I'll start.
About 7 years ago. I met a guy in Austin, TX who told me about "The Silk Road" and "bitcoins". I was in no way interested in selling or buying underground drugs. I told him "Nah bro, you're cool but that sounds like a Cut Co. scam or something". He persisted and insisted I pay him $5 so he could introduce me to the "bitcoin world" at least.
I was heavily into the online poker scene at this time so I was pretty interested in a "nearly free", no fee, anonymous digital currency. We exchanged numbers. He told me to download the "Bitcoin-Qt" wallet thing. So I did.
He told me send him the weird number called the "address". I did.
Next thing I know I had a balloon pop up in my window and had a balance of 50.
I had no idea what that meant. Could I use it for online poker? I tried.
Didnt work immediately. So I went and checked this thing out, found faucets and entered my address in them.
For the next 2 weeks I took surveys, I wrote posts... I did everything I could to get more "bitcoin"
I dont know how much I had by the time I was done. I was simultaneously playing poker and was more focused on it, as I saw bitcoin as a scam.
I put it all aside for a couple years. Forgot all about it. Until the this big bitcoin rush. I tried to boot up the machine and got a dead hard drive in return. I dont know if it's permanently dead, I dont know where to take it, or who to trust to get my wallet off of it.
I just live and act like it doesnt exist, and is already gone. I maybe I'll retrieve it some day, probably not..!
Excellent write!