How I Learned About Bitcoin January 1, 2013

For my 700th post here, I thought it should be special, so the following is the story of how I learned about Bitcoin January 1, 2013.

While taking a training from Seoul to Masan, South Korea, I was reading, "The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012." This was the third book in the series I had read, previously reading the 2010 and 2011 versions. Wish I read them in the reverse order! There was a story inside about a guy who convinced a hotel in California to accept payment in bitcoin for a night's stay. The description of Bitcoin immediately peaked my interest, and upon arrival I began reading online about this new type of network/currency/tech/tool, whatever.

After a couple days, I decided I wanted in and downloaded the then current version of Bitcoin Core. And proceeded to wait while the blockchain downloaded. Well, I waited a long time, 2 weeks. Korea is known for fast internet, but for some reason that 7 gigabyte file took forever.

Over the following weeks, I practiced using this 'play money' by visiting faucets and various gambling sites. I accumulated something like 0.1 or 0.01 BTC (can't remember which) from playing around. Transactions were fast and free, and it felt like Monoply money. During that time, I joined this forum, and kept learning. Asic mining seemed to be this new big thing, but I didn't have the money to pay Butterfly Labs $650 for a miner, and good thing! I later petitioned a Bitcoin conference from letting one of the former employees speak at a conference in Korea.

I decided it was time to make a purchase. Each day the price seemed to climb another 50 cents, $18, $18.50, $19. I wired money to Japan and picked up 60 bitcoin for $22 USD each off of Mt.Gox. After that began what I would call about 3 years of immersion in the community, from meetups, to projects, jobs etc.

What ended the obsession for me was the block size wars in 2016/2017. That really took the fun out of it, arguing about the same topic week in and week out. Since then I've been a quiet supporter and hodler. Seeing all the headlines these days makes it seem like Bitcoin is some whole other thing from what it was back then, but really, it's nearly identical, just like my profile pick. (I never received that 3rd band of tape ha ha!)