Do you remember your first time? In crypto that is!
For me and no doubt many of you it was Steemit. How peculiar did it feel to be earning a cryptocurrency for blogging?
I mean at the time I was not even sure what a cryptocurrency was. Everyone has heard of Bitcoin but I am certain I was not alone in being surprised at the almost ridiculous number of them. There were hundreds! All of them with exotic names, quite often ending in eum.
Or at least so you first think. Of course, there are hurdles to overcome.
I remember the first time I sent my coin to an exchange. The tension, the sheer nerves. Have I done it right? What the heck are these long addresses? Will this even work?
You log onto the exchange in question.
Hey, where's my money!?
It doesn't appear instantly. You get a sinking feeling in your gut, deep down you knew it was all too good to be true. Your money has disappeared into the ether. (Excuse the pun.)
This is such a scam.
You think despondently.
Then suddenly, after having refreshed the balances screen only about 63 times, it appears and you can breathe a sigh of relief.
This is it. I am on the road to becoming a giant in the crypto-sphere.
You feel such elation. It doesn't take long before you make your first trade and sell your precious coin for some BTC. Does that mean you are a trader now? Things just keep getting better.
After a little time, you amass enough bitcoin and you know it is time for the next step. To transfer your BTC out. Send it to the outside world so that you can place your hands on some 'real' world money. Perhaps you will get a Bitcoin debit card? There are many options. You choose one, then send your BTC to it.
Wait? Where has it gone? It has left the exchange but it has not appeared in the wallet at the other end?
This is such a scam.
You think downheartedly.
You log onto one of the chatrooms. Some splendid fellow advises you that you can check your transaction with a block explorer and that it needs several confirmations. You gratefully thank them whilst wondering what a blockchain explorer or a confirmation is. You are too scared to ask though, for fear of looking even more of a newbie.
Eventually, like an old dog, the wandering Bitcoin shows up in your wallet. You make your first purchase. It works, it goes through. You are riding on a giant wave of elation. Your world has undergone a seismic shift and you know that things will never quite be the same.
It doesn't take you long before the transferring and moving about of crypto becomes second nature. In fact, you even venture into a little bit more trading. There are so many possibilities.
Then one day you log on to your favourite exchange. One of your coins is pumping and you want to sell and get some of that lovely Bitcoin to spend. Isn't this marvellous?
"Your wallet is undergoing maintenance."
How can this be? Why do they have to conduct maintenance on a wallet?
This is such a scam.
You think dejectedly.
Many moons later the wallet comes back online. You realise that you are being far too harsh on the old world of crypto. Now when you see wallets down for maintenance or wait 17 days for a Bitcoin transaction to go through you laugh like a Hyena and carry on without a care in the world.
You definitely no longer think it is a scam. In fact you become quite the crypto evangelist.
This is incredible!
You tell all and sundry.
One day one of your friends shows interest in the whole Crypto realm. You excitedly gabble about coins and exchanges and blockchains. They listen, eyes wide.
You carry on. So much crypto knowledge to impart. Tokens and confirmations and even ICO's. You are bubbling with excitement at sharing all this stuff you have learned. Eventually, you finish and tell them it will be the best thing they ever do.
Your friend leans in and says.
Isn't it all a bit of a scam though?
Do you remember your first time? Was it a fraught and awful experience or was it easy? Do you have any tips you can share that will help newcomers start their journey?
Let us know in the comments!
All pictures sourced from pixabay and in most cases subjected to various manipulations.
Authored by: @meesterboom
I bought an ASIC miner back in 2015. Most miners had already quit mining because the cost was too high and the rewards were too low (in their minds). I thought it was a HOOT!
Haha, that's the way to think of it!! That way you can never lose !
I'm late to the show, but I signed up for coinbase last year. That was my first toe in the water.
Today i,m Earn bitcoin on crypto racers game one hour to make money 10 $ bitcoin price you see a screen short no scam real earning bitcoin.
http://cryptoracers.com/r/962649
Join today to select challenge other's people's as you wish thank you.
Check www.cryptoegypt.com ;crypto community in Egypt
Could not sleep one night back in 2014. Ended up ordering an ASIC miner from china at 4am :)))
Those are awesome. I presume it worked out well!
It did actually :) They were really cheap back in the day !
Lol, well, i guess it ended up well.
Kind of :)
Hehe, I had read that. They choose a fortune now!
Check my comment @estheromoyiwola ,you had laugh. Nice meeting you @hossary. I just followed you. Will look out for you. And my comment was
Oh yea!! Am actually an upcoming steemian. You know when you are added to a steemian group chat and then all the PRO in the building start saying SBD,STEAM POWER, CURIE, STEAM,WALLET, UPVOTE, am never shy, am like please guys use a lay man word and they be like those words are for steemit. Imagines few mins ago, i did a whatsapp call to two of my friends asking for more explanation of those terms and they made me realy cleared. I am same person that just taught someone that didnt know what to do and how to relate those terms. It fun and interestin, am realy learning and getting to know great people like you. Woooo!!! Am blessed. Steemit has been my bestfriend since then. Upvoting and adding more to post through comments. So sweet.
steem
My first time
I was like a stranger in an unknown land but with time i got help from people who know much more about it
Thanks to steemit for making me meet those guys unless i would be left in the dark
Steemit has been quite fantastic for learning all about Crypto hasn't it? I think I have learnt all I know and made money out of what I have learnt here
I agree @meesterboom such a great platform
Started back in 2013 and I instantly knew. I was heavily into the conspiracy of the US Dollar and the way it is made. Some lady I gave a taxi ride to from the Airport mentioned bitcoin to me. What? Decentralized money? I thought it was crazy. Then I watched that first "What is Bitcoin?" video. Version 1. Having a slight background in programming, My. Jaw. Was. Floored. My mind was instantly blown and I was immediately sucked in. While I haven't profited much yet, STEEMIT allows me to bring my creativity to life and earn crypto for it. I've been "playing" with digital currencies since 2000. What? How So? Ok, this may sound dumb, but it was MMORPG's like EverQuest. See, the currency in those games are essentially digital coins, and many players were trading those coins for real money. I am guilty of buying EQ Platinum on more than one occasion as a kid. So the kicker was that while these currencies are fully unlimited and obviously only usable within the game, and the idea of a global, limited, encrypted coin just absolutely blew me away. That video's explanation was top notch for me. I laughed for days because of how awesome it sounded.
I love that you found crypto through steemit. That is amazing. I never once thought it was a scam, just that scammers were out there (and back then, plenty of scam coins).
In my opinion, after messing around with steemit (15 day old minnow) I have found it extremely user-friendly and anybody can quickly understand the basics of crypto through this platform. Great post!
Cheers! That's quite fascinating the EverQuest angle. It does help in steemit if you think of the currency as in game tokens. Changes it all up, hehe.
Good luck in your time here!
Definitely! I used to play video games but now I play the crypto game.
Same here :0)
My first time was here on steemit , i made some good money when steemit was still new , but now i can barely make 3 sbd a month
Keep plugging away. Success will come
I feel you man. I also made my first exchange of SBD through Bittrex and unfortunately I ended up messing one of my memos and that SBD was nowhere to be seen. Thanks to good folks at @blocktrades and my Crypto Mentor @sanjay91422, I was able to retrieve that SBD back :D
I wonder is this the platform that's difficult or it is the security measures that make this platform the way it is
The security has to be there because of the money aspect unfortunately. The good thing is though. It gets easier every time :0)
Yeah, that too is true. Earlier (during my first month) I kept writing and wondering about where from the 'real money' would come? But now, after spending time here and reading well--researched articles from experts, I have gained some confidence. And a bit of 'real money' too :D
Thanks for your comment.
I still feel like it's my first time every time.
100% of the time!
Still at the beginning stage. Still wondering if i'd go through all these. I feel excited at the same time feel uneasy.
If you feel uneasy then you will probably go through each and every one of the above!
I am still a virgin! Loved your writing, that was hilarious!
Lol, thank you!
I cashed in my first STEEM DOLLAR last night...
I felt as clumsy as my first kiss!
As clumsy and as beautiful I bet!!
Hell yes!
:O)
My first time, was fairly easy because I am in a facebook group that directed me to coinbase just last month. Coinbase is a fairly user-friendly way to purchase coins so I bought some bitcoin, ether, and a litecoin (was only $65 then). I quickly got addicted to watching the market graphs, and I still am. I'm learning now that a lot of times you just have to be patient and not react to every time a graph is down because it's normal for a crypto to drop a lot of percentage points just to gain twice of it back. I made a rookie mistake of selling my $65 litecoin when it hit $103 instead of HODL'ing it and now litecoin has shot to over $300... I did get back into lite around $180 but that was still a lesson that this is a long term future investment. I'm learning new things about this technology everyday so I believe in it's potential in the future and am trying to learn the technical part of it all.
Quite often what I do is pull the graph it to a 30, 60 or even 90 day chat to see the terms. It irons or all those minor bumps do you can see is it's really worth seeking. It's still a gamble but it does help with that fear!
Big journey! It's been a really long journey! Long hours of study and research and sleepless nights of decision-making. All worth it. I've been in crypto since 2014. Not too early, not too late. It's never too late to be honest! We're not even mainstream yet! The blockchain is so advanced and guarantees that cryptos are the future.
Exactly! It's never too late! I read a fantastic quote from someone saying something like. People who worry it's not the right time to buy in are the only ones who will have regrets or similar. I think the quote might have been better than my wording!
Haaahaha 😁
This line tho 👇
You mean something like adsactreum ? 😁
I can remember my first time... In fact, it was only about 2 weeks ago. I was worried that I might be giving away my money at first... but I am slowly seeing the advantages of it. It's so much fun to watch the number fluctuate.
I'm still a Newbie, and make Newbie mistakes, but I'm slowly learning.
You hit the nail on the head with this post! Thanks for sharing it!
It's all about taking those baby steps but it all works out in the end!
That's what I'm hoping for! I'm easing into it and trying not to be too addicted to watching it!
I remember back in the day my friend and I entered a hackathon where the prize was 5 BTC (About 1k at the time, IIRC). We didn't win, but it was a great introduction to the world of crypto. I'm really grateful for polished sites like Steemit and Coinbase that make it easier for people to get in. Old messenger boards and shady download websites definitely scared away lots of potential early adopters.
I think steemit has definitely been huge in that respect. Shady sites added to the whole general perception of crypto being scammy.
Imagine if you had won the prize and kept it till now!!
One of my girlfriends would literally not believe it. She said, "You are a LIAR." My friend and I roared with laughter at this statement for probably ten minutes.
I would have roared with laughter too!
Told my brother about Steemit earlier, I enthusiastically explained how the whole thing works and he said " that's definitely a scam".
I know that feeling. They just don't want to believe!
He still wont....
One day you can show him the money and make him believe ;O)
That would be nice :), the longer I spend around here the more I like it. I have always been a believer in crypto but outside this space I can understand why it all sounds so alien. The other one I get is "I didn't understand a word of what you just said there".
I think when people say that its just that they dont want to understand. Its tough getting through to them!
Engagement! Most important for new comers here. My first time in crypto I got caught in Gladia Coin scam a lost half a bitcoin :(. You can help make that back by upvoting my blog posts though! :D Thank you Steemit!
Ouch! I am sure your blog posts will fly!
Thank you!
I didn't think "it's a scamm" because i was already social media manager and i had a clue or two about the internet
but it seriously was hard as a crypto virgin.
Loved reading it!
keep it up
I confess I thought it was a scam many times simply because I was so new to it all!
Understandable! I still hear people saying it's a scam or saying that they don't understand why would anyone buy digital money. so it's common.
Hopefully this will be the year that it all changes!
"This is it. I am on the road to becoming a giant in the crypto-sphere" - I wish I would be saying this some time soon. I heard all about cryptos but never paid any mind till a friend referred me to steemit, then BTC went ballistic, damnit, I must have been a dummy for a while. So, back to a few days ago, I got on steemit and It's actually fun to see things you do for free elsewhere spawning some little money even though not much.
It's worth it to stick at it and it's never too late to join the crypto party :0)
Yeah I believe that and thats what people say.
you nailed it man, that's exactly how it went a few years ago haha :)
Plays out the same every time!!
When I first joined the crypto-world, I felt completely clueless; "Crypto...what?", "I have to deal with a market?"...It was very confusing and nerve-racking. A bunch of my friends started before me, so it took me a while to understand what they were talking about. I honestly still feel like a complete newbie, there still so much to learn and accomplish. I'm glad I took the plunge sooner than later!
At least you took the plunge!! You are way ahead of the curve :0)
I used to do 30 minute surveys to earn like 1000 satoshi years ago, and then I would play poker with it on Sealswithclubs!
Haha, that's really cool!
This is so relatable and I'm still a newbie! xD
I tried to make it exactly how it was for me so I am glad it was relatable!
I enjoyed how that actully made me a little tense reading it, also a a good laugh or two!
Hehe, splendid! It all built to a crescendo!
my first time was using faucets because I didn't have $ to put in...I did ok but I wouldn't recommend faucets.
They do take a lot of time for the return. I never trust those sites either for things like malware
During my first time back in 2010 bitcoin was 0.04 dollars. Never knew it will come to this.
'my first time' still on the way .....hehehehhehehehehhe
Actually I heard of it quite a long time ago but I thought not to bother myself as I was convinced I could never understand how it works. I thought it's a bussiness for investors and tech geeks only.
Quite Amazing! Crpyto life!
I have enjoyed reading this post. I am now Bitcoin. Everyone tried it in a lot of fun, but you have made a lot of posting and have a lot to learn and understand about the post.
Those are awesome
Owned a few raspberry pi at the time, probably in 2015 ish. I had done a few project with them and was looking to do something new and stumble upon mining with a raspberry pi. This sparked my interest for crypto which made me play around with them a bit and now I just discovered Sterling like a week and half ago.
This is exactly how my class is feeling! We are brand new to the crypto currency scene. We are going a whole project on it! Check us out! @shsibecon
'WOW Nice story dear @adsactly & thanx you so much for sharing . this post now #resteem & upvote done .
I really like your posts. new story, good photograph. thanks for your love and support.
This is my first day on steemit and I am super excited! I am going to tell everyone I know about steemit! Steemit to the moon! :)
Nice story writing..i like it..thanks.
I WAST LOT OF MY TIME IN BITCOINS,!
nice story.
the things you've ever experienced become the key to all my friends, a very good explanation @adsactly
Thank you for sharing
Actually my first time I was told it was a money scheme I'm certain those guys never new the story of bitcoin
Oh yea!! Am actually an upcoming steemian. You know when you are added to a steemian group chat and then all the PRO in the building start saying SBD,STEAM POWER, CURIE, STEAM,WALLET, UPVOTE, am never shy, am like please guys use a lay man word and they be like those words are for steemit. Imagines few mins ago, i did a whatsapp call to two of my friends asking for more explanation of those terms and they made me realy cleared. I am same person that just taught someone that didnt know what to do and how to relate those terms. It fun and interestin, am realy learning and getting to know great people like you. Woooo!!! Am blessed. Steemit has been my bestfriend since then. Upvoting and adding more to post through comments. So sweet.
Splendid, steemit is a game changer indeed!
@meesterboom am telling you. Game changer. I am gonna be steeming it soon.
Good post thanks for sharing
attrative post dear @adsactly
My first time was 5-6 years ago . There are a few people all around who knows about Bitcoin . I heard about it first time in my high school years . My close friends offer us to buy some bitcoin but we refuse it because we can’t trust a coin that we heard about it first time . After years our friend group is so sad about it because we can be a millionaires now. That’s the butterfly effect:) Now I am still student and poor :)
It's never too late to get into crypto that's what I have learned!
Me and my friend invest 70$ last week and we re buying and selling different coins but we must do that in my high school years my dear friend . Thanks for your post and replys!
You will be gazillionaires before you know it! ;0)
More crypto craziness is going on for today's market.