Somewhere along the thread I got the impression that the OP bought his BTC for $450.  Although I just checked bitcoincharts.com and it says the price was around $800 in February, so I think it was a bit more expensive than that.  Yes, you're right, it would have gotten me a little over an extra bitcoin had I waited.

This is why im not going to miss the ethereum bus! I will buy some ether.

I generally sit down to write about something because it has somewhat of a therapeutic effect. You know, the whole 'get the demons out' thing. Well, I'm not sitting down. I'm reclining in boxer briefs in a newly bought house and my daughter is offering to shove some green play-doh in my nose in between the plot points of "My life as a teenage robot".

We bought the house through really careful saving over three years, mainly, and a couple well-timed promotions, which got our earning potential high enough for a decent mortgage.

Great. House, car, decent job, health, some money in the bank. Some money in the bank. Some money in the bank.


I first learned about bitcoin in 2011 off metafilter. It piqued my interest because I had argued with a thesis advisor for a couple years starting in 2006 that virtual currencies and properties were just as salient as our real life ones and to the extent that they could be made limited, just as valuable. Anyway, I had little money in 2011, and I didn't quite fully understand the problem that the blockchain solved.

Fast forward to March 2012. I had just gotten married and had a bit of cash. Again, I hear about bitcoin on mefi and it's now at $70.00 or something (this recollection may be inaccurate). I had enough then to have 700 BTC now if I had thrown my weight at it--and I was seriously contemplating doing it (I still remember the pause I had when I was opening my car door before I went to work, mulling it over in my head from the night before: if I lost that much I would be a fool, wouldn't I?)

I didn't do it.

December of 2013 rolled around and now I knew I was a fool. My heart pounded. I had missed my shot.

No, I hadn't.

I started buying in February all the way through the downtrend.

Then, I got into mining: a large group buy investment, script asics since the beginning (dual miner, grid seed, g blade, black widow, thunder, a train where each engine you add slows you down).

All told I have probably thrown 11k (maybe more) or so at BTC in varying ways and I have about 6.5BTC to show for it. It depresses me when I really think about it. But, here I am in my boxer briefs in my new house all the same (they're black btw). I guess there is some solace in being in your underwear in a house you own.

I am trying to turn this into a positive any way that I can, demons out notwithstanding.

Thanks for the read.

This is a difficult decision, and is the nature of a highly volatile currency that will eventually be deflationary in nature.

Is a great vacation with your family this year, worth more to you than multiple great vacations with your family in the future?

Look it is a learning curve. I'm sure you are not the only one who had to live thru it and lost a ton off K.
I myself was scammed and scammed again, even my mining efforts came out to be negative.
The advantage now is that I have the right experience to take on something different... within the BTC world of course.

Best of luck to you.

You still have significantly less loss than me (not to mention all the time and worry--setting up miners, shipping, waiting, pools, etc.)

This is a difficult decision, and is the nature of a highly volatile currency that will eventually be deflationary in nature.

Is a great vacation with your family this year, worth more to you than multiple great vacations with your family in the future?