May 2011: I bought my first Bitcoins
I discovered Bitcoins in May 2011. I learned about it probably from Slashdot.
As soon as I discovered Bitcoin, I was sure that it would be a major event. I read the white paper several time and decided that I could buy some with money that I could afford to lose.
At this time, it was difficult to buy Bitcoins. I no longer remember what I had to do. I moved US$1,500 and bought 2,000 Bitcoins at $7 a piece on May 18th 2011.
I told my wife about it: we will get rich with Bitcoins. She did not believe me and she told me that I would lose all my money. However, she added, if you make money with it, you will take me on a cruise!
Three weeks later, I was visiting my colleagues at AdaCore in Paris and I told them about my Bitcoin purchase. They had the same reaction as my wife: Vincent, you will lose all your money.
I did not want to look stupid if Bitcoin went down to zero. So, on June 9th, as the price of Bitcoin was up to US$30, I sold 50. This way, I got back my money. I now had 150 Bitcoins that had not cost me a dime!
The Mt. Gox exchange
My 150 Bitcoins were on the crypto exchange Mt. Gox.
Mt. Gox started as a company. in 2006, to trade cards from the online game Magic: The Gathering Online. The original meaning of Mt. Gox was "Magic: The Gathering Online eXchange".
In July 2010, it became a crypto exchange for Bitcoins.
I was naive at this time, and I did not realize that my Bitcoins were not safe on Mt. Gox.
With some of my Bitcoins, I tried various schemes that did not go anywhere.
In November 2013, as the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed, I sold 10 Bitcoins for CAD$10,000 and I told my wife that I was ready for a cruise. More than 10 years later, we have not gone to one: we are too busy with our families.
February 2014: The Mt. Gox Disaster
At the beginning of 2014, I still had 104 Bitcoins on Mt. Gox. They were worth at this time between $80K to $100K.
Then, in February 2014, Mt.Gox went bankrupt: it was badly managed and had been hacked for several years.
So, I could not get back my 104 Bitcoins. I no longer had any crypto assets.
I thought that my involvement with cryptos was over, but I was wrong.
Continue to Part 2.
-- Vincent Celier
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
After reading François Martin's story I was curious about your true story, but I thought you told it through François because you didn't want to go so personal. Nice to read the true story now.
Guess what? I found out about Bitcoin way before you. Lol. I found out in like 2009. But all I knew was that it was money based on the Internet that could be sent just like a text message and not needing a bank or anything. I never knew it was something that could increase in value.
Just like I didn't think the fiat currency in my hand could make me a millionaire all of a sudden by Holding I didn't think Bitcoin could do that too.
I didn't read the Whitepaper, but even the Whitepaper doesn't say anything about increase in value.
In 2009, Bitcoin was very young and the price was very low, so it was hard to see that it could increase a lot.
But at the end of 2011, the price had already increased to over $5. And it was easier to imagine that it would continue to increase.
You're right. This is a case of the early bird being too early. Lol. In the beginning no one talked about it as an investment opportunity, but just as a means of payment🤦🏾♂️.
I had no idea you were a victim of the Mt. Gox hack! I hope you were able to get some of them back. I hear refunds are being processed.
You will have to wait for the end of my adventures.
If there had been no MT.gox crash, many people would have sold their bitcoins. And now they will receive a lot of money in the form of compensation. Are you thinking about buying some HIVE when you get your refund?
Yes, indeed. Personally, I would not have sold all my Bitcoins before 2018, when the price went up to $20K.
Sorry to hear you lost your coins. At least you made some money. I never managed to get in early with these things, but I made a little when DOGE shot up. A guy I worked with was holding a fair few BTC. I don't know if he kept them, but that could be a retirement fund. I suspect a few big Hive players did well from various crypto.
I'm interested to hear the rest of the story...
There will be two more episodes.
Well you were one of the first believers of Bitcoin. Sorry for being a victim of MT Gox, so many people would have lost their Faith after losing such a lot of money.
I did not lose any money. I only lost Bitcoins. This is a big difference.
Hope you got those BTC back in the recent news I read about mt gox potentially making people whole again. You could with a fraction of those becoming one of the largest whales here potentially. :D
You will learn what I did during the last 10 years in the next part of the story.
Hope you can still take that cruise 🙂
Yes, we will eventually. Either Alaska or the Danube.
What a story!
It's amazing how you discovered Bitcoin and your experience with Mt. Gox. Even though it was a roller coaster, at least you learned a lot about cryptocurrencies. I hope you had the opportunity to invest in Bitcoin again and are now enjoying the benefits.
!ALIVE !CTP !BBH !VSC !INDEED !HOPE !STR !WRD !DIY
Oh wow, you got in to Bitcoin very early. Seeing that you didn't sell all of it after what people say is awesome. Selling a few to get back what you invested is very smart. Knowing what happened with Mt. Gox lately makes this a very interesting story.
Nice memories. I was happy to test the only game that was using bitcoin at the time, paying like 0.1 BTC per move, was a turn based one.
Obviously this account is NOT only used for Splinterlands. 😃
You were using BTC for a game 12-13 years ago? This is crazy.
Did we meet in Split during HiveFest 9? My memory is not better than yours.
We did met in Split. The guy from Romania.
I did something big back then, bought some with $60 and sold with $180. Got a nice 7 days holidays in Spain with the profit.
This is what I call the gaming account. It is used mostly for Splinterlands, and lately Holozing and Golem game. The other account, I use it for poetry and writing, mostly. Sometimes they mix.
This was great decision but sadly luck did not favour you else you must be holding a big amount today. its life sir and we can not control things..
I would not have kept these 104 Bitcoins for 10 years, I would have sold some of them.
Its nice to know that you are an early bitcoin investor. I did not even know about when you purchased btc.. I got to know about it in 2018
2018: price went up to $20K. You will see what I did then in the next part.
ohk nice. waiting for the next part..
I am so sorry for your loses, in my case I have used to buy in 2014 in Coinbase but they told me sorry your country is not appears for do it and I loses my oportunity.
Until hive coming.(Stream) Give me the opportunity to star in crypto finally.
#hive #posh
@vcelier! @edgerik likes your content! so I just sent 1 BBH to your account on behalf of @edgerik. (3/50)
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(3/10)
@vcelier! @edgerik Totally agrees with your content! so I just sent 1 IDD to your account on behalf of @edgerik.
You can query your personal balance by
!DIYSTATS🎉 Upvoted 🎉
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
❤️ @reeta0119 suggested sagarkothari88 to upvote your post ❤️
This is so so sad! That Gox bankruptcy was really a tragic one for you. 104 Bitcoins, that's an insane amount of money, just down the drain.
I've read all the stuff so far and watched videos on YouTube of MT Gox doing it this way and now that this has happened to you,
Here's hoping that next time I hope you will get back your trust bitcoin because here now it is going in news that they have started giving back bitcoin we came to know about bitcoin in 2016 then its price was high. This is the first time I have seen a person who has seen Bitcoin at this price.
Axie Infinity was also hacked and people got all the amount back so here we will see something like that you know about this game which became very popular in 2020 21.
@vcelier, I paid out 1.040 HIVE and 0.196 HBD to reward 13 comments in this discussion thread.
(3/5)
@vcelier! @edgerik Wants to spread Hope! so I just sent 1 HOP to your account on behalf of @edgerik.
Since we think the world can use more Hope, you can now already start spreading Hope yourself!