Crypto Gist: My Biggest Regret Is Getting Into The Crypto Space Late

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

Hello there, tell us what country you are from?

I’m from Nigeria, the giant of Africa.

How would you describe your crypto experience?

Everything from plain scary to exciting: it's been quite emotional to sum it up.

I imagine it can be like that; how did you first hear about crypto?

I was working as a banker when I first came across crypto in 2015. Some guys walked into the bank and attempted to explain how bitcoin works. They wanted to create a network of traders or a crypto firm. I can’t really remember. All I could think of was that they were scam artists trying to dupe us of our hard-earned funds. Alakoba set of people. We basically shooed them out of the bank. We had heard of forex and similar projects, but what was bitcoin? As far as we were concerned, it was a scam. 

If you had such a resistance to crypto, how did you get into the crypto space?

It was pre-covid o; you know how Nigerian banks can be. Out of the blue, they laid some of us off. It was a sudden awakening as if they poured a bucket of cold water on me. I had been solely dependent on my salary, and it was difficult to get by. 

Of course, I had savings, but then it's not something you can sustain yourself on for an extended period, especially with increasing inflation in Nigeria.

Anyways, at that time, I had a few guys on my contact list. Those guys we would generally usually term as Gee boys or Yahoo boys. They were constantly posting things like “Gift card anyone,” “Venmo”,  “BTC needed, etc.”. But one guy, in particular, would always post updates on various cryptocurrencies and other memes. The memes often prompted me to check his status for entertainment. So we got into a conversation one day, and he explained all about cryptocurrencies to me. When I saw how much BTC and ETH had soared in the last few years, I almost had a nervous breakdown, wishing I had gotten in on it much sooner.

So what happened next?

At that time, I figured I couldn’t buy a whole BTC or ETH, you know. I hadn’t yet gotten a job, so I figured I could buy smaller coins and watch them grow and earn crazy profits like I should have done with BTC years ago.

How did that go?

Omo! I can’t even explain without feeling depressed all over again. I was so desperate to get funds that I bought just about any cryptocurrency, the cheapest mostly. I didn’t do any proper research. As long as I saw some hype about it, I bought it immediately. Months went on; I kept borrowing to buy more. People were selling their coins off and telling me to buy the dip. 

Long story short, I realised I had bought several shit coins and accumulated debts.

That must have been devastating. What did you do next?

I withdrew what I could and tried to pay my debts o. Never again was I getting involved in crypto. Once bitten, twice shy.

But then, you trade crypto today; how did you get back in the game?

I took on some jobs to clear my debts and kept on going. It didn’t pay much, but then I was able to clear my debts. I was still watching major cryptocurrencies' price increase, but I dared not try it. Yet, there was this guy, a friend who was into cryptocurrencies and was doing quite well. Many people said he was doing some gee work underneath, but I knew him, to be honest, so I didn’t quite believe it. We ran into each other one day and got talking. I told him my crypto story and how cryptocurrencies only paid those who got in early as far as I was concerned. 

He was an advocate of cryptocurrencies, so he took it really personally and tried convincing me otherwise. He sent me several blog posts courses on cryptocurrencies. Still, because I respected him, I just took it, so he won't spend hours arguing with me.

I learned about trading majorly, the need to research first before investing in any cryptocurrencies despite the hype around it. However, I was still too weak-minded to trade in crypto, but he was too adamant.

That’s understandable; you had quite the crypto experience; how did you go from there?

It was funny o! When this guy realised there wasn’t anything he could do to convince me otherwise, He gave me a choice, a gamble even. He said we could go out to a club, and he could either pay for my drinks today or give me the money with the condition that I invest it in crypto. If I did and made a profit, I would have to send him 5x. 

So what did you do?

Free 50K! What else was I supposed to do? I invested 40k in BTC, ETH SOL, and ADA at that time on Binance. They were really doing well, that was late 2019. I kept the 10k in my pocket; I wasn't going to invest everything o. The guy kept on checking up on me; he didn’t want to lose his funds either, you know.  He would call me to inform me about price fluctuations and send more courses.

I remember when I first made my $10 bonus profit omo, I felt like I had made it. It was at night like I literally screamed my landlord awake. I got some neighbours pissed, but I was super excited. I kept trading and lost the initial profit but I also made some profit. However, over time I learned how to read the market better and my wins became more than my losses. However, I was hesitant to hodl extendedly but then the crypto ban happened.

Oh, how did that affect your crypto experience?

I was into crypto at that time, but after the crypto ban, all family members and church members started calling, telling me to stop. In fact, I became an advocate of crypto sef, explaining that crypto trading wasn't banned, etc. The ban prompted the creation of several crypto communities, which offered some encouragement. We could share thoughts, updates, etc. 

What would you consider your biggest crypto win?

I finally decided to buy and hold BTC and ETH. It wasn’t like I had not traded BTC and ETH before, but I have never held them extensively.  It was around the time BTC hit $64k first. I bought BTC at $40k, and I watched it soar to $63,000.  On an average day, I would have sold it way before then, but for some reason, I chose to watch it grow in anticipation that the price would further increase. 

However, much to my shock, bitcoin continuously dipped after reaching its ATH of $64K like really dipped and even went below $30,000. Memories of the time that I had accumulated shit coins came back. I was in agony, wondering if it was all happening all over again. However, encouragement from experienced traders in my crypto community kept me holding on. I held and watched bitcoin soar past my initial buying price and even over its previous ATH. 

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

Don’t get swayed by the Hype. You have to be street smart and do the necessary research before investing in any cryptocurrency. Most times, it's all hype, and the cryptocurrency does not have intrinsic value. Also, don’t be scared of the dip; embrace it even.

Quick question, did you ever refund the money to your friend?

Of course, he collected x10 even, and he deserved much more. Plus, I could afford it at that time, so it didn’t really matter to me. I still try to follow in his steps, you know, by sharing my crypto knowledge and experience with others. But lowkey, if you don’t have the mind, don’t trade crypto; just save your funds jejely in USDT. 

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