Educational story provided by a wise old man.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmYwH2LzdborRBb2ZUWqMBWNRAy3Z6xBRarYrDdYxqTBib/20170615_155020.jpg

The last time I saw him, he noticed my cell phone, and took to it quite quickly. A few days later he purchased a tablet. A month after that I received some mail, it was return postmarked and it only contained a 16gig micro SD card. After transferring the files I paged through a few pictures then opened the text file.

"Told your father all about Bitcoin in the summer of 2009. I could tell he wasn't listening before I finished talking, he can be like that. I decided to goto the public library, and use their free internet to find out more about this. It was tough to get started because little was known, or, I didn't find very much information until about the summer of 2010. I can see potential in this, and I need to know more.
My first attempt to purchase bitcoins lead to me receiving geocaching coins, that are pretty much worthless. I paid 15 dollars each, while the price listed online for each bitcoin is 30, I should have known better, I will figure this out.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmTM1yG2CtPovBQdciYwmcH1pQbgsJABjUVHWPbGaaRWnZ/00j0j_3cxewMItryC_600x450.jpg

My second attempt, I will use Ebay, that way I can get my money back if its not what I wanted. Price is now 60 each. Ill get 10. I have a wallet now, its downloaded and synced, but no bitcoins arrive. Two weeks later, I receive some mail, with only 1 piece of paper inside. These are my 10 Bitcoins.

https://steemitimages.com/DQma8uAcYhVUSUMUWiqSZBMsBH5eHwbRTfDkhahd3QDdQVW/thumbnail_20170617_132836.jpg

A failure is just learning in disguise. I will succeed. Instead of purchasing them, I will make them. Lets try this out and see if its possible.

The mining was slow going, as I only had these USB keys to start with, but the price is going up quickly and they pay for themselves pretty fast. With a little bit extra Bitcoin, I put it into a wallet for donations, Ill keep 50% of what I can take.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmeVgahGXfKnan1dAuXByyrETqr5F48yEccq2tpHhur2zN/20170617_142734.jpg

The bits that I'm getting add up quickly, and I am also receiving Namecoin too, so that's a nice bonus. I picked up quite a few very cheap after a fork.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmTcUUBbXXN3Pjf35kVHEmSyBXVQiQLW5CjorUznXsXscJ/slush.jpg

I decide to invest in myself, and purchase a KNC Mercury miner hoping to make more in the process. $2100USD later and now just to wait for my purchase. When it arrives I am off hashing. I join a pool and take what I can get. I see lots of new coins popping up, and send some hash to a few different places. Most of them are failures, and my time is lost. I suspect that some were just using my computer to mine for bitcoins. Another lesson learned.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmQsTnkk8Q9XM7G3jCo7Ws7qTJCB5SFrTZn1qANm3r49RC/bitminter.jpg

November 29th, 2013, I can see there's a problem. The prices at one exchange are going through the roof. I decide to exchange some more Bitcoins. I exchanged 11BTC, and put 5 away for safe keeping. Later 40 ounces of silver show up, of which I give out half to others.
My investment for the KNC miner is now even, and the rest will be extra. I paid taxes on everything cashed out to currency, as it is a debt, and always worth less. The KNC company runs into some problems, I'm guess I'm lucky I received mine. I put some away, and the learned to fly.

December 30th 2015, it was a sad day. Getting excited to hook up the miner, an accident occurred, and the miner has died. I picked up a 3D printer for myself too (for the hard work).

I was able to exchange for some more money as time went on... Even some of these Titan Mint .999 silver ounce coins, and .999 gold 1 tenth gram leafs.

https://steemitimages.com/DQmQdNVVXj96VHHXzdvYN4dghEcLN4JEqYEiDruiUCt2fht/20170617_151449.jpg

The minor bits of trading I have done have enabled me to give out several thousand dollars in real money, and cryptocurrency. While there is a substantial difference between the two things, they can both be used to exchange for goods and services. They are both currency, because they can both be exchanged for money.

He was very quiet about giving money and crypto, as he is unemployed, and needed everything he already had. But, decided to give what he needed, so that others could have some too. Some called him crazy, for various reasons throughout his life, and giving away these things didn't help his case. Some stories are worth telling anyways.

Sometimes getting all the facts about something will make you feel crazy.
Sometimes its the way others treat you when you have these facts, will make it much worse."

https://www.providentmetals.com/pr/provident-accepts-bitcoin-dogecoin-litecoin.html
https://silvergoldbull.com/payment#bitcoin
https://www.amagimetals.com/info/bitcoin/

I wish I had the chance to meet my great grandfather, I bet he was crazy too.
Thank you for reading.

Mad Hatt .