Tales from the Crypt
Last couple years, instead of cash, my wife has been gifting BTC for friends and family kids’ birthdays. Small amounts labeled as “college fund”. Every once in a while, she pings the parents: how’s that college fund doing? Some of the returns are approaching 2-3x. Still, few if any of the parents are buying on their own.
Got an Ozzie mate I tried and tried again to convince investing in BTC well before the 2017 run up. He finally caught the fever near the ATH. Fearing he was too late for BTC, he started buying XRP and a host of other shitcoins. Had to have a serious sit down. Might have involved some bitch-slapping. He managed to DCA himself into BTC over the past couple years and calls me up this week: “I’m back in the black!! Wish I bought more at the start of the year!” I suspect we've got a hodler for life.
Know a Chinese gal recently married to a Yankee expat who caught shitcoin fever like only the Chinese can. Unbeknownst to her hubbie, she started dumping massive amounts of her yuan savings into the 2017 hype. When she was down 20% last year, my wife and I spent hours trying to convince her to cut her shitcoin losses. She had no exit plan and remained convinced they would all bounce back. She’s since lost enough she confided in my wife she has been contemplating suicide. Intervention time.
Know a recently retired couple in their 60s, an old boss actually, who came to town in Feb to visit their newlywed daughter. I’ve never spoken a word to them about Bitcoin. One morning they point blank ask, do I own any Bitcoin? Is now a good time to buy? Why yes, now is the perfect time to buy. They’d be sitting on 2-3x returns if they actually pulled the trigger back then. I’m thinking they didn’t though and probably mistakenly think they’ve already missed the boat. Time will tell.
It’s a fine line advocating at the same time impressing upon others the importance of dyor, dca, hodl, don’t overextend, think years not weeks/months. For every success story lurks a potential tragedy, and that’s an albatross no one wants hanging around their neck.