About me through my crypto Journey!

Steemit…steemit…steemit! This term is going to be household name in the very near future like the internet or the Facebook is today. I have wanted to join steemit for few months now and finally got the time to do it. There is a lot of chatter about the potential to make money using steemit but the real reason I am excited is the technology behind it, the blockchain and making friends and sharing ideas along the way. Blockchain is the future, people, so lets embrace. And when it comes to steemit it truly has the potential to be the king of social media disrupting the old order in the industry (you know what I mean).

With that being said, let me introduce myself.

My name is Shankar Devkota. I am 40, married and have 2 kids. I am originally from Nepal (naturally beautiful country) and currently living in the USA.

I like to call myself a crypto enthusiast. I have heard about bitcoin back in 2011 when it was at par with a dollar. But did not pay too much attention about it because I thought it was virtual money only useful to the gaming community.

Then in 2013, it crossed $200/coin and I got some interest to look into it deeper. As I dig in deeper and learn about the technology behind it and the promise it had for little guys, I really wanted to take part in this innovation and buy some bitcoin and started exploring about the exchanges.

At the time there was more negative news than positive and exchanges trustworthiness was questioned a lot (Note: don’t trust any exchanges with all your money, even today). By the time I was able to buy my first bitcoin, the price had already climbed above $900/coin in November 2013. It seemed like uptrend is never going to end. Then I bought some more at even higher price. The next thing, before I could realize my investments grow, came a big hack of Mt.Gox exchange and everything seemed to fell apart. Everything came crashing down. I had no time to react, or did not know what to do. So I rode the wave. The downward roller-coaster kept going and going all the way down to <200/coin. But I believed in the long term promise of the block-chain so I hold on to what I had, actually adding some more on the way downhill.

Along the way I wanted to invest (speculate) in the altcoins and bought some cryptos through exchange named Cryptsy. Bitcoin was on the down trend and the altcoins fell even faster and my crypto portfolio did not look good. Then I lost interest in trading and took a break for some time. I was busy with family and with my job and did not follow through on the bitcoin and cryptos for about 6 months (my bad).

The next thing I heard was that Cryptsy exchange was hacked and the accounts were all disabled and the owner ran away. I lost all of my crypto that I had in cryptsy exchange. Then I started to look for ways to get my cryptos back but all in vein. However I was once again exploring the cryptos/bitcoin heavily and in the process I got even more confidence in the promise of the blockchain, decentralized, peer-to-peer, borderless currency.

Then I started buying again. This time being more careful about how to protect my investment from exchanges/hacks, theft, personal mistakes etc.

Then in 2016, cryptocurrency market started to look really good, and I have been bullish ever since.
It was in January of 2017 I heard about steemit the first time but I Did not pay too much attention at the time. Then I started to hear more and more good news about steemit and how it can be the next Facebook. At the same time value of steem started to slowly climb up. And finally I made up my mind to open an account and here I am a member of the steemit community.

That is all for now about my crypto side.

Now few lines about my personal/social side;

Apart from my daily job, I try to spend as much time as possible with my 2 kids. I like sports (soccer, volleyball, table tennis) and like to hangout with family and friends.

[my kids enjoying ice-cream treat!]

[me and my wife, on our recent trip to the beach]

I am also interested in politics, economics and philosophy and read lot of books and follow news on regular basis. Sometimes I get into heated discussion on some political/economic topics with my friends. Those who do not agree with my views think my arguments are crazy. My arguments are mostly in defense of liberty, limited government, personal responsibility, self reliance and choices. I believe individual freedom is the most important virtue of humankind and the blockchain and cryptocurrencies are going to be center stage for protecting individual freedom.

Hoping to make lots of friends along the way and share my thoughts and learn a great deal from all of you steemians! Peace!