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lxvi.btc
May 06 • 9 min read
My Bitcoin journey
Being on my laptop this night was different. Yes, I was at work, but something was off. I needed a distraction, and back then, I used to hop into Facebook (now Meta) for a break from work. A good meme got me laughing, and another, and I kept scrolling for more, even though I had five minutes to get back to work. I came across a post by a lady I had not interacted with before, but her post caught my attention mainly because it was about making good money without much strife. Considering what I was doing back then I found myself compelled to inquire about this life-changing opportunity and fast. I bet many people, if not everyone, who has been employed at some point feels the monotony of work and probably wish they’d find something better to commit their time to. This is the very feeling I had, and nothing would have satisfied me more than bumping into someone who would point me in the direction of “greener pastures”.
Of course, I quickly DMd the lady, and, her response was almost instant. ( I wish that my ISP would respond as quickly whenever I contact them concerning internet downtime) Anyway, she was cordial and gave me a date in the city center the following day’s afternoon. I was excited, and truly looked forward to this much-awaited opportunity that would forever transform my life, or at least so I thought.
I arrived at the Nairobi 680 Hotel by noon, and finding my way to the given floor wasn’t too hard. I found a receptionist and inquired about Miss X, and again, to my surprise, this wasn’t a date for two, absolutely not. Instead, I was taken into a conference hall (though not so big) where I was met by a group of at least 20 people plus the speaker at the podium. I guess you might now have a slight idea of what I had signed up for, but worry not if you don’t, I will tell it all. As I found a suitable spot to sit, I looked around to see whether “my date” was around, and alas! She was right in the front row. I wished she was closer. I had to take a seat and pay attention to what the presenter was saying.
A few minutes into the presentation I had captured the business and how it worked for one to earn money. It was a multilevel marketing for health supplementary products! For one to invest, you’d need around KES 21,000 (roughly $180) worth of a product package which you would then sell to your clients. I had heard about this model before and was honestly not interested, so after the presentation ended I approached my “upline” for more clarification. I could tell she was delighted to see me, at least from her smile. We talked and agreed to meet when I got the money to invest. We called it a day at that, and I left for home.
While I was just relaxing at the house in the evening, I got a text message from my “upline” saying that she was to meet some investors the following morning, and she wanted me to be present. Well, this was unexpected, but I chose to meet her again the next morning because I had to get to my greener pastures. The next day we met at a restaurant in Nairobi CBD, where I found her in the company of two women who I had not interacted with previously. To my surprise, she began speaking about a new business opportunity that I wasn’t covered in the previous day’s presentation. A “Bitcoin investment” group that traded with what subscribers invested. The idea sounded very lucrative and practical at the same time. I have to admit that this was my very first time hearing about Bitcoin. The idea of a virtual currency immediately made sense to me. I didn’t know why, but I never doubted Bitcoin from the onset, despite other people not really believing in it.
All that was required for this new venture was at least $100 starting capital, and I must admit it sounded better compared to $180 for the supplementary products and sales thereafter. I of course jumped right in, though this business still required us to invite more people (affiliate marketing) for us to gain from referrals. Well, to me I had a better deal this time because I would invest less, learn this new technology and not worry about product sales anymore. It didn’t take me long to invest, actually, I committed my money the very same day that the idea was sold to me.
This was my very first multi-level marketing dive, and though it felt different and better, it was not easy convincing people to join. I must say that out of every 20 people I sold the idea to, probably only one would join, and I would call it a good day. As time went by, I called people up, organized meetups, bought lunch or at least a drink for these meetups, and as usual, the majority would not buy the idea. I must, however, admit that my mother was like me because I sold the idea to her and she came in full force. She really committed a lot of money, together with several of her friends. Several of these friends were churchmates, and it felt great having a group of people I knew supporting me in this business. In the beginning, business was doing very well. We had regular seminars for updates and growing the network through invitations to these seminars. At some point in 2017 November, the founder did actually visit during a seminar in Nairobi, and this was the move that made the majority of the people gain trust in the company. Many people doubled or tripled their investments after the “CEOs'' gesture.
Things went well until the end of 2017. People were making withdrawals on the platform comfortably until around February 2018 when withdrawals began failing. At the start, we thought it was something small that would get resolved easily, but unknown to us the “CEOs” game was on. We complained and held meetings that never bore fruit. After raising many concerns we were finally told that everyone was required to upgrade their package to the next one, which meant people were to dig into their pockets once more. This sounded unnecessary and uncalled for, but people across Africa had invested and needed liquidity, so we upgraded. I must say this was the biggest mistake for everyone who upgraded their accounts. The deal was we wait for a month after upgrading then we’d start withdrawing. It never happened, because as soon as the majority upgraded, the system froze and no withdrawals could be done. We could only view our accounts, but these were now just figures on a website.
We were done for. No one wanted to believe it, but we had been part of a Ponzi. Our investment was gone, leaving many people distressed, including my mum who had invested over $5000 into the “business”. It was one of the worst moments to be alive, but all hope for me was not lost. We hoped things would change but it was over, and the masterminds had thousands of BTC all to themselves.
After this, things did drastically change, but I never gave up on seeking more understanding about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Many victims of the investment group called Bitcoin a Ponzi, and many other bad names, but I knew this was someone who used the good reputation of Bitcoin negatively to serve their selfish needs.
I had every reason to give up after this, but thanks to God for having me all through. I later came to realize that I had won an Airdrop from my blockchain.com from the activity of my wallet for Blockstack (now Stacks), and this was the start of a new journey, a journey that would only get better. This was like a seed of hope and a great future by Stacks and blockchain.com , something I had also not imagined or planned at all. This came to my knowledge around 2020, two years after the loss to the Ponzi. It gave me more desire to seek knowledge about blockchains while trying to connect with the communities around them, with my main focus on the Stacks ecosystem. By the end of 2021, I had grasped quite a bit of understanding of a few blockchains, including but not limited to Bitcoin, Stacks, Ethereum, and Solana.
The icing on the cake came when I joined Twitter in May 2022, in a bid to connect on a different level with these communities. I must say that the welcoming I received on Twitter was unanticipated to me. Cordial is an understatement, because I was received in the warmest I can remember. It excited me the most because I now had found an amazing community to interact with, and to learn a lot from. The first remarkable interaction I had was with my great friend @softerthansteel, who gave me my very first #NFT, a CrashPunk which I adore to this day. This got me more curious about the Stacks ecosystem and NFTs, so I got digging to understand these magical creations called NFTs and more. Not long after this, I was again met with another great surprise from the Stacks OG himself, the legend, the inspiration to many on the ecosystem, Trevor Owens (@TO) who dropped me another Crashpunk, which became my Twitter avatar to this day. I must also say a big thank you to another builder on Stacks (@cu1tureshock#0022 on Discord) who saw it fit to gift me an Explorer Guild NFT which without I’d not be on this platform. These events were again very pivotal to my Bitcoin journey because they motivated me and propelled me to connect with many other builders and projects on the Stacks ecosystem and other Networks like Ethereum and Solana. I am glad that through all these events I got to find my space which gives me the opportunity to impact many around the world, and especially in Africa positively through highlighting on similar stories and spreading the gospel that is Bitcoin and Stacks.
This article therefore marks the beginning of a great journey to bring to you more stories of Bitcoiners who were made the hard way, by pulling through the mud to become inspirations and pillars within various ecosystems. Be tuned to receive more such-like journey stories in the near future.
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. Explore. Enter App. lxvi.btc. May 06 • 9 min read. My Bitcoin journey. Being on my laptop this night was different. Yes, I was at work, but something was off. I needed a distraction, and back then, I used to hop into Facebook (now Meta) for a break from work. A good meme got me laughing, and another, and I kept scrolling for more, even though I had five minutes to get back to work. I came across a post by a lady I had not interacted with before, but her post caught my attention mainly because it was about making good money without much strife. Considering what I was doing back then I found myself compelled to inquire about this life-changing opportunity and fast. I bet many people, if not everyone, who has been employed at some point feels the monotony of work and probably wish they’d find something better to commit their time to. This is the very feeling I had, and nothing would have satisfied me more than bumping into someone who would point me in the direction of “greener pastures”. Of course, I quickly DMd the lady, and, her response was almost instant. ( I wish that my ISP would respond as quickly whenever I contact them concerning internet downtime) Anyway, she was cordial and gave me a date in the city center the following day’s afternoon. I was excited, and truly looked forward to this much-awaited opportunity that would forever transform my life, or at least so I thought. I arrived at the Nairobi 680 Hotel by noon, and finding my way to the given floor wasn’t too hard. I found a receptionist and inquired about Miss X, and again, to my surprise, this wasn’t a date for two, absolutely not. Instead, I was taken into a conference hall (though not so big) where I was met by a group of at least 20 people plus the speaker at the podium. I guess you might now have a slight idea of what I had signed up for, but worry not if you don’t, I will tell it all. As I found a suitable spot to sit, I looked around to see whether “my date” was around, and alas! She was right in the front row. I wished she was closer. I had to take a seat and pay attention to what the presenter was saying. A few minutes into the presentation I had captured the business and how it worked for one to earn money. It was a multilevel marketing for health supplementary products! For one to invest, you’d need around KES 21,000 (roughly $180) worth of a product package which you would then sell to your clients. I had heard about this model before and was honestly not interested, so after the presentation ended I approached my “upline” for more clarification. I could tell she was delighted to see me, at least from her smile. We talked and agreed to meet when I got the money to invest. We called it a day at that, and I left for home. While I was just relaxing at the house in the evening, I got a text message from my “upline” saying that she was to meet some investors the following morning, and she wanted me to be present. Well, this was unexpected, but I chose to meet her again the next morning because I had to get to my greener pastures. The next day we met at a restaurant in Nairobi CBD, where I found her in the company of two women who I had not interacted with previously. To my surprise, she began speaking about a new business opportunity that I wasn’t covered in the previous day’s presentation. A “Bitcoin investment” group that traded with what subscribers invested. The idea sounded very lucrative and practical at the same time. I have to admit that this was my very first time hearing about Bitcoin. The idea of a virtual currency immediately made sense to me. I didn’t know why, but I never doubted Bitcoin from the onset, despite other people not really believing in it. All that was required for this new venture was at least $100 starting capital, and I must admit it sounded better compared to $180 for the supplementary products and sales thereafter. I of course jumped right in, though this business still required us to invite more people (affiliate marketing) for us to gain from referrals. Well, to me I had a better deal this time because I would invest less, learn this new technology and not worry about product sales anymore. It didn’t take me long to invest, actually, I committed my money the very same day that the idea was sold to me. This was my very first multi-level marketing dive, and though it felt different and better, it was not easy convincing people to join. I must say that out of every 20 people I sold the idea to, probably only one would join, and I would call it a good day. As time went by, I called people up, organized meetups, bought lunch or at least a drink for these meetups, and as usual, the majority would not buy the idea. I must, however, admit that my mother was like me because I sold the idea to her and she came in full force. She really committed a lot of money, together with several of her friends. Several of these friends were churchmates, and it felt great having a group of people I knew supporting me in this business. In the beginning, business was doing very well. We had regular seminars for updates and growing the network through invitations to these seminars. At some point in 2017 November, the founder did actually visit during a seminar in Nairobi, and this was the move that made the majority of the people gain trust in the company. Many people doubled or tripled their investments after the “CEOs'' gesture. Things went well until the end of 2017. People were making withdrawals on the platform comfortably until around February 2018 when withdrawals began failing. At the start, we thought it was something small that would get resolved easily, but unknown to us the “CEOs” game was on. We complained and held meetings that never bore fruit. After raising many concerns we were finally told that everyone was required to upgrade their package to the next one, which meant people were to dig into their pockets once more. This sounded unnecessary and uncalled for, but people across Africa had invested and needed liquidity, so we upgraded. I must say this was the biggest mistake for everyone who upgraded their accounts. The deal was we wait for a month after upgrading then we’d start withdrawing. It never happened, because as soon as the majority upgraded, the system froze and no withdrawals could be done. We could only view our accounts, but these were now just figures on a website. We were done for. No one wanted to believe it, but we had been part of a Ponzi. Our investment was gone, leaving many people distressed, including my mum who had invested over $5000 into the “business”. It was one of the worst moments to be alive, but all hope for me was not lost. We hoped things would change but it was over, and the masterminds had thousands of BTC all to themselves. After this, things did drastically change, but I never gave up on seeking more understanding about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Many victims of the investment group called Bitcoin a Ponzi, and many other bad names, but I knew this was someone who used the good reputation of Bitcoin negatively to serve their selfish needs. I had every reason to give up after this, but thanks to God for having me all through. I later came to realize that I had won an Airdrop from my blockchain.com from the activity of my wallet for Blockstack (now Stacks), and this was the start of a new journey, a journey that would only get better. This was like a seed of hope and a great future by Stacks and blockchain.com , something I had also not imagined or planned at all. This came to my knowledge around 2020, two years after the loss to the Ponzi. It gave me more desire to seek knowledge about blockchains while trying to connect with the communities around them, with my main focus on the Stacks ecosystem. By the end of 2021, I had grasped quite a bit of understanding of a few blockchains, including but not limited to Bitcoin, Stacks, Ethereum, and Solana. The icing on the cake came when I joined Twitter in May 2022, in a bid to connect on a different level with these communities. I must say that the welcoming I received on Twitter was unanticipated to me. Cordial is an understatement, because I was received in the warmest I can remember. It excited me the most because I now had found an amazing community to interact with, and to learn a lot from. The first remarkable interaction I had was with my great friend @softerthansteel, who gave me my very first #NFT, a CrashPunk which I adore to this day. This got me more curious about the Stacks ecosystem and NFTs, so I got digging to understand these magical creations called NFTs and more. Not long after this, I was again met with another great surprise from the Stacks OG himself, the legend, the inspiration to many on the ecosystem, Trevor Owens (@TO) who dropped me another Crashpunk, which became my Twitter avatar to this day. I must also say a big thank you to another builder on Stacks (@cu1tureshock#0022 on Discord) who saw it fit to gift me an Explorer Guild NFT which without I’d not be on this platform. These events were again very pivotal to my Bitcoin journey because they motivated me and propelled me to connect with many other builders and projects on the Stacks ecosystem and other Networks like Ethereum and Solana. I am glad that through all these events I got to find my space which gives me the opportunity to impact many around the world, and especially in Africa positively through highlighting on similar stories and spreading the gospel that is Bitcoin and Stacks. This article therefore marks the beginning of a great journey to bring to you more stories of Bitcoiners who were made the hard way, by pulling through the mud to become inspirations and pillars within various ecosystems. Be tuned to receive more such-like journey stories in the near future. Thank you for tagging along to this point!! Share this story. Powered by.