So Many Noobs, So Many Mistakes, So Much Easy Money
It's quite possible that 2017 marked the pinnacle of crypto irrationality. I can't back this up, but I wouldn't be surprised if more money was gained and lost that year than at any point since the beginning of all this.
I might be speaking from personal experience since 2017 was when I went all in. I divested most of my traditional stocks and plunged headfirst into Bitcoin and Ethereum. While I had begun accumulating Bitcoin a few years prior, it was in 2017 that I succumbed to the relentless FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). I vividly recall Bitcoin soaring to $2000 and Ethereum reaching $200, and that's when the panic set in. It felt frustrating to see people I knew amassing wealth from a small investment while my stocks remained relatively stagnant for years.
The bull run was wild, and I started seeing significant gains. In fact, I sold a fraction of my profits, allowing me to acquire the necessary equipment for two six-card mining rigs and two eight-card rigs. Additionally, I utilized a couple of extra video cards for mining whenever their host computers were idle, amassing a total of 30 cards for mining Ether, with an approximate hash rate of 960MH/s. Fortunately, a friend with a sizable warehouse let me use a portion of the space to operate my mining rigs.
I was riding the hype train, constantly pointing my mining farm to every Ethash POW coin I could solo-mine, aiming to secure a substantial number of coins before the crowd caught on. It seemed like all I could see were dollar signs, and the values of these altcoins continued to surge.
The Useless ICOs
They say that hindsight is 20/20, and many people seemed to be going blind during the cryptocurrency craze. It was like a fever dream that's hard to comprehend unless you experienced it firsthand. One impractical idea after another, each with its own associated token and snazzy Bootstrap website with parallax effects. Some individuals even created coins with names like "IRipYouOff Coin," drafted a whitepaper, and initiated an ICO. Remarkably, a day later, the token would boast a multi-million dollar market capitalization. How anyone believed this was sustainable is beyond me.
Nevertheless, people kept buying into these schemes, and more of them kept cropping up. Regrettably, 99% of these ventures disappeared into thin air, taking everyone's Ethereum with them. My Ethereum wallet is filled with dead ERC-20 tokens, either airdropped to me or impulsively purchased during seemingly promising ICOs. If only I could retrieve all that Ethereum. It's some consolation that we were all in it together. Not that it's pleasant to witness others losing their investments, but at least no one was the lone fool in the group.
2018 Wipeout
By January 2018, the cryptocurrency market was in a rapid decline. I distinctly remember that uneasy feeling – "Whoa, this is a substantial dip, but it's just a bear market" I told myself.
However, if you were holding onto those useless ICO tokens, you were about to experience excruciating losses. Emotions ran high, causing many people to make poor decisions. I even lost faith in projects I once believed in, like Enjin, which later surged from a fraction of a penny to several dollars per coin. It was an absolute mess.
Fast Forward
Now, I can finally look back on the entire ordeal and chuckle at the absurdity of it all. It wasn't the least bit amusing for several years. I went through the most profound depression of my life, and I had no one to blame but myself.
The silver lining, at least for me, was that I managed to acquire a substantial stake in Steem, which I nearly doubled when Hive launched (by selling my Steem tokens and purchasing Hive). While I've had my ups and downs with Hive, it's the only crypto project I've never entirely abandoned, and I haven't lost faith in it. It's perplexing to me that it hasn't gained mainstream attention in the crypto community when you consider that Dogecoin occupies the 9th spot on CoinMarketCap.
In retrospect, having weathered the cryptocurrency landscape for so many years, it's safe to say that I've earned my stripes as a veteran in this domain. After the turbulent events of 2018, I came to terms with the notion that my initial investments had, for all intents and purposes, vanished. Anything I managed to accumulate beyond that point was a pleasant surprise. The lesson I've learned, and one I'd pass on to anyone else, is never to invest more than you can comfortably afford to lose. This advice remains as relevant today as it was in the midst of the frenzy of 2017.
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I think your story is probably really similar to a lot of people. I didn't get started in crypto until the end of 2017, so I kind of missed the boat. I struggled along with STEEM starting in early 2018 and when the HIVE split happened I moved most of my STEEM into BTC and WAX. When the NFT boom hit, I was able to pull enough money into fiat to eliminate 99% of my debt. I should have moved more gains into stables. I was literally making hundreds of dollars per day and I was pissing it away into DeFi and more NFTs. Rookie mistakes. I plan on doing better this next time. The good news is, I have a good job and a nice traditional investment portfolio, so I lose all my crypto, no big deal. Except Hive, that's the one holding I would be devastated if I lost it all or it went to zero.
I think it was a wise decision moving your Hive into BTC for a while. Even Wax came up quite a bit over time. I am holding a relatively small amount of WAX that I actually bought over time using Steem author earnings. Not a huge amount, but percentage wise it is all gains.
That is amazing, man! I wish I had gotten more involved early in NFTs but for some reason I didn't get interested until it was pretty much too late. Probably because I bought some cryptokitties early on which ended up being worthless. By the time I wanted to trade NFTs, ETH tx fees were so insanely high that it wasn't practical for me.
Right, for all of my talk about being OK losing it, I still feel pretty invested in Hive. Especially with all the work and ups and downs I've gone through here. It is more than just an investment for me.
Everything I have on WAX is pretty much pure profit from what I earned writing on STEEM. Can't really complain about that. I never got into NFTs on the ETH side because of the fees. Only WAX. WAX should be a $1 coin all day every day in my opinion.
That's pretty awesome. I got more interested in WAX when they got the Garbage Pail Kids involved. Do you think NFT art is going to have a resurgence, or do you think it was a passing thing? It got so heavily made fun of on traditional media. So many people think it is a scam, in the same way they think all crypto is.
I'm not really sure. Part of me feels like NFTs and DeFi were the fads of last bull run. I hope that isn't the case because I still think there are a lot of good use cases for NFTs that we haven't even started to scratch the surface. The other thing is, we are still so early to all of this. I think smarter minds are going to be more cautious moving forward, but there are still so many weak hands out there just waiting to make their first FOMO move. When you consider that 80% of the population hasn't even messed with crypto, that leaves a lot of room for wild pumps and dumps.
Yeah, one thing that I worry about with the pumps moving forward - with regards to Hive - is that it seems like every time the altcoins rally Hive seems to sell off really quickly back to a low price. I suspect it is because there are so many people holding millions of coins that were gained extremely easily so they are willing to let them go cheaply. I feel like we could be stuck in this pattern indefinitely as long as this is still the case. Before Hive it was bad because Steemit Inc was selling millions of coins constantly driving the price down every day. Maybe I am just being cynical, and I hope I am wrong. It is just something in the back of my head all the time.
But if those 80% you speak of start buying Hive, then there will be enough pressure to drive the price up faster than the whales can dump. So, there's that!
Yeah, that is a hope for sure. I don't think we will ever change the dumping though. People are just greedy by nature and many times they can't see the big picture versus what is right in front of them. If we could fix that, we would probably have much less problems in the world!
Hey! Dear nuthman, this is my first time on your blog. Well, it reads beautifully. Maybe I have little to say 'cause I'm just a year and half old in the crypto world but I started my journey as a PM in crypto. Adaptability and focus are the key things I have learned. These two keys might be too sentimental though...
Just like you've pointed out, managing risk is really important, yeah, like some amount of my money can be set aside for trading, and a portion of it can first be deployed, to watch the market.
Thanks for sharing your insight on this. Well, very new to hive and I find your content and blog really interesting. Have a peaceful day! 😊
Hey! I am glad you found your way here.
I think it is the most critical thing, if not just for financial sensibility but for mental health. So many people have lost their minds in this realm.
You are welcome, hopefully I have learned a little something over the years!
Never invest what will pull you down when you lose it. That's statement has always had me going. Yeah, it is good to take risks, but some risks can become too risky, which can lead to unhealthy depression.
I am glad you learned and decided to share with us. Thank you 😊.
That is always the challenge, figuring out what is an acceptable risk and what is going to send you spiraling down a black hole of depression. You really have to think it through.
Yes, one needs to think it through. Have a nice day.
🙂
😉
Very conventional wisdom… I sure AF went for the contrastive “all or nothing” 😹
Though t’was an interesting position, literally starting with nothing, earning it all starting on Steemit - rationalizing along the lines of, ‘would it really be a “loss” if you started with nothing to begin with?’ Granted, the “loss” of 97% of ALOT of ‘gains’ was certainly not fun… expensive lessons...
Lol, sure it wasn't. Loss isn't always fun, yeah?
Well it's a time to celebrate wins and losses. Maybe some didn't prove profitable but some investments paid off like
SteemHive. I was still trying to know my left from my right in these years that you mentioned so I wouldn't have known to invest in any of these. Learning to take the right risks now though.Well, you may be lucky that you weren't in a place to get involved back then. It was an absolute emotional rollercoaster! It is much more reasonable now.
I think about all the people that sold BTC when it peaked at $27k or something like that and in the next 8 months or so it slipped to nearly $2k. The people who panic sold during that time have a lot of regrets today, that's for sure.
I also know people that thought it would be a good idea to get involved when the meteoric rise to $60k or whatever it was, was going on. They have a lot of regrets as well. As a HODLer, I never suffer these things but who knows what the future holds!
Oh, I know. Can you imagine? I have thought about that many times myself as well. I've thought a lot about how I wish I had sold everything into Tether back in December of 2017, then bought back in months later. I've made the comment before that if I had done this, I could have been one of the biggest whales on Hive as well as having huge bags in BTC and ETH. But that is in the past now.
I was really worried about people at that time. I was really feeling that it was the top at the time, but everyone was screaming about BTC going to a million dollars. It is amazing how the hype can get. I was desperately trying to talk people out of buying DOGE when Elon pumped it but my older son bought some. I don't know how much, but I hope it wasn't a lot.
I have gotten a lot better in this regard. There was a time when I would freak out and sell at the worst time. But if there weren't people like me, then there wouldn't be other who made a lot of money buying my coins.
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I have runing a poll about what are the main lessons learned from the previous bull run :) So thanks for the post ... just curious about 2021, have you made some moves here, or was just on the sidelines?
I really haven't moved a lot of crypto since 2019 other than recently (several days ago) I sold a bit of Ether and added another 22k Hive to my account.
I mostly just let everything be because of the emotional state that I was in and couldn't make rational decisions about it for a while.
I suppose I was lucky in a sense. I joined Steemit early enough to benefit just slightly from the insane pump. What was it, around $16 for STEEM and even higher for SBD, or something like that. I put that all into BTC and later used it to buy all the Splinterland cards I still have.
Now...holding on to those may have been quite the mistake. I might have been better off selling in the last bull when that particular asset was really pumping. Oh well.
May we all make better decisions in the next bull run!
Yeah, all of the money I have poured into Splinterlands has seemed like a huge waste. I was doing great with rentals for a while but now make next to nothing. Plus you have to pay now to put your cards up to rent. On top of that, there were so many packs printed that it really drove the value down.
I am not sure if anyone is making money on this game besides the owners at this point. But to be fair, it is a game after all. You could say that they have brought outside attention to Hive which is great.
No kidding. Chaos Legion really destroyed the ecosystem. That was such a huge mistake, I don't know if the game can recover from it. I do know that if in the next bullrun Splinterlands gets a boost similar to what they got during the last, I'm selling all my non-soulbound cards and exiting.
I have thought about selling everything as well. I just never feel like it is the right time. But that time may never come.
Those years were surely a rite of passage, of sorts, for those who made it through… 😹
There were times when I felt like I wouldn't. But you have to always remember that 'this too shall pass'. That was my mantra during those years.
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It is great to know about your inspiring story when it comes to crypto my dear friend. Year 2018 may be the most turbulent time, but I believe you did not become a legend today without experiencing this great challenge. And I could sense a resilient veteran in this domain. Perhaps a beginner like me in Crypto would love to hear stories and how you made it all. Best regards and have a nice time!
Well, I don't know if I am much of a legend but I have learned a thing or two. As long as I can do a little better moving forward then I will be happy.
#hive #posh
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Thanks
I had bought hotcross and Mintclub in last Bullrun which is now dust, lost all my savings in these shits. I regret getting fomoed. Mistakes we all do. But i have learned my lesson. Now i am careful.
It is really challenging, especially when the emotions get involved.
What a ride man!!! I think lots of people can completely empathise and were in a similar boat. I got in around Christmas 2017. I watched from afar for a good while with cynicism, and finally just before Christmas FOMO win out and I acquired some Bitcoin and Ethereum.
I'm very tempted to put all my Crypto holdings into Hive, as with HBD interest rates and Hive voting returns I could drive more growth.
Yeah, I have been moving some other cryptos into Hive recently and increasing my stake. Of course it would be my luck that when I decide to put some HBD into savings, the interest rate will drop. Well, I currently have my witness set to 20% HBD interest so hopefully I can get up the ranks where my input will count more.
Is it difficult to try to set up as a witness?
Just need a server and run some code on it? Much more to it?
I'll jump on now and vote for you as witness - every little helps :)
I see you're friends with @bozz, who is a great guy so happy to vote for you as witness.
It is really not that difficult. You just need to be familiar with the Linux command line interface and understand how to configure a Hive node. It is also important to have high quality, always up hosting and meet the system requirements.
The hardest part is gaining support. Otherwise you are upside-down on the cost of running the witness vs rewards (such as my current situation)
Yes, @bozz is awesome and have been driving support my way. Thanks for the vote!
It's great advice, that FOMO is dangerous! I've been holding BTC since around 2017 as well and been on the roller coaster ride too. I picked up a bunch of DOGE which I was really starting to lose faith in until Musk made it shoot up, that was a pleasant crypto surprise! But never invest more that you can afford to lose, because you can lose everything. There are just too many rug pull schemes out there and unsustainable projects with no utility to the tokens. Sorry you got burned so bad back in 2018, I think we all did!
DOGE was never really meant to be a serious coin, even the co-founder expressed his concerns about the way people were FOMOing into it. Elon (I believe) was mostly trolling people when he told everyone to buy it. Maybe his own pump and dump scheme? Who knows, that dude is part genius, part sociopath.
There are an insane number of DOGE in circulation as well, in the 100s of billions. If one of the top wallet just sold a mere fraction of their stake it would drive the price to zero. It is just so unsustainable. But I guess you could say that about a lot of projects.
Maybe I am just jealous that a useless meme coin has a higher market cap than Hive. lol!
I got lucky, most I had picked up really, really cheap ($0.001) and sold at $0.14 so I lucked out! If it hadn't been for Musk it would probably be the price I bought it for still. It was meant as a joke, but it sits at $0.07, so I wouldn't buy in again. There is just so much out there and still being minted from today to eternity. I'll stick with BTC!
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