In 2011, I was still working at the construction site, day after day, boring and tedious.
I asked China Unicom to pull an optical fiber for the project department. Since the distance was over 500 meters, in order to overcome the difficulty, the master sent two Nanjing cables. It was this 12Mbps network cable that gave my colleagues more fun. They surfed the Internet in their spare time, slacked off when they were busy, checked the specifications and watched movies. It broadened their horizons and was inspired. The computers in the project department also had a new life, because before this, the computers in the unit had never been connected to the Internet.
One day, a colleague said he saw something called "Bitcoin" on the Internet, which can be mined with a computer and has great potential for appreciation in the future. He asked me if I knew about it and if I could try it. My colleague is an electrical foreman, born in the 1970s, and I was surprised that he asked such a novel question.
I said: "I've heard of it, but I've never tried it. I might as well give it a try."
I downloaded the mining program and wallet according to the online tutorial. Soon, the mining program was running on the computer. At that time, I used a Thinkpad x200 with a p8600 processor, and the office computer was also an old desktop computer. Although I got free electricity from the unit, I had to give up mining because the computer performance was too poor and the coin price was too low.
At that time, I was not well-informed and did not know about graphics card mining. Since I was not optimistic about the future of Bitcoin, even if I knew about it, I would not buy a computer for mining. It would be better to buy it directly than to mine it myself, which would save trouble and pain. At that time, I also tried my best to persuade my colleagues not to do this thing, because it is unreliable because it cannot be touched or seen.
In 2012, my boss cheated me, so I quit my job and went back to my hometown. I started a small business there, and I accidentally saw that Bitcoin was slowly increasing in price, and gradually gaining more recognition. I thought about it in my spare time, things are valuable because they are rare. This thing is limited in quantity, so it must have value.
I have a serious hoarding disorder and started hoarding coins from that day, spending almost all my income. I didn’t dare tell anyone at the time, for fear of being laughed at if the market crashed.
At that time, most people around me didn’t know about virtual currency. I bought coins on LocalBitcoins and paid the seller directly with Alipay. There were no tricks, risk control, or card freezing issues. Later, the price fluctuations on the exchange gradually increased, but on average I could accumulate a few coins a month, and that lasted until 2016.
I never sold any of the coins I hoarded. I just remember that whenever I had around 200 yuan in cash, I would buy coins. Even in the cold winter, I couldn’t help riding my motorcycle to the town’s ATM to deposit money. I became more and more addicted. I sold a lot of the copper wires and various imported tools I hoarded before, and then used them to hoard coins.
During those years, I hardly had any money in my bank card. I deposited money through ATM machines without a card and bought coins directly. But as the price of coins went up, I kept less and less.
By 2017, I had already hoarded more than 60 coins. Because I had twins that year, my living expenses gradually increased, and the price of coins was getting higher and higher. Basically, I never bought coins again. For the first time, I wanted to sell some coins to supplement my life.
By 2020, the epidemic had left me with no income, but the price of the coin had reached more than $10,000 per coin.
As the price continued to rise, I was fearless. At that time, I had no financial knowledge or financial management concepts. It was a strange feeling. The more it rose, the less I sold it. I was reluctant to sell it. Sometimes when I needed money urgently, I would borrow some from others to deal with it, but I was reluctant to sell the coins.
I have used my Moto X for several years. I can’t bear to replace it even if the screen is broken, and I can’t bear to buy clothes. In recent years, my friends have all driven cars, but I still ride a broken Yamaha. It is difficult not to drift. The only pastime is to take a look at my wallet. I feel so happy in my heart, and I keep thinking that I am thrifty. As long as I don’t do business or investment, I will probably never spend all my money until I die.
During this period, friends asked me if they could buy some coins and hoard them for appreciation. I always advised them not to hoard them, because things that cannot be touched or seen are unreliable!
There are several important factors that allowed me to save up. The most important one is that I started early. The first few I bought were only a few hundred yuan each. I have a serious hoarding disorder. I like to hoard all kinds of things. I can save money, but I can’t save Bitcoin. I didn’t think about how high it could rise. Another thing is to have a stable income so that you won’t worry about cashing out.
In 2021, the price of Bitcoin has reached more than 40,000. I didn’t think that Bitcoin would fall. During this period, I did nothing. I was in a trance all day long, drinking wine all day long. Even though I had more than 60 cookies in my wallet, I still loved 750ml Red Star Erguotou.
This has been a chaotic year. Whenever there is any sign of the epidemic, my place is put under lockdown and I couldn’t even have a good Spring Festival.
March 5th is a day I will never forget. I was lying on the bed playing with my phone, my eyes were blurry, I felt nauseous and weak, and suddenly I felt that life was meaningless, with an inexplicable sense of loss and depression. I suddenly realized that it was useless to have money if I didn't spend it. I planned to sell a few pancakes to buy a Mercedes-Benz. The young model club could cure all diseases, so I slowly opened the wallet app, and at this moment there was a rapid knock on the door. Hey, don't wake up to do the nucleic acid test!
