I'm posting this in response to the #cryptofinance initiative by @theycallmedan entitled: How has Crypto and Blockchain Technology Impacted your Personal Finance?

Starting over

In the Fall of 2017, I was awarded a scholarship to spend six months in Germany as an exchange student. In January, 2018, I returned and found out that addicts had gotten into my place and everything I owned had been sold to pay for drugs. They actually set up tables in front of the building, told the neighbors that I had died and sold anything of value. Everything else was tossed into the trash including invaluable family memories such as the only video of my beloved late Grandmother, which I hadn't got around to digitizing. Childhood memories, one of a kind photos, all gone.

So I had to start over.

Before you start feeling too bad for me, I've learned in life that sometimes bad things happen that prevent even worse things from occurring and that's what happened here. The robbery was one of the only things that could have gotten me to leave and since then, the building has been devastated by COVID-19. So in a way, the theft very well may have saved my life. It also caused me to want to decentralize my life, which led me deeper into the world of crypto.

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As part of our journey in spreading awareness about crypto in general and LeoFinance and Hive in particular, I was talking with some friends about it. Since everyone was stuck at home due to lockdowns, This was a great opportunity to share since many people are facing unemployment and restrictions in their daily lives.

You know him, there's always that one naysayer where no matter what you're talking about, he has a negative mindset about everything. So as I'm explaining how crypto has opened up new possibilities for me he drops his bombshell: "What use is crypto? It's not like you can live off of it or anything!" Challenge accepted. I announced that throughout the month of August, I would survive only on the cryptocurrency generated through my accounts online, and would prove that even in dire straits, man can live on crypto alone.

And then I got to work.

Living the crypto life

They were particularly interested in how crypto could be translated into spending with a debit or credit card. I could have ordered one of the several cards offered in our industry, but decided to confine it to using my banks card. The one where they know nothing about crypto... I began by increasing my output in blogging and engaging with the community. I didn't have to worry about my living accommodations too much, as that was mostly taken care of, although I did use some tokens to supplement that. But food and everything else, could that be taken care of as well? As a famous politician once said: "Yes We Can!"

I had purchased some miners for a number of different tokens early on. I knew that some of the best returns occurred at the beginning, before the market was saturated and had jumped right in. The tokens could be staked to increase curation rewards, or sold to invest in even more promising areas with a better return. So with the miners chugging away and my posts adding to the pile like a small crypto snowball rolling downhill.

Since my account was linked to my bankcard, I showed the group how crypto could be transferred and loaded onto my card, and used normally. From blog/Dapp to exchange, to bank and back. Extra outside earnings could be invested in games like dDITY, which with the right cards can generate SIM, HIVE and other tokens that can be stacked or powered up to boost curation. They were amazed at how the interactions onscreen could morph into something tangible that they could actually understand. The point was that, aside from verifying two small deposits, I never needed to contact the bank again. I didn't need a special crypto-card, it just worked.

Once the experiment ended, it was clear nothing would ever be the same again. What began as an attempt to break down an arcane new concept, ended up impressing people and opening up new possibilities for all involved. I can actually see the rise of decentralized, self-sustaining communities structured around a common casting off the financial shackles that bind us. It also reawakened the love of blogging and ignited the joy of creating content which in turn, generates even more tokens.

It made me realize, that if I lost everything, I could still survive.

Helping hands