What Does Crypto And Bitcoin Mean To You Personally?

I'm not talking about the technology, blockchain, philosophy and all those textbook answers. I'm talking about personally - financially, sure, but also emotionally, mentally, socially - what it means to you. How does it matter to you?

I guess I'll use myself as an example.

POLITICS

I live in Singapore. Government control is tighter than most places, and that's in the form of finance too. People here are actively discouraged from investing in Bitcoin and crypto, and encouraged to put money in CPF, the 401K of Singapore. Employees are forced by law to put a percentage of their paycheck in. The problem is, money that goes in is heavily controlled as if it doesn't belong to you. You get it back only if you hit a 'minimum sum' (which has been continually increased over the years) or if you're dead. The percentage you earn is like 4% a year, if that.

Thankfully, I'm a freelancer, so I'm not obligated to do this. Bitcoin to me, is the anti-CPF. This is as textbook an answer as it'll get. It represents freedom from the institution, and though with it comes risk, comes prosperity. I'm a bit of a misanthrope and a rebel. I've always lived on the fringes of society, the odd one out. So this fits me just fine.

FINANCE

I've put the majority of my net worth into Bitcoin, something like 70% of it. The rest goes to either altcoins, savings plan, the CPF I talked about (back when I was a company employee), and even a chunk in a startup (which I hope lives up to its unicorn aspirations).

Bitcoin and altcoins, put together, is basically the majority of what I saved up for the past 8-9 years. I won't give exact figures, but it's basically as much money as I would have earned in slightly over 2 years or about how much money I would have saved in 4 years - based on my current income.

I earn below median income in my country, and Bitcoin is my way to close the gap and more. This bullrun, it would mean gaining another 4.5 years of income or 8 years of savings for me on an average case scenario. Hell of a bonus considering I don't get any as a freelancer.

Then there's the matter of what I'd do with the boost Bitcoin could give me. Bitcoin will literally launch me into the next stage of financial development. It's only a matter of choosing the benefits. Is it a home? Or passive income from more stable investments? One thing for sure, plenty of it is going back to Bitcoin.

SOCIAL

Some of my most awesome memories that Bitcoin helped me create involves Bitcoin. I remember fondly the times when I'd talk about Bitcoin with my friends. We'd talk about our struggles together, and we'd dream about it together, sharing our goals and targets. It is a bridge from which we talk about life in general, where we hope to go in a few years time. Doesn't even have to be directly related to Bitcoin.

For him, it's part of his chance at a more international life, a digital nomad's life. It'd help him with his filmmaking aspirations too. For me, it's all of the above, and yes, financial independence.

Bitcoin and altcoins have somehow woven pretty deeply into my life, even if it doesn't become 'it'. It also becomes part of the cement that held my family together, and we've been drifting apart previously. We talked about it once in a while. My brother invests in it too after I talked to him about it, though he quickly went into Polygon Matic first I think. There's a bit of a sibling rivalry going on between us, and I'd like to think I beat him in terms of cryptocurrency lol since I didn't fall for any scams and I'm earlier than him. I believe I'm more invested into it than him lol.

My mother invests in it on my behest and though she's not doing well in it, I'm hoping that the situation reverses this bullrun. Bitcoin in this case, became an example of how parental control and expectations is eroded into nothing as the child grows older. Bitcoin was one of the final nails in the coffin. It's like a proxy war in the greater scheme of things when it comes to tradition VS innovation. These days, she wouldn't touch Bitcoin anymore beyond her initial investment, which was near the top. She didn't listen to me calling on her to invest on it at its lowest and pulled out her money the one time she did. She didn't benefit from the price action from 15k-37k...

For some reason, my father is cheering me on even though he doesn't dare touch Bitcoin himself no matter how many times I try to nudge him in that direction. He actually discovered Bitcoin sooner than me, but nearly fell into a scam if it hadn't been for me pointing out the fishy website he was about to send thousands of dollars to. Once again, an example of old VS new.

What is really sad though is that one of my friends didn't do so hot in the world of cryptocurrency. He went into Terra Luna and Anchor Protocol... And we all know how that went. For a long time, I blamed myself for it, but later on discovered from him that it wasn't my fault and we just so happened to be talking about cryptocurrency after he discovered it himself (not that I knew he discovered it before me). He lost a huge chunk of his savings, his wife's savings, his parents' savings (which he returned without telling them about Terra Luna's failure), and had to eat budget meals for years, at least, had to renovate his new home without hiring contractors, and had trouble paying for his new home.

Another friend of mine lost money on investments into random altcoins when we talked about Bitcoin and crypto. He had invested just before the entire crypto market began to enter the bear market - but it was fun when we talked about it while we were back in an army camp together. Surprisingly, it did not strain our relationship but I guess he understood that it was his decisions. I tried to get him into Bitcoin but he wouldn't touch it anymore. The topic came up once in a while.

Anyway, I think I'm beginning to ramble.

tl;dr Bitcoin is my way of rebelling, living a free life, potentially becoming financially free and independent and has become an ingredient in the cement that's loosely holding my family together. It served as a major topic between friends, though some suffered for it while some thrived.