Around this time last year is when I purchased my first Bitcoin.
I was working in China at the time, teaching English and yoga classes in Beijing, and earning most of my money through WeChat's wallet function. For those of you who have not heard about WeChat or Tencent, it's probably the most fully functional communication platform out there, and especially in China where it is integrated into most aspects of daily life. It supports instant transfers and payments in several different fiat currencies, though I suspect that very few people use those functions outside of China. One could easily spend months in China without ever having to pay for anything in cash, assuming that you have enough money in your WeChat wallet. I'm sure I will get back to this topic of digital payments later on as I delve deeper into the vast world of cryptocurrency and how it is being integrated for quick and easy digital payments.
One great thing about South Africans is that they seem to stick together wherever they go, and hence I made a good friend with another South African through a WeChat group. He had been successfully trading Bitcoin for quite some time, and I spoke with him often to get his take on the market and the best time for me to buy in. I registered with a small Chinese exchange called Bitkan, a peer-to-peer trading platform which also supports WeChat as a method of payment. When my well-informed friend gave me the green light to buy in, I did so quickly and at a very low price.
As it turns out, this would be the start of a theme in this journey, which we will return to in future instalments. The reason for the big value retracement (some of you may remember this from last year) were the rumours about heavier government regulation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets in China. This certainly worked in my favour at the time, seeing as I almost immediately started seeing the value recovering.
I was already nearing the end of my stay in China, and so I purchased more Bitcoin whenever I could, up to the point when I returned home. I sold a small portion of my Bitcoin and was able to support myself for several months while earning small amounts from teaching yoga classes, which is my regular gig. I was impressed that I was able to avoid ever having to open a bank account while staying in China for 11 months, seeing as it can be quite a laborious process from what I've heard.
If there is anything to take away from this first instalment about my exploration into cryptocurrency, it is to seek help from those with more experience and to accept their advice readily. Later on in this series, we will see just how that advice can sometimes become redundant as we begin to gain experience, and become able to determine for ourselves what the best decision will be.
Namaste for now! 🕉