Faces of Crypto: Joe Blackburn
The cryptocurrency world has sparked large online and offline communities of early adopters fascinated by the potential of blockchain technology. Many investors come from non-traditional backgrounds and have reinvented themselves, found friends, and even become household names within certain circles. Crypto enthusiasts come from all corners of the globe, from all walks of life.
Over the next few weeks, Stayawhile will give members of the community the opportunity to share their stories in their own words.
To start off our series, we spoke with Joe Blackburn, a 32 year old Mississippi native who spends his days working at an Exxon-Mobil plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. By day, he works as a loading operator, arranging the shipment of hazardous chemicals. When he’s not at the plant, he runs one of the largest Facebook groups for the crypto-trading community. His group, Crypto Coin Trader, has over 36,000 members.
How did you get into crypto?
Last February, I landed my dream job, after two years of hoping it would happen. I had four weeks off between changing jobs, and that’s when I fell in love with crypto, right before the Ethereum run. I started the job, but every day, I thought to myself, “I’m losing money being at work!”
Tell us more about the Facebook group.
I started it this past April with five of my friends. We call ourselves “The Hit Squad” because we all dreamed big, but now that we’re successful, our dreams don’t seem so big or so huge any more. They seem attainable. We started our group because we were discouraged by the other crypto communities that we’d found. Everybody said they were trying to escape corrupt government banking systems, but these same people seemed to be corrupt in their own way.
What makes CCT different?
I wanted to build a community. I’m a southern boy, I’m from the south where there are small towns and small town values. What I believe makes us different is community and family, the accountability and the small-town feel, and I carry that over to my relationships in CCT.
I spent 7 years in the military, and I love personal relationships. I make an effort to answer every message that I’m sent (unless they’re clearly spam.) It’s who I am.
When we review our members, we want to know are you here for personal gain? Because if so, we don’t want you. Do you want to see the betterment of crypto? People who bought into that wanted to join.
Who are the group’s admins?
I created the page, but i immediately included three of my best friends: Nate Flanders, Justin Hart, and Ben Barlow. We added Jedidiah Taylor. He just launched his own ICO, Decent.bet.
I picked them because they started with me. I consider it our group, not just mine. I’m the more outspoken one. I do the videos and the interviews. We all started out with very little crypto.
Revv Nissan was an automatic moderator. He’s only 26 years old, but he’s my mentor. He has a huge social media presence.
Now CCT is so big. What next?
Since it’s grown so big, it’s harder to reign it in. We police the group very intently. I set very strict guidelines, and we decline as many people as we approve. When we reached 20,000 members, we worried that things would get out of hand. But they haven’t.
CCT has grown so successful that people have asked to buy it — even offered to pay six-digit numbers, but I would never sell. CCT is my baby. It’s my favorite thing in the world, and it’s not about money.
Will you ever crypto trade full time?
My job is a very mentally stressful job, but I love it. I don’t do it because I have to work, but this job is my dream. Now that I finally got it, I want to keep it. I’m not prepared to make the commitment to go crypto full time. I have crypto and love crypto, but I’m not a multi-milllionaire where I can sit on my stack.
What do you do when you’re not trading crypto?
Crypto takes up a lot of my time, but I also like to hunt and fish. I’m the father of a 20-month daughter and my wife Marianna. She’s not an active trader but she holds crypto. My favorite thing to do is spend time with my daughter. I’m not some bigwig, not some huge crypto superstar. I’m just your average normal, everyday guy who has unique abilities to do this better than other people. I want to maintain that humility.
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