Hello friends, please stick with me as I have never written an article before...
I was directed to this platform after my "coming out" post over on r/btc (https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/g3qw8z/100_invested_in_bch_now/)
That post describes my journey from chasing quick gains to being only interested in and invested in Bitcoin Cash.
The 2017 Bull Run
Like a lot of you I bet, I first discovered Bitcoin when I heard about the crazy price rises through the media and thought to myself "I want some of that!".
I made myself a Coinbase account within days and bought some BTC out of pure fomo and then a few days later I bought some LTC because that seemed cheap right?
I started following twitter conversations and I didn't hear about any scaling debates and the merits and drawbacks of the big block arguments, just that Bitcoin was Gold, Litecoin was silver and "Bcash" was Roger Ver trying to scam people so I thought I best avoid that then.
Looking back the amount of abuse Bitcoin Cash was taking was alarming, I didn't see any other projects being attacked like this which can only mean the communities attacking Bitcoin Cash were threatened by it!
Anyway I still didn't look too much into Bitcoin Cash and around November/December of that year I started seeing projects dubbed the next Ethereum all over the place and so started throwing money at projects on nothing but a twitter post.
This was bringing out the very worst in my gambling tendencies but I was caught up in it and chasing that big return!
Annnndddddd it's Gone (2018)
Looking back of course this was unsustainable price rises and my money in $ terms collapsed maybe 20x? I had BTC, LTC, NEO and a bunch of tokens on NEO and Ethereum...
I had two choices now, start learning about cryptocurrency or cut my losses and admit defeat.
The Light Bulb Moment
I started reading everything I could find and all the original Bitcoin talks really inspired me. I started seeing how a better World is possible by sounder money, money detached from Governments.
This is when I discovered Bitcoin Cash, that feeling I had when I watched old Bitcoin talks and documentaries was there when I dipped into the BCH community whereas the BTC community only seemed interested in talking about how they can cash out and buy consumerist bs!
When I read into Bitcoin Cash I could not believe how this was the Bitcoin and vision that was inspiring me and how this was not a new project at all.
Bitcoin Cash only came about because the original people in Bitcoin didn't stop fighting for that vision of a better World!
Some people (Andreas cough, cough) pretend to want to bring about a fairer financial World however they fail to acknowledge the fact that the fee market due to BTC's blocksize excludes the majority of the people on the planet!?
How can people say one thing but actively work towards something completely different?
Then I realised, money corrupts. Most the people who are vocal are only protecting their bags! They are too financially invested in BTC now to admit they were wrong back in 2017.
A lot of people would have sold their BCH straight at the fork listening to economic idiots like Charlie Lee, The Blockstream elite, Tony Vays etc. People can pretend not to be motivated by money but that is 100% the reason they champion BTC today. Also, a lot of new people will have bought into BTC not knowing anything like I didn't but won't have the desire or want maybe to look into this further and so just start hurling the same lame, ill informed slurs at Bitcoin Cash and the community.
Austrian Economics
Probably the best thing that has came about from my journey into Bitcoin Cash is my interest and appreciation for Austrian economics.
Reading the works of people like Rothbard and Mises has helped me realise how sound MONEY is the only way forward.
Bitcoin Cash is the only project with the means, resources and visions to bring about global peer to peer electronic CASH to the World. If any of these greats were around now I am sure they would be writing on read.cash and r/btc like the rest of us!
I have noticed it seems vogue for a lot of the BTC community to reference Austrian economics and claim BTC is a store of value and start misquoting books, now either I and many others have misread these works or most in the BTC camp hasn't actually looked into this for themselves and just listen to the angry Saifedean Ammous who is apparently an Austrian economist and knows his stuff...
For anyone to think the BTC narrative stands up I implore them to read some of the books that have now had a big impact on me:
Carl Menger - The Origins of Money
Henry Hazlitt - Economics in One Lesson
Murray Rothbard - What has Government Done to our Money
These are a good starting point for anyone with a small interest in Austrian economics and discovering the arguments for a sound money.
The Future
Looking forward I am so excited to be fully invested in Bitcoin Cash, I do not necessarily mean from a financial point of view, I mean from an ideological point of view. Now that I know the vision and the NEED for Bitcoin Cash to exist I do not get worried when I see a 15% drop over 24 hours as I have a low time preference with this investment.
In terms of financially I got pretty wrecked in 2017 and so my investments are buying when I can increasing my holdings but most enjoyably spending my Bitcoin Cash when I can too.
The fundraising donations right now have also got me very excited, yes I have seen arguments between a few people but I know people are coming from a good place and only want to see us succeed.
I have donated to 3 of the 5 flipstarter campaigns and really hope I see all of them fully funded and that money go to building better infrastructure and tools for the community and project to succeed.
To Summarise...
This is my first article of any type and my only motivation is that someone who maybe comes in the way I did back in 2017 discovers this before getting caught up in either too much BTC maxi propoganda or before they get too excited at the latest shilled project.
My three years in the space led me to Bitcoin Cash and although maybe my purchasing power of BTC when I was going crazy is down I have never felt more settled and excited in something as I am with Bitcoin Cash.
To everyone who has contributed big or small to helping Bitcoin Cash come around back in 2017 then I thank you as you guys kept the vision going for people like me to believe in.
Awesome