Crypto Gist: How Crypto Helped Me Develop A Savings Habit

Crypto Gist is a series that highlights the stories of real people around Africa around cryptocurrencies. Our guests share their crypto experiences - intro to crypto, wins, scams, losses and lessons. Would you like to tell your story? Don’t hesitate. Fill out this form to share your story.

First of all, tell us what country you are from

I’m Ghanaian

How would you describe your crypto experience?

It has been enlightening. I know you are probably expecting me to say scary, terrifying or something along this line, but it has been great. That is not to say I haven’t had my losses too. 

When did you first hear about cryptocurrencies?

I can’t pick a specific time, you know, I most definitely had heard about it earlier, but I would say the late 2020s. There were a lot of people talking about it, but I wasn’t too keen on learning about it. I can’t be interested in every buzz news, right?

How did you get into Crypto?

You see, I work as a Freelance Brand Manager. That is, I help people with setting up the right media presence, managing their socials, aligning the brand to get the product to the customer. I got a job contract with a client; he wanted me to help with aligning his web presence, app etc. He offered to pay in bitcoin as he thought it was a more convenient payment method. It was one of those big jobs, so of course, my initial reaction was he probably wanted to scam me or something. 

Fortunately, one of my male friends, a tech bro, was around to listen to me lament about a huge job that could probably be a scam. I told him a client wanted to pay me in bitcoin; that was around January 2021 when bitcoin hit $40K, I think. He was super hyped and started telling me how this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. You know, that kind of thing. All I could think of was, “what’s so special about this BTC?”. “What’s the hype?”. He sat me down, explaining how it started from less than a dollar and increased its price. 

I wasn’t thrilled, but I trusted him that it was a legitimate job. He helped me set up a crypto account with Paxful, My God! He was really excited about it. 

However, the job didn't eventually go through. I took too long responding to the client and might have suggested he was a scam at first, so he moved on to someone else. Yeah, that hurt, but I opened my first crypto wallet.

How did you proceed from there?

After I opened the account and the job fell through, that was it for me. I still didn't understand the hype that well. So I simply forgot about it. One of my friends she’s quite independent, and she’s a huge feminist driven to empower women. She was mainly into forex before crypto, and with the widespread adoption of crypto, she had invested in it. She spoke to me about setting up a female community where we would share our skills to help empower women financially. She wanted me to share my brand management skill. I like the idea, so I signed up to be in the community. It wasn’t a big community like that, just something between close friends, more like 6 of us.

I was super excited, though, I always had a keen interest in forex, so I figured I would earn some extra funds with that knowledge; however, she focused more on crypto. So we talked, and eventually, she was able to convince or better explain to me what crypto was. 

So when was the first time you used crypto?

After I understood the basics of cryptocurrency, I decided to start putting small amounts of money from my earnings into it. Since I am a freelancer, that meant a percentage of whatever I earn on jobs. Because I was already aware of scams in the crypto space I was very careful of where I got my crypto from. Then I remember seeing an ad from Yellow Card about buying bitcoin directly with a bank account from them and not through p2p, so I opened an account. I didn't care if the price was high or low at that moment; I was buying it because I saw the long-term value.

How has that worked out for you?

It has been amazing! Before I started investing in crypto, I was what you would describe as an impulsive spender. I was doing quite well for myself, but then I didn’t have a lot of savings. I get easily bored, so I spend a lot on new things. However, investing 500 Cedii every month kind of helped me save. I may not have much savings in Ghanian Cedii, but I had funds saved up in crypto. So that’s something!

Yes, that’s that something! Do you only hodl funds in crypto, or do you trade actively?

For at least five months, all I did was buy and hodl bitcoin. I wanted to get a better hang of it first before I started rushing. I like to take my time. When I felt more confident about it, I diversified my portfolio and started buying other altcoins on trading platforms. It took a while, but I soon got the hang of trading crypto. I won’t consider myself a huge crypto trader just yet, but I am doing quite well for myself.

And yes, I tend to save more in tether now and when I need to buy a particular cryptocurrency, I can just purchase it directly with tether. It works for me!

Given the opportunity to advise crypto newbies, what would be your recommendations?

You don’t invest in cryptocurrencies till you get a better hang of it. I am not saying be well versed and know all the crypto jargon but at least understand what you are getting into. True, there is money in crypto trading, but as a newbie, I think it is important to first get a hang of your emotions and not jump into every trade just because it is trending. Or else volatility will humble you and you will start running helter-skelter to sell it off. 

You also have to know the value of what you are investing in; once you know that, a slight dip won’t scare you because you know it will still soar past your buying price, which is why it is also important to conduct appropriate research before investing into any altcoin. That is before you invest in a coin without any real value. 

Thank you for your time.

My pleasure!

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