The Crypto Ship in the Night

If you’re not careful, it’ll pass you, and you won’t even know it.

Lance Einerson

Published in

Coinmonks

4 min readSep 1, 2021

Photo by Maximilian Weisbecker on Unsplash

I missed the crypto boat multiple times before getting on.

The first time was when bitcoin was about 100$…

Yeah, I’ve been kicking myself for that one for quite a while.

Here’s how it happened.

I disdain politicians. I believe career politicians are the conduit of corruption in western societies. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.

My personal views lean libertarian, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I like Rand Paul.

While he was campaigning, I saw an ad that mentioned that he accepted bitcoin for political donations. I’ve never contributed to a political party or a politician, but the bitcoin symbol caught my eye.

So I dove down the crypto rabbit hole for a few days and learned what I could. Mind you, this was almost 10 years ago, so learning anything about cryptocurrencies wasn’t nearly as easy as it is now.

In fact, most of what I found had to do with either the Silk Road and the dark web. We all know what happened with the Silk Road and that the dark web is filled with… let’s say, less than savory things and people.

This is where most people at the time stopped looking. They assumed that bitcoin was digital money for criminals, and they wanted nothing to do with it.

I was intrigued.

Like I said before, I’m pretty libertarian-minded, which ultimately boils down to pushing against authority whenever and wherever possible. Having digital assets that I could buy things with without government intrusion seemed like a good start.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not an anarchist. I wasn’t looking to amass a digital fortune just to watch the world burn. Sticking it to the man just happens to be my Modus Operandi.

I had made up my mind. I was going to start investing in bitcoin.

Making up my mind and actually doing it turned out to be very different things.

If you think the crypto world looks like the wild west today, you should’ve seen it a decade ago.

I don’t remember which exchanges I tried at the time, but I do remember that every one of them was shady AF. None of them looked like they could actually protect anyone’s privacy, and FYI they didn’t. I remember wondering what the hell I was thinking trying to buy this intangible digital asset, the preferred tender of criminals, and giving out my personal information and my credit card number to a website that looked like it was drawn on the back of a napkin by a 9-year-old.

So I bailed.

I got spooked.

In my defense, I had recently opened a CrossFit gym and was going to school full time. My wife and I were legitimately broke, and we had two young children. The 100–200$ I was planning on spending on bitcoin would’ve likely been pretty painful for us at the time.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve kept an eye on the crypto world. Every few months, I would check prices and explore a few rabbit holes. Every time I emerged from one of these proverbial journies, I felt like the scales were falling from my eyes. I would say, “When you get your next paycheck set aside a little bit and get your feet wet.”

Then something would come up.

Grad school, medical bills, student loans, kid’s birthdays/activities, etc.

About 10 months ago, I just said F it! I’m not doing this anymore. I’ve missed out on significant opportunities because I’ve always had an excuse or some shiny side project to chase.

I’m not doing that anymore.

I’m treating these investments like a mortgage or an electric bill. They are an expense that will come before other less important things, even if that means adjusting my lifestyle.

So far, it’s been pretty incredible.

There are highs and lows, but those 10 years of dabbling, maturing, and finding really great sources of information have led me to a place I’m excited about.

I’ll be documenting my experience with crypto here on medium regularly.

I will share my wins and losses, strategies, and any relevant sources of information I believe are helpful.

I’m a crypto nobody.

I’m just a normal dude with a wife, kids, some dogs, and a propensity to go against the grain, and this is my story.

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Also, Read

The Crypto Ship in the Night

If you’re not careful, it’ll pass you, and you won’t even know it.

Written by Lance Einerson