I decided to write "Hoarding Bitcoin" into a complete and timeless series, and this article is the preface.
The National Day of 2018 was sunny and refreshing. I like autumn in Beijing the most. It was a good day for outdoor activities, so I got up early. But I decided to stay at home and write something.
Recently, I have spent all my spare time writing the "Hoard Bitcoin" series.
When writing, one naturally hopes that someone will read it. Fortunately, the “Hoarding Bitcoin” series does have readers. We are really different from four years ago, when the articles I wrote received at most three or five comments.
Of course, I can’t just write because someone is willing to read it. There are many 100,000+ garbage articles, and I don’t want to create more garbage for the world. I must have real and practical stuff to share. Fortunately, I do have it. When it comes to the topic of hoarding Bitcoin, my thoughts flow.
I haven't written about Bitcoin for a long time. By chance, I wrote a reminiscence article "Four years a cycle, not only the World Cup, but also Bitcoin", which actually received 250,000 views (I think the Weibo data is exaggerated). I didn't do any promotion, and this number of views was far beyond my expectations. On the surface, it seems that the current bear market is the same as it was four years ago, but the situation may really be different from four years ago, at least the attention is incomparable.
Recently, I spent some time paying attention to the dynamics in the Bitcoin circle again, and I felt that there was a huge difference from that year.
Let’s start with the cryptocurrency media. Although there are a lot of public accounts, all of them publish useless content. For many articles, you can tell at a glance that the author is a novice, knows nothing, and talks nonsense. Others either analyze the market, saying that the price of the currency will either go up or down tomorrow, or go sideways; or they promote the currency, saying that if you missed Bitcoin, you can’t miss ABCDEFG again. It’s all the same routine.
Wouldn't it make you stupid to read this? Where did all those early Bitcoin players go? Can't anyone write something useful for us?
Looking around, everyone is either busy issuing coins or busy promoting coins. Those with conscience will tell you that they are still optimistic about Bitcoin. Those without conscience basically don't mention Bitcoin at all, and all they promote are all kinds of garbage.
Any traffic entrance, whether it is the media, exchange, or so-called wallet, is issuing coins.
Authors can no longer write conscientiously, as they are just selling soft articles; media can no longer produce news conscientiously, as they are just selling platform fees; exchanges can no longer provide transactions conscientiously, as they are just selling listing fees.
Of course, being able to raise money is a skill. But what I find strange is that no one still remembers the original feelings?
Okay, I was wrong. Feelings really can’t be used to make a living.
In the Chinese Bitcoin circle, we not only lack programmers and core developers who are willing to maintain Bitcoin, but we also lack evangelists and soul figures like Andreas M. Antonopoulos.
Of course, I also need to reflect on myself. Although Bitcoin has brought me huge economic returns, I have not done many meaningful things for it.
I always want to wait for others to take the lead.
Because I know I can't be someone like Andreas M. Antonopoulos. All my income does not come from the circle, I still need to make more money and store more coins. Bitcoin is not my main business, I have other dreams to realize, and realizing that dream requires not only a lot of money, but also the technical reserves in many fields.
But if I don't stand up and try, will there be another person who will stand up? Although I know there are many people who are more suitable for this than me, I can't see any signs of anyone standing up.
At the same time, I used to be skeptical. Is it meaningful for me to speak out? From a big picture perspective, the outcome of many things is predetermined. I know that many people will lose everything. This has been happening for the past four years, and many people have left with tears and blood. Whether I write or not, it will not affect the development of things. Yes, I am actually a little numb.
But at the same time, I am also optimistic, because after a bear market, when all the monsters and demons are dead, a new spring will surely come. Whether I write or not, Bitcoin will develop on its own, at a high speed.
You see, the ending is predetermined, and I should do nothing and wait patiently.
However, sometimes I feel sad. The overall development never cares about the life and death of individuals. With thousands of people losing their fortunes, Bitcoin is still developing at a high speed. This is cruel.
What if what I wrote could save 3-5 people? Although it would not be meaningful to the whole world, it might save someone’s life.
Well, even if it saves just one person, it’s good. This is why I decided to write “Hoard Bitcoin”.
What I write is either what I have always believed in or what I have experienced personally. It is the experience and thinking I want to share, and it is also all the feelings I have for Bitcoin.
At first I thought I would only need to write a few articles, but later I found that I could write more and more. I have completed 6 articles, which constitute the first part: Getting Started, which aims to help everyone get started.
"Bitcoin and Idealism" We are participating in a social experiment. There is a possibility of failure, but we have no regrets.
"Getting off too early is only because the vision is too small" The goal of this experiment is big. If everything goes well, the price of Bitcoin may rise to 160 million yuan in 20 years.
"Hoarding Bitcoin: How far are you from financial freedom?" We have no other ability but to hoard Bitcoin and patiently wait for our own financial freedom.
"Hoarding Bitcoin: Impulsiveness, Loneliness, Boredom and Contradiction" Although we will experience psychological tests such as impulse, loneliness, boredom and contradiction, we are ready to hoard coins.
"Hoarding Bitcoin: The Pleasure of Holding Private Keys" Although it is a bit troublesome to hold private keys, we are still prepared to be responsible for ourselves.
《Hoarding Bitcoin: How to manage private keys?》Managing private keys is actually not as troublesome as imagined, but we need to grasp several principles.
The entry criteria for hoarding Bitcoin are: clarifying the goal of Bitcoin, being willing to participate in experiments, voluntarily taking risks, and starting to use Bitcoin to store value, mastering the Bitcoin private key, and performing cold storage.
I made a list of the following content and found that I could write about 10 more. Considering that new ideas can be generated during the writing process and people keep asking me questions, there will be more content.
Hoarding Bitcoin is definitely not an easy thing. It is not difficult to know, but it is not easy to do. That is why I have so much content to write.
My goal is to write classics that never go out of style. Therefore, I try to write about things that are not related to current events. The more popular the event, the less I will write about it. I hope that many years later, when you pick up my article again, you will still think it is not outdated and be willing to share it with newcomers at that time.
Writing is not an easy thing. It is not difficult to know, but it is not easy to do. I hope I can finish this work.
I wish you all a happy National Day!
2018-10-01
This article is excerpted from AHR999 (Jiu Shen)'s "Hoarding Bitcoin" series
