Crypto Gist: How My Fear And Impatience Nearly Cost Me An Exciting Crypto Adventure

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.

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is David, and I like to call myself an up and coming crypto trader.

Up and coming?

Yes o! I am doing relatively well, but I still feel there is much more to trading crypto. There's a bigger world in the crypto space, one I'm still trying to understand.

Cool, how did you first hear about crypto?

My Gees! Some of my guys got into crypto while I struggled to earn as an artist. I'm a painter. I paint sculptures, picture frames etc. I was making quite a bit of money, but then I wanted to expand, and I needed a lot of capital to make it happen. So when my friends said there's money in crypto if you play the game right, I was like, Yes, this is it!. That was mid-2020.

So what happened next? 

Omo! A lot o. Let me just say I am grateful. My first experience with crypto was something else. There are many lessons I have learnt, you know. At the same time, I have had some regrets. I think what's important is the lessons, though.

What kind of lessons or regrets have you had?

When I saw how my friends were doing, I was like; Oh boy! Money dey this thing." They seemed like they were balling, and I wanted to join them. I rushed into Day trading. Wetin my eyes seen ehn, I was lost! It would seem like I was making money now, and suddenly, all the money was gone. I guess I was too impatient. They told me to learn first, research, and take it slow, but I had no chill. I wanted to make it big.

Nobody told me again before I calmed down. I started following some active crypto traders I knew as some sort of guardianship.

So how did that play out for you?

I was getting better. I moved from day trading to swing trading, and I even had some funds saved up in crypto. Things were looking up so well that I could see myself getting closer to my saving goal. That's how the CBN came up with the crypto ban or - the prohibition on financial institutions, as I know better now. 

How did that affect you?

Ahhh! Very bad. Honestly, it was very, very bad. I think I was busy that day, and I didn't find out till later the next day. I found out about it from Whatsapp status memes about the ban. Omo! I was shook. I think cryptocurrencies dipped slightly during that period because several people were selling off; I was one of them.

My friends, who encouraged me to start crypto, told me to chill and that CBN didn't actually ban crypto. Yen, Yen Yen! Abegi, Chill ko, chill ni. I removed all my money asap. I was able to sell off most of my cryptocurrencies quickly. You know, mostly at losses but a very reasonable loss to me at the time. I was able to move some before they disabled withdrawals. I was using Luno then.

Wow, that's some experience.

Yes o. I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. I started blaming myself. You can say I gave up on cryptocurrencies. However, what was on my mind was that they should resume withdrawals so that I could withdraw my remaining funds.

How did you get back into the crypto space, or the game, as your friends called it?

I couldn't withdraw money for a very long time. I gave up on it. I had invested profits from trading crypto into my hustle as an artist, so I just carried on with that. That's how BTC started climbing and reached new ATHs. My friends were still in crypto, so they were literally cashing out, and by then, p2p was getting quite popular.

I covered my face, swallowed my pride and got back into crypto. I opened a Binance account, and at that time, fortunately, Luno had enabled withdrawals again, so I got my funds. I didn't even bother adding extra to it. My funds had accumulated with the price gains, so I was cashing out a profit. 

Nice. So, how has it been?

I'm back in the game o. It's been fantastic, I'd say, but then it took a while to get the hang of p2p. I wasn't too fond of the part where I had to meet traders on the forum. It was even scarier when people started complaining about scammers. The scammers either collected your crypto and never sent your money or your funds and never sent your crypto. I never experienced that, though, but the possibility of it was scary.

Yet, that wasn't the scariest. At a time, traders started talking about CBN moles. That is, people masking as crypto traders to get your account details and report you to your bank. I don't know how true that was, but I heard about a few people with blocked accounts. I already had crypto PTSD, so naturally, I was terrified. I started looking for another platform to trade crypto. That's even how I heard of Yellow Card.

Really? How did that happen?

I was discussing trading with one of my gees; then we somehow got to talking about Yellow Card's automated p2p. The whole thing just made sense. It was even the cheaper trading fees that got me convinced. Anyway, I started buying USDT and BTC via Yellow Card. I could quickly expand and purchase other cryptocurrencies to diversify my portfolio directly with Yellow Card.

But right now, that's just by the way, for me. I am looking more into NFTs nowadays. I'm an artist, so I think there are a lot of opportunities for me there. That's why I mentioned earlier that there was still a lot I wanted to get into in the crypto space. 

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

First of all, don't be like me! Don't rush; take your time, and don't let sudden news scatter your head. Crypto is here to stay. You can get a lot from it, even if it's just saving to escape Nigeria's inflation. The point is to take your time, and soon you'll start earning some profits.

Wow, that was great! Thank you for your time.

My pleasure. 

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