My personal journey through the 5 stages of accepting Bitcoin

This is from Saylor's recent talk at Bitcoin Atlantis in Madeira where he showed that everyone goes through the 5 phases: denier -> skeptic -> trader -> investor -> maximalist. It is uncanny how exactly this happened with me and I distinctly remember how I encountered Bitcoin at every phase and how I progressed.

Denier: I first heard about it in sometime 2013 when I discovered dark web and how everything is paid in Bitcoin. I was fascinated that I could hire hitmen, get drugs etc. through this magic internet money. But didn't do any further research and unfortunately that was it.

Fast forward to December 2017 when my close friend was raving about how Bitcoin could have paid off our student loans had we 'invested' at the start of 2017. And we did a crazy transaction on Coinbase with $500 to send to another friend in a different country to utilize the arbitrage difference between the exchange rates of currencies. We felt like geniuses haha. I was still skeptical and thought it was a bubble.

Skeptic: July 2020 when Bitcoin crossed $10k again, I wondered how in the world did a bubble come back again. I still thought Bitcoin has no value then and instead invested in a shitcoin thinking it has utility right at the top and then it all crashed. I felt validated that it was a bubble. But I still held on to it though since it's money I don't need.

Trader: September 2023 when Bitcoin is around $25k level and I started getting curious on how it's again up 60% from the bottom when a bubble had to stay dead. Got some amount and converted to a shitcoin again after some gains. Got BITO and sold covered calls. Got burnt on both of them by not getting good returns and learnt the lesson that it should never be traded.

Investor: After this, I started reading Vijay Boyapati book, heard a ton of podcasts that had Breedlove, Saylor, Preston Pysh, Lyn Alden, Naval and finally realized what I have been missing. I will always remember the date - November 22, 2023 when I finally converted everything and added a decent amount into Bitcoin.

Maximalist (in progress): I continued learning and now I see everything priced in Bitcoin and the fiat debasement that's happening around us. I continue to DCA, add a lot on dips (after ETF approval) and now that I could fully see it's potential, I feel like I don't have enough of it. I continue to DCA responsibly (got a family) any amount that I don't need for at least 4 years and I am slowly orange pilling my wife. I tried to convince a couple of friends, but gave up after they clearly showed that they were not ready to learn. I had another friend who is really into this from at least 2019 but ironically into shitcoins for greater returns. He finally came around to move everything into Bitcoin after I convinced him and he realized that he could have had greater returns with much less stress by simply hodling.