Thread by @MiguelCuneta

Thoughts from a #Bitcoin Bull-Bear-Bull-Bear-Bull market survivor:

I discovered Bitcoin in 2013, it was $30. Bought my first few at around $150 later that year. Bought a lot, spent a lot, made money, lost money, started a company, and learned a lot of lessons along the way.

Lesson 1: Stop thinking it’s too late. We haven’t even seen the tip of the iceberg. Even in 2013, people would say "Those that bought in 2012 were so lucky, we are too late." You wish you bought when it was cheap, but would you? Probably not. Why didn’t you buy more at $3K?

Lesson 2: Stop thinking about the 50 BTC you lost on satoshi dice, or the 5 BTC for that bag of herb that you smoked. It’s gone. Stop thinking you should have sold at $20K and bought back in at $3K instead of hodling all the way down and capitulating “to buy at $1.8K”. ---

--- In short, stop fantasizing about what you could have done in the past and start thinking about today and the future. This is the mindset you should have:

“What should I do today so that tomorrow, I won’t regret yesterday?”

"Buy #Bitcoin" is the right answer, by the way.

Lesson 3: Building things will require a lot of sacrifice. I would have way more BTC if I didn't start a #Bitcoin startup in the Philippines back in 2014. Five years in this industry feels like 50, and we are still grinding today. I know many people who have the same experience-

- those who would be wealthier and more relaxed today had they just bought Bitcoin and Hodled instead of building stuff. But at the end of the day, you can still accumulate AND build. Again, it is not too late, even at this stage. Stack sats while building stuff!

Lesson 4: #Bitcoin will keep surprising us. Don’t believe people who tell you they know what will happen. When you think it is time to sell because you’ll be able to buy cheaper later, it will break out and up. When you think we will “never see X price again” we'll see it again.

Lesson 5: Bitcoin is a remarkable phenomenon, a once in a generation opportunity. Anyone that tells you otherwise is either ignorant or trying to deceive you. This network has gone through the most crucial tests of pressure and time that make it anti-fragile. -

- Pressure and time, that’s really all it takes. Everything else will be built around this bedrock foundation.

Lesson 6: Mass adoption is a myth. Bitcoin doesn’t need "mass adoption". More like, mass adoption needs Bitcoin. It only needs a small % of the world’s wealth to “get there”. Bitcoin makes no promises other than to reliably and consistently create new publicly verifiable blocks-

- of immutable transactions every ten minutes. This is all it needs to keep doing consistently and securely for its value to increase exponentially over time. Everything else is gravy.

Lesson 7: We still have at least another decade of this crazy rollercoaster ride before Bitcoin starts to get even slightly boring. Just strap in and enjoy it.

Lesson 8: Make some friends along the way. Make enemies too! I’ve made lifelong connections and relationships in the last 6 years in this industry. I have had a dedicated Buttcoiner hate group too. And like I keep saying, we’ve only just begun. -

- A lot of the people you meet today will be playing huge roles in this industry in the near future. You’ll be in good company when the time comes. At the end of the day, life is all about the relationships you make along the way. Make sure they're meaningful ones.

Lesson 9: Do watch out for snakes and wolves disguised as people. Been scammed, lied to, stolen from, used, abused, harassed, you name it. There are a lot of bad actors out there, hiding behind smiling faces. They want what's yours and will go through great lengths to get it. -

- Don't let anyone tell you different. These people will stab you in the back, slit your throat, take everything, and leave you out in the alley talking to yourself about what the fuck just happened. If you don't believe me, then you're the lamb that's going off to the slaughter.

Lesson 10: Take it easy. It’s easy to get caught up in all the hype, to want all that attention. It’s easy to get lost in the confidence of a bull market and the despair of a bear market. Step back and try to gain the peace of a lofty perspective. -

"When you’ve been in the #Bitcoin game for a while, you gain a certain peace. A relaxed comfort. Eyes open, ears open, radar up. Absorbing every message. Taking everything as it comes. Not mixing what they really are with what you want them to be. It's like an aerial view." -

- "A view from above the myriad luck-dependent reactions of those who never gain such a peace. And when you gain that view, that peace - when you'd rather have the truth, no matter how disappointing, over a false hope, no matter how desirable - then you are a Hodler." -

- "What you're holding slips into a stream of millions of others, none of which, because of your lofty view, seems unduly important, so no fearful emotions rise within you. When you gain the peace of a lofty perspective, you're a hodler, and when you're a hodler, you're free."

(That last dramatic bit was Inspired by/stolen from “King of a Small World”, by Rick Bennet)

Fin.