Let me take you on a trip back into the mists of time to the early days of crypto... It's 2009, and I'm working at a place where no one has any job security, including people that have been there for years. Cutbacks and downsizing would mean that my job would end the following year, leaving me unemployed, and that's when things really started.

But prior to that, I'd heard about this new creation called cryptocurrency, which was being spearheaded by a token known as Bitcoin. I'd spend time on internet forums learning more about the subject and realized this is the future – if we can only keep the governments sticky fingers off of it...

Setting sail and staying on course

Now it's 2010, and with no work available, I'm suddenly unemployed. While online looking for work, it hits me that there couldn't be a worse possible area for me to be in as far as the job market was concerned. See, our area contained one of those refugee processing areas. People from all over the world were released here when applying for asylum or after being arrested at the border.

Not far from town, one of those places (now thankfully closed) aimed a steady stream of foreigners at the heart of our region. This provided a huge underground workforce, willing to be paid under the table in cash much less than the US minimum wage. This meant that many American citizens such as myself, were passed over for employment in favor of the cheaper overseas arrivals...

Every week, me and my friends would apply for jobs and be turned down again and again. Entering the offices for interviews, we started noticing that people from foreign countries were being snapped up, while experienced citizens like us were being rejected.

At times I'd ask the interviewers point-blank if they had any actual intent in hiring Americans. Their candor was telling. One lady felt sorry for me as I kept re-applying, and spilled the beans: "We're under orders to maximize profits, so It's cheaper for us to hire the refugees." This way they avoided paying the taxes they'd have to pay when hiring a US citizen.

Me and a buddy were turned down by the manager for cooks position in the kitchen of our local On the Border restaurant. He said that the refugee employees would not accept Americans being hired, as they wanted all of the jobs for themselves. He said they would all walk out if he hired an American to work in the kitchen. Refusing to believe this, we went and spoke to them and they confirmed it. Gleefully laughing in our faces. Fuck that! We reported them to the 1-800 immigration enforcement number.

It infuriated us, as we'd always had sympathy for those seeking the American dream, but now found ourselves being cast aside for those trying to make a quick buck. The refugees only cared about themselves, there was no consideration for the US citizens who were blocked from being employed. Making that report didn't help us at the time, but it eventually worked, and they and the manager were sent packing.

So now you have the setting which led me online for hours at a time setting up interviews, but hitting a brick wall of refugees when trying to find work. There was a silver lining though. It led me to research cryptocurrency and I was more convinced than ever of its future.

The road ahead

2010 saw the "Bitcoin Pizza" purchase in May of that year, and the opening of the first Bitcoin Faucet that summer. That's where I picked up my first tokens, much to the ridicule of the people around me. Imagine, Five Bitcoin for free! They weren't worth much at the time, but that wasn't the point. It was the utility I saw, realizing that if this thing took off, nothing would ever be the same.

The problem for me back then was the lack of funds to invest with. However, I saw this as a long-term thing, and knew that with a small userbase, wild price swings were to be expected. Thinking like this steels your resolve to keep following that North Star which attracted me to crypto in the first place. Decentralization, ownership and empowerment were top of mind no matter which way the price went. The utility of the blockchain itself was what was important, and that genie wasn't ever going back into the bottle!

The following year the price of one Bitcoin hit $1 for the very first time. I've shared the account of how my "stash" of 25 Bitcoin was lost after a relative threw out my mining computer (you could mine BTC on a home PC back then) and the rest were lost in the MtGox debacle. None of this shook my faith in the belief that crypto represented the wave of the future, and I retain that still today.

"The vision thing"

See, I've been through all of the price swings, and after awhile the FUD just doesn't work anymore. Friends and family members ignored my advice to get their 5 free BTC, saying it was counterfeit money and that we would all be arrested for owning crypto. So you can see just how put off some people were in the early days. They wanted no part of it then, and still don't even now.

The thing is that over time you develop a wider vista when realizing we're still in the early days. Sure, you can set aside part of your pile for short-term trades in order to pay the bills, but I believe the winds of change require a deeper outlook. I think in 5 to 10-year periods when looking at crypto. Anything less means leaving way too much money on the table like those who sold at the first sustained drop in price.

Remember, the BTC price went from $350 to over $1200 by late 2013. That all happened in just a few months of one year. By 2014, the price had fallen again to $340, and this is where I heard the loudest taunts from the Luddites in my area. "Oh ye of little faith" I'd respond, "If your resolve is this weak, then crypto is not for you." I'm convinced that it takes a certain type of person to "get" the blockchain and see past all the noise.

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