My accidental personal crypto curriculum
I can’t remember exactly where I found the first article I read about Bitcoin. Perhaps, I was in the City of Balanga at that time. It was around 8 in the evening. I was in a computer shop reviewing my Philippine stocks investments. I was rushing to finish all the stuff I had to do online before the last bus bound to Bagac, a remote town, leaves the station. That was late 2015.
I knew I had to go home but I couldn’t resist to read an article posted on one Facebook traders group. It was about Bitcoin, which I guessed I heard before. I don’t remember the content of that article now — it must have been very technical because I did not get it, but it might have been good enough to make me attempt to buy my first Bitcoin in January 2016. BTC was around $400 at that time.
So I opened an account at Coinbase. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to use it. Some overseas friend asked me how he could send money cheaply to the Philippines, and I sent him a link to a Bitcoin-based remittance service, which I was very excited about. I did not use that either. Another guy sent me ₱3,000 through Coins.ph — that was my chance! But my phone stopped working, then I changed location, business projects came, debts piled up, and stupid hot girls and pussy-chasing pals took my attention away from investing.
I started a side gig which earned good money, but barely enough to fund my grand personal projects, so I worked part-time in a respectable school whose blasphemous young owner tried to prostitute me. Perhaps, employment isn’t really for me. Did business again, and again, but every time I try to get other people involved in it, things often turn from sweet to sour.
Investing probably is the right thing for me. So I went back to my online brokerage accounts and studied how to trade systematically. The result was 2017 had been my worst year in stock trading. The glorious Philippine equity market boom had passed, and the ground was infested with company insiders and deceptive gurus with blind followers. Pump-and-dumps happened every trading day.
Someone asked me about Bitcoin. I told him I knew it but I realized I couldn’t explain much about it. So I went back in front of my monitor and started reading again. That was September 2017, and Bitcoin was around $4,000 — up 1,000% in 20 months.
It was clear to me that something was brewing up in the crypto space. But due to institutional influence, the public was seeing it as scam (which may be true depending on definition). There were few resources to learn how to participate in the promising market. I studied everything I could get my hands on. I left all my other plans and spent weeks locked up in my room reading blogs after blogs, forums after forums, watching videos, signing up to so many services and putting the least amount I could afford into several projects, many of which turned out to be scam.
Now, I can share with you the best materials I’d devoured which turned me into the crypto trader that I am now. Yeah, I’ve not been in this space for so long but I’m always learning something new everyday. Hopefully, they will do to you what they did to me. So let’s get started!
What is Bitcoin? (9 min)
What is Blockchain? (10 min + 19 min)
How did Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies came to be? (13+ minutes)
Why Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies’ prices keep rising?
The best article I’ve read about this subject is a blog post written by Adam Ludwin, A Letter to Jamie Dimon: And anyone else still struggling to understand cryptocurrencies.
Why do people consider Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies a revolution?
The enlightened feminist Wendel McElroy has interesting analogies to share in her book, The Satoshi Revolution.
Why is Bitcoin eventual? (2 min)
What’s the future of Bitcoin?
Should I invest in crypto assets? (2 min)
In which industries should I invest in?
World Economic Forum gives us a good list of which emerging technologies could potentially disrupt the world in the near future. A lot of money can be made out of a disruption if you get in early.
What is the best technique in crypto trading?
The best text I’ve read about the subject is a Bitcointalk forum post by a drunk guy named GameKyuubi, who coined the term “HODL”.
Which crypto assets should I HODL?
The best article I’ve read about this is from Daniel Jeffries, Mastering Shitcoins: The Poor Man’s Guide to Getting Crypto Rich.
This list is not yet finished. It will be updated continually as I encounter more interesting and enlightening resources about crypto assets, trading and crypto in general. So stay here.
Check out my other contents: An ordinary Pinoy’s guide to trading cryptos | How to save on Bitcoin and altcoin transfer fees | Track your crypto investments using Google Sheets
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