Bitcoin (BTC)

I bought my first bitcoin on February 5th, 2013. I spent $50.10 and netted 2.44114706 bitcoin at $20.40 each. At today's rate, that's worth about $2,657.16. I kept buying through all of March and April that year and though I lost quite a bit on a bitcoin miner I melted, I also paid off my house this year.

Steemit (STEEM)

Fast forward to 2016 and along comes Steemit. @sean-king and @billbutler (both I know IRL... "In Real Life..." remember when that was a thing back in the days of AOL chat?) told me to get onboard the Steemit train. I dropped some bitcoin in, and it's been a wild ride ever since. I bought at $0.28 per STEEM ($310.48 worth) and $1.00 per STEEM ($5,843.52 worth). I later sold some STEEM on bitrex, but nowhere near the top. I was powered up by then and all-in on the Steemit dream. It was sad to watch the price drop from $4 down to $0.07, but I was also loving the community and the blogging rewards. I've written more in these last 9 months than any other time period in my adult life. I was also around during the inflation days, so my Steem Power was increasing all the time. I began to realize how awesome some non-bitcoin cyrptocurrencies can be. In the past, I played around with a couple coins. Made some money on Quark when Max Keiser pumped it on his show, but also lost out on some other now dead coins. With that experience, I figured trading isn't for me, and I'll stick with bitcoin. But Steemit changed all that. Well, this weekend, with all the drama around Bitcoin lately (Will it fork? How will they solve the increasing fees and blocksize issue?), I decided to branch out a bit. Things were going crazy with Ethereum, Dash, Monero, and many others I had been thinking about purchasing for some time. So I had to start somewhere. ![pivx.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPUZWtHC62uwrCpecYgavu2JXJk3Nb3mBDtUihZBTwhBF/pivx.png)

Private Instant Verified Transaction (PIVX)

I started with PIVX because of a post I saw here on Steemit. On March 17th, I bought 1,000 at 0.00009930 each ($109.86 worth). As I learned more, I bought another 5,000 that same day at 0.00010450 each ($578.05 worth). Here's what that looks like right now:

That's $2,501.76 in potential profit from a $687.90 investment.

*Crazy.* Here's the crazier thing: I haven't sold anything yet to realize that profit. Logically, I should. I should get my initial investment out, at least, and ride with the rest, right? If I had done that with STEEM, I could have made a nice profit. I should... but I've also heard too many stories of those who proudly made insane profits selling bitcoin for a couple dollars. They made the *"right"* move also, but they surely regret it now. If this Private Instant Verified Transaction (PIVX) coin is moving towards more privacy while improving on things DASH got right, that sounds like a really good thing. I also really like the Manifesto:

PRIVACY is non-negotiable, it’s a basic human right. FREEDOM is everything. TECHNOLOGY is advancing, GOVERNANCE must also. Privacy ALLOWS the freedom to share what you wish with EVERYONE, but also the freedom to RESTRICT who sees your information. We believe this is each person’s CHOICE. GOVERNANCE is used to further objectives and FUND development. The DAOS are untouchable. Join us WHEN you like, WHY you like, and, for AS LONG as you like. Lets explore ALL the options TOGETHER. You are IMPORTANT to US, It’s TIME we harnessed your FULL potential.

Another thing I really like about PIVX is the Proof of Stake reward system. Unlike most systems which only rewarwd the major players/miners for their efforts (i.e. masternodes in this case), PIVX rewards anyone who runs a full-node wallet and stakes their holdings. Based on the amount you stake, you have the chance of earning some newly minted coin. I got lucky last night and scored two rewards within six hours:

It took me a day or two of tinkering around with it over the weekend before I got the wallet set up and properly staking. After that, I thought things weren't set up correctly because I had a couple conflicted rewards come through (meaning my wallet thought I had minted some new coin, but in reality I was in a conflicted state with the blockchain). The QT wallet with their custom skin looks quite nice:

Here's the thing: I won't tell you to invest in PIVX. I shouted from the rooftops to my friends to invest in bitcoin and many, unfortunately, only took me seriously once it peaked out above $1,000 at the end of 2013. They bought in and watched it go all the way back down to $250 or so. Many, I fear, sold at a loss instead of waiting for it to recover this year. When I suggested they get into Steemit, they had no interest. With the price drop that followed, they may have made a good choice, from a certain perspective. As I said above, I did alright because I kept blogging and powering up my rewards. PIVX may be no different. This surge may come crashing down and this coin may be ignored from here on out. I've seen it before. So don't take my advice, but please do know there are some amazing cryptocurrencies out there beyond just bitcoin. ![bts.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXdz1QwmsFeXFdKaALeZh2LG7VuoNmtAYbvmNFG1YsdQz/bts.png)

BitShares (BTS)

Which brings me to BitShares, Dan Larimer's creation prior to Steemit. Today I bought 300,000. Two days ago I bought over 130,000. This is another one of those coins which I think may have a great future. It's possible many don't understand how useful it can be to businesses and to those who need pegged assets with smart contracts. I'm just getting into it myself, and there's so much more to learn. Here are my full holdings so far:

I plan to continue learning about BitShares and diversifying into other cryptocurrencies as well. This is not only the future of money, but of business, governance, and maybe even some day, law without violence, just protocols. Thank you, Steemit, for showing me there's more to cryptocurrency than just bitcoin. I'm excited about the future. **What altcoins are you excited about and why?** ----- **EDIT:** To be clear, this is not investment advice. It's also not a promotional piece. This is my own personal story. If you are investing, do so based on your own research and, please, only invest what you are willing to lose. -----

Luke Stokes is a father, husband, business owner, programmer, voluntaryist, and blockchain enthusiast. He wants to help create a world we all want to live in.