time then it was worth. So I looked elsewhere

OpenBazaar (2017)

So I set up shop on OpenBazaar and attempted to sell my Sports Memorabilia, I called myself “SportsDeals”. At the time OpenBazaar v1.00 required 24/7 online to receive payments which made it hard to find sales.

Bitcoin Transaction Fee Spike (2017–2018)

When I was in the middle of selling, Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to $50 transaction fees. I later decided that I had to offer my customers Litecoin (LTC) as another Option.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Critic

Then Bitcoin Cash came out, and it was a “scam”. All coins that are not BTC are a scam, at that was what I was spoon-fed on Twitter.

So I believed in my distorted reality that BCH was just a pump and dump for Miner Pools such as Jihan Wu and Bitmain. Most Bitcoin Cash mining hashrate came out of China and was rented, at least that’s why HODL boys claimed.

For a few months I was firmly against BCH and pretty much dissed them on Twitter. Later a few BCH guys took time to debate me on Twitter. It was a long debate. They were right, and I was dead wrong. Only thing left was to admit I screwed up and join BCH Gang.

I was “The Enemy” for defecting

Yes those BTC Trolls did waste their time with tons of Twitter Reports on me. For saying “BCH is the real vision for Bitcoin, using it as real money not HODL” or stuff like that. Branded a “scammer” and one big “delusional conmen”.

Made some pals on Twitter

Started to rise up on Twitter follower count for being more involved in BCH than OpenBazaar stuff. I decided to take a stand on some controversial issues such as some BTC guys sexually harassing Reina Nakamoto on Twitter. It made my blood boil to see that happen. So many times have I seen man-whore guys mistreat women in my High School years. Many of them were nice gals, that kept chasing those pompous jocks.

Anti-Craig Movement

Dr. Craig Wright (CSW) was supposedly a threat to Bitcoin Cash. He seemed very unorthodox and but like a more knowledgeable version of Donald Trump. A few guys were the first to speak out against Dr. Wright. Imaginary Username, Legionary Twatter, My2Centrist, WTFKenneth and a few others. Later bigger players joined the battle against CSW, such as Amuary Sechet, Peter R Ruzin, and Emin Gun Sirer.

It put me in a weird spot because I was friendly with Reina Nakamoto, Marianne Jett and a few other CSW supporters.

I followed the lead and had fun with the CultOfCraig hashtag. In retrospect, It sucks getting blocked by CSW on Twitter for that a various other rude posts about him. I was wrong and I deserved the blocking. What’s done is done, maybe he will unblock later. Maybe after I prove loyalty to Bitcoin SV for a year or so. He’s got feelings too, I can’t just step on his toes and bury the hatchet the next day ect.

The Hashwar

The outcome from the Hashwar made my reconsider my decision to fight CSW. He was the only person on Bitcoin SV side I considered a foe. I didn’t disagree much with SV’s roadmap. Wasn’t sure if Adaptive Blocksize or 128MB Blocksize was better.

In retrospect, more people I disliked there in BCH (mainly the celebrities that pushed for ICOs and tokens and the drama queens).

The main thing was sneaking in the checkpoints to stop deep reorgs and a few other major reasons (which I covered in my other articles).

Bitcoin SV

Here I am now in BSV. I was welcomed with open arms. Less drama on our Telegram, then other ones. We ban scammers not censorship free here, which is cool with me.

Image Sources:

[1]

[2]

Hashwar Related Articles:

https://medium.com/@cryptoshoppe/transcripts-to-my-thoughts-on-the-bitcoin-cash-bch-hashwar-youtube-video-series-5db3467e2079

https://medium.com/@cryptoshoppe/op-ed-ancaps-bitcoin-sv-and-dr-craig-wright-bd1a458c22b1