08-08-2022, 03:31 AM
It is a logical fallacy to tell yourself, "I should have bought bitcoin in 2009/2010
<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I don't want to sit here and sound like an armchair detective or expert or anything like that, but bitcoin's first four years of life were just as problematic as some of the hacks that we've seen taking place on this subreddit for newer coins in recent weeks. </p> <p>I remember when I first started buying bitcoin in mid 2017. I knew nothing about the technology. I was drawn in by price performance. However, after I started buying, I started paying more attention to crypto-related subreddits and realized, "Oh, so this is what makes it worthwhile to buy bitcoin. There's a hard cap, no one can confiscate it, and I can take it with me cross-borders ezpz. But I gotta get it off of my exchange to keep it safe!" </p> <p>I would say the above is what drew in a lot of us to bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general - price performance without consideration of safe storage or the fundamentals and how to store it. </p> <p>Now let's talk about where you could buy back then: Bit-instant (shut down, defunct), Mt Gox (shut down and defunct), Coinbase back then started with a 5-man-team in July 2012 and had so many technical issues that, at one point, Brian Armstrong got into bed in a fetal position and broke-down crying for about 5 minutes. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBPTFlpv31k">He talked about it in this interview</a>. Back then you might have possibly gotten the vibe that it isn't a safe place to buy bitcoin, because at one point there was an issue that showed wrong user balances. </p> <p>So with those last two paragraphs in mind, the general idea is, "I think there would've been a lot more people that only knew how to buy bitcoin and (possibly) not even consider withdrawing it." I <em>suppose</em> it would've been possible to use paypal with a bitcoin miner to purchase some bitcoin via an OTC (over the counter) method, but I can't say for sure because -at some point that I am unsure of- paypal started banning users for OTC trading bitcoin on Paypal. I tried google searching "When did paypal ban users for buying bitcoin." just now, but all results turn up a few recent cases from 2020, and nothing with regards to the 2009-2012 era, so I can't say for sure whether or not it would've been doable. And, if you read the book, <em>Bitcoin Billionaires</em>, you would know about bit instant and how it was shut down for failing to comply with AML/KYC standards and its CEO was jailed at one point. </p> <p>I hope that if you read this and if you ever beat yourself up for not buying back then, you've learned something new that puts your mind at rest.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sgtslaughterTV"> /u/sgtslaughterTV </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/winrcv/it_is_a_logical_fallacy_to_tell_yourself_i_should/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/winrcv/it_is_a_logical_fallacy_to_tell_yourself_i_should/">[comments]</a></span>
<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I don't want to sit here and sound like an armchair detective or expert or anything like that, but bitcoin's first four years of life were just as problematic as some of the hacks that we've seen taking place on this subreddit for newer coins in recent weeks. </p> <p>I remember when I first started buying bitcoin in mid 2017. I knew nothing about the technology. I was drawn in by price performance. However, after I started buying, I started paying more attention to crypto-related subreddits and realized, "Oh, so this is what makes it worthwhile to buy bitcoin. There's a hard cap, no one can confiscate it, and I can take it with me cross-borders ezpz. But I gotta get it off of my exchange to keep it safe!" </p> <p>I would say the above is what drew in a lot of us to bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general - price performance without consideration of safe storage or the fundamentals and how to store it. </p> <p>Now let's talk about where you could buy back then: Bit-instant (shut down, defunct), Mt Gox (shut down and defunct), Coinbase back then started with a 5-man-team in July 2012 and had so many technical issues that, at one point, Brian Armstrong got into bed in a fetal position and broke-down crying for about 5 minutes. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBPTFlpv31k">He talked about it in this interview</a>. Back then you might have possibly gotten the vibe that it isn't a safe place to buy bitcoin, because at one point there was an issue that showed wrong user balances. </p> <p>So with those last two paragraphs in mind, the general idea is, "I think there would've been a lot more people that only knew how to buy bitcoin and (possibly) not even consider withdrawing it." I <em>suppose</em> it would've been possible to use paypal with a bitcoin miner to purchase some bitcoin via an OTC (over the counter) method, but I can't say for sure because -at some point that I am unsure of- paypal started banning users for OTC trading bitcoin on Paypal. I tried google searching "When did paypal ban users for buying bitcoin." just now, but all results turn up a few recent cases from 2020, and nothing with regards to the 2009-2012 era, so I can't say for sure whether or not it would've been doable. And, if you read the book, <em>Bitcoin Billionaires</em>, you would know about bit instant and how it was shut down for failing to comply with AML/KYC standards and its CEO was jailed at one point. </p> <p>I hope that if you read this and if you ever beat yourself up for not buying back then, you've learned something new that puts your mind at rest.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sgtslaughterTV"> /u/sgtslaughterTV </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/winrcv/it_is_a_logical_fallacy_to_tell_yourself_i_should/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/winrcv/it_is_a_logical_fallacy_to_tell_yourself_i_should/">[comments]</a></span>