Having been a bitcoiner for over 10 years, I have seen it at its lowest and highest points. It’s been quite the journey, one that feels almost full circle in ways. When I first learnt about Bitcoin back in 2011, there was essentially zero interest on what the fiat price of Bitcoin was. Fast forward 10 years and it seems to be the only thing that matters to most ‘crypto investors’. This obsession with the price, especially short term, is one that I don’t quite understand. A common fault of humans is the inability to lower their time preference and look any further ahead than what’s just around the corner.
So, in late 2021, I made an open offer on my Twitter to see if anyone wanted to participate in a challenge with me…
Unsurprisingly, I did not get one single taker. Maybe it’s because there was no money to be made in my bet. Or maybe it’s because the obsession with the price is too strong.
Nonetheless, I decided I was going to take on the experiment myself. As I brought in the year 2022 (on top of a mountain - see below picture!), I decided that I would not actively seek to learn the fiat price of Bitcoin for the entire year.
On top of Mt Solitary — Blue Mountains
It’s probably worth noting at this point that my life is 100% consumed by Bitcoin. I work in the industry full time and have for the last 6 years. So I knew attempting to not check the price of Bitcoin for the entire year would be quite a feat.
Day 1
During the holidays, whilst off work and enjoying plenty of nature time, I knew that it would be ‘easy’ to stay away from the price. I am already a non-trader, choosing to simply hodl my corn, so it’s not as if I ever felt the urge to make a trade. The hard part was going to be when I returned back to work and would have to speak with colleagues and industry people.
Day 3
Side note: I have been waiting for my browser to remove coingecko out of my top-visited sites. At the time of writing it has finally lost its spot in my most visited websites. Validation.
Day 6
Day 10
It was about 10 days into the challenge, after returning from a camping trip and getting back to work, that I started picking up on the general negative sentiment in the market. Whilst no price was uncovered, it was hard to ignore everyone panicking. Not me though!
Day 14
2 weeks into the challenge and people started to actually pay attention, realising that I was serious! When I started this experiment I honestly didn’t know how long I would last, nor did I have the ambitions to document it. It was at this point that I came up with the idea to do monthly wraps covering my journey, even if only for my own amusement and records.
Day 16
On day 16 I had my first glimpse of the actual number. However, this was not of my own doing. Unfortunately, someone tweeted at me with a screenshot of their phone's wallpaper which displayed the price. Even with my best attempts to quickly close down the page, I did happen to see the price - 40 something thousand.
Day 21
Unironically, that price discovery coincided with a couple of rough personal days, so some time away was needed to reset the mind. It did make me think… is checking the price of Bitcoin bad for your health? And so, the experiment continued.
Day 23
Navigating Bitcoin Twitter while trying to avoid the price has definitely been hard, but so far I was managing reasonably well. I am going to start implementing the mute function in Twitter to further assist with avoiding price discussion on my feed. The one thing that you can’t escape is everyone’s sentiment and distraught. At this point, it was obvious to me that another downward move likely occurred.
Day 30
It comes by no surprise that the easiest days are when I am completely detached from the internet and am out bush. More days like this are needed, both for the challenge and for my general health.
Day 31
Conclusion
It’s been a fun and challenging month trying to dodge the fiat price of Bitcoin. I am hoping as more of my friends, family, work colleagues & Twitter pals learn about my challenge the easier it will become. Of course, I fear that people will also begin to troll me and do their best to spoil the fun. I will be ruthless in dealing with these folks. Either way, I will do my best to document the journey as best I can along the way.
If you want to follow on a more regular basis instead of waiting for these monthly articles, you can give me a follow on Twitter where I am most active socially.
And if you have any questions, comments or thoughts, please don’t be afraid to reach out.
Until month 2, may your hands be strong!