Firstly I want to make it known that I include myself in this title, as a member of the crypto community who actively trades and supports the tech in anyway possible, from writing articles and providing news, to downloading the apps of any start up to try and support the cause. But I consider myself just as guilty of not paying attention to the original intent of Bitcoin.
I have read Satoshi’s white paper, I am no engineer or programmer so much of it was above my head, but the overall message was clear, besides taking power away from central banks, the goal was to empower and bring people in emerging markets into the fold. But is this actually happening? We get anecdotal information about how people are using DASH in Venezuela to offset that insane inflation occurring and from time to time a feel good story about some specific business or person, but these are exceptions to the rule. To put it simple, Bitcoin & crypto in general is not that easy to buy.
My personal journey began last year when I was working about an hour west of Shanghai, China (PRC) In China the populace has been introduced to and become comfortable with money being 100% digital and being paid on their phone while also paying for everyday products with their phone. A concept that to me was still alien. I have from time to time heard about the possibilities but still had more questions than answers. While being in China these questions were answered, and quick. I saw the ease of passing money to friends through a quick text message. Or if you needed cash somewhere (which was rare, mostly at govt. institutions like hospitals etc. ) you could stop any stranger and ask them for 100 RMB (about 20$) cash and send them 100 RMB straight to their digital wallet. No fees no wait no hassle. I finally caved in and put all my money into We-chat and Ali-pay as well. But the question was now, how does this technology work, and this is how I originally found XRP and crypto in general. I had not been excited about anything like this since I began shooting music videos in early 2009 and realized I had an eye for not only shooting but editing and working with the many characters you come across in the music industry. I dove head first in the crypto without concern or worry, I knew that this was the future and regardless of when I got in I knew that getting in then would be better than waiting. Fortunately for me it was at the beginning of the massive 2017 rally which saw all coins reach ATH’s and at my peak a few thousand invested into several hundred thousands, before my unprepared self decided to HODL all the way through this current bear market.
But how did I jump in head first? Well here is where the issue and my concerns begin. Besides the fact that with the rally came massive FOMO and Ethereum and Bitcoin were not capable of handling the massive influx of retail buyers causing insane backups in the networks and exchanges having to close down periodically due to the demand and or just lack of customer support due to the overwhelming demand, the only option I had was localbitcoins (dotcom) I did have to pay a premium but in China I was able to do it by just contacting a seller through wechat and sending them the money and my Bitcoin was deposited in my account shortly after, So I do recommend local bitcoins as it is safe, but I doubt as convenient as in China where technology is already ahead of the west. I began trying to verify account onto every single exchange or service I could think of so I could by at spot price and avoid the premiums of localbitcoins. Here are a list of places I tried.
Poloniex
Coinbase
Gatehub
Kraken
Buysomebitcoins (dotcom)
Bitfinex
Cex.io
Bitstamp
Changelly
Bitpanda
Bitso
Lykke
Not a single service was able to verify my account to purchase bitcoin. Why? I am an American citizen who has been living and working/studying on the Post 9/11 GI bill for several years now and unfortunately for me my driver’s license has since expired from the state of New York. Although I carry a passport my social security card and several other forms of identifying who I am with me none of it was good enough for any of the platforms. Coinbase denied for lack of license or due to mine being expired ( but is int this just required to prove who you are? What difference does it make if it is expired, they are not giving my permission to drive anything) CEX’s excuse was they they are too busy and could not take care of my issue. Everyone else denied me because I could not prove my current residential living situation as I do not get water or electricity bills under my name to the new residence as I have been constantly renting. I tried this all again using my Nicaraguan passport etc. etc. as I am a dual citizen of both Nicaragua and the United States of America. This was much worse of an experience. Absolutely none of the exchanges etc. offered to sell to Nicaraguan customers.
This went on for about a year until the release of Abra wallet. Abra confirmed who I said I was with just using my passport and a selfie with it and I was golden for a while. Not needing to buy using my friends and or paying high premiums on localbitcoins. At the same time I had been approved for an account with BitPay which brought me full circle and I was able to buy bitcoin, trade and then use the bitpay card to spend my profits for any goods or services I wanted, my beef with the community was settled, as far as my personal experience was concerned. Then I had a month of just bad luck. It started with being held at gunpoint and an attempt was made to kidnap me while I was walking my dog, fortunately the people who were sent who came prepared in a fully tinted vehicle, masks and 38’s got nervous when pulling me towards the car as people in sight began to approach as I was assaulted in the middle of the day. They ran off with my wallet and phone. The issue is that I had prepared for this situation by only carrying one debit card on me and always leaving my bitpay card in a safe back home. Well I shook off the incident despite being somewhat shaken as I spent several months being watched by the current regime here for work I have been doing on Facebook on a pro Democracy group with over 100K followers. But the next day I got an e-mail from Bitpay stating that my card and account were being disabled until I was able to prove KYC information , despite having been using their card for the last 5 months withdrawing more than 5 thousand dollars in that time. So I was left with no means to access money in a foreign country. The issue Bitpay stated at first was the fact that Bitpay was an American service made for Americans and needed to be used in the United States even though they claim it can be used anywhere, as I actually could using it both in Nicaragua and on a short trip to Peru with no issues. So I wrote a letter explaining to the compliance dept.
Explaining my situation along with my passport ad any other documents they needed. 3 weeks later I had to call the directly as they did not find the need to contact me back to find out that my account had been permanently closed and no reason was given to why, even though I met all the requirements they asked for. Not only was I angry for being in a fucked up situation but overall of the denial of services to a good customer while they sit there ad preach that we need more and more people to adapt the tech, something that I was doing daily while sharing my experience and recommending it to countless associates. Soon after that I was hit with an e-mail from BTC to Abra my account was also CLOSED. What the hell is going on I thought. All this preaching about decentralization adaptation reaching the masses and this is 100X more difficult than getting into the Forex market and even gave a shot at stocks to see how easy it was and it was just me or the Abra as well stating that I could no longer use their bitcoin service to buy from my banks account without explanation why. The problem had started when I put in a buy order which was excited 3 days later and my bank account did not have enough to meet the buy order. About 2 week passed like this until I realized I could pay the fee that had incurred on Abra with Bitcoin as well. As soon as I sent institution at large making this difficult. Well I opened a Robinhood account in about 10 minutes and had it verified and connected to my bank account and buying stocks within the hour. I also opened a forex account (which I still have not deposited money in) But I realized that at that point it was not me anything else I have ever tried in my life. For example at this time I began to think about getting into who did not have the necessary paperwork, I have passports, SS cards, VA documents, Jury duty documents all sorts of ID’s proving who I am, it is just the crypto services are not accepting them and even when they do, they shut down account without explanation.
So where Do I currently stand? Well at the time of writing I a one verification document (proof of residence ) which I am having issues giving them the proof they want despite having sent over 7 pieces of evidence to the minexcard team to use their services to pay with crypto and at the same point with CEX.io as well so I can once again purchase bitcoin. I feel like these are going to end up fruitless after all its been 3 weeks since I began the process of both and im still waiting and minexpay accepted payment first with no problems before they began asking questions in order not to offer me my card I have paid for. I am looking for other services and other ways now in case this does not work out. But it leaves the question still, why is it so hard to buy into the crypto community?
I'm staying optimistic as I believe in the overall goal of crypto and bitcoin, but I am taking notice of the hypocrisy within our own community. If it is the difficult for some one to get verified to buy into markets do not get me started on how impossible it is for a citizen of an emerging country to buy in. With my Nicaraguan passport I have tried everything and have been denied every step of the way from every service and that is with both a passport and a bank account and a current driver’s license here. Most people here do not have bank accounts, which is what Bitcoin claimed to recognize and was trying to solve. Yet if you do not have a bank account to begin with you cannot buy into bitcoin and even if you do, the services wont allow you to buy from outside the US or Europe. So it brings me back to Venezuela and other anecdotal proof of people using crypto to offset fiat inflation. The people buying Dash are well to do citizens with connections and probably hold dual nationalities or have family in other parts of the world, the everyday Venezuelan does not have access. We are truly in need of a real centralized or decentralized way of purchasing bitcoin or any crypto from an online source where anyone can do it and of some one cant because they don't have a debit card, at least make it so some one else can buy it for them and we can begin to allow the masses to join the revolution. I don’t know how much Bitcoin I have given away for fiat in order to get people involved and excited. I've given out more than 50 thousand tron to family members and people I just met who are curious about crypto as well. This whole time while I have been in Nicaragua I have been trying to spread the message but I can no longer afford to sell bitcoin for fiat as I am not a wealthy individual and I also made the mistake of blindly hodling to the poor house (not literally).
In closing if anyone can link me to a resource where buying bitcoin is not a pain in the ass or even possible period please share. I still want to get people here access to bitcoin as I believe a rapid devaluation is coming in the Nicaraguan Cordoba and I want to save as many people as I can from complete disaster. If you would like to donate crypto and help the cause im also open to it . I have a ton of addresses for different coins I accept so Ill leave here some contact info if you choose to reach out. Stay blessed everyone and I do believe still that bitcoin Is the future, but we have to make this easier if we truly want mass adaption. Take Care
Douglas
Napoleon Trading
Twitter: @NapoleonTrading
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