What a crazy time to be alive! Like many of you, I am a libertarian, and believe in smaller government. I remember studying economics in school around 2007-2008 and remembering how the government was doing the exact opposite of what basic economics dictates in free markets. By trying to convince us that certain companies are "too big to fail", we have set a dangerous precedent, while only masking the underlying problem temporarily. We have created incentive to not innovate. Why innovate if I am going to get paid either way? Why not gamble bigger and more risky if when I lose, I will be bailed out by the very people's money I gambled with? I thought it was hopeless. Enter Bitcoin.

I remember first hearing about Bitcoin through an online poker site called "Seals with Clubs". The government made it illegal for payment processors to accept poker payments, and thus ruined one of my jobs. Bitcoin was a way around this. Unfortunately for me, I decided to move on from online poker and didn't research much more into it. Fast forward to March 2017.

I got re-acquainted with an old college friend at my best friends bachelor party. He is one of those special human beings. Perfect grades in school with barely any effort. Incredibly nice, warm, and welcoming to all around him. Insanely good skier, and all around bad ass. He was an early adopter and had an insane mining setup at his house in the early days. I can only imagine how much BTC he holds today. He showed me how to download my first wallet, and sent me $20 in BTC as a gift to show me how it works. I also bought a share of ETH at around $30 during the same week. Watching the funds grow during the summer was incredibly exciting and my interest in crypto currency sky rocketed by the end of the summer.

By mid July, my $30 investment along with his $20 gift was over $400. I had been spending 5-10 hours a day reading/learning about the cryptoverse, and realized it was an answer to my once hopeless concerns about the corrupt nature of governments and institutions.

Most people hate waking up in the morning to go to work. When I open my eyes in the morning, I jump out of bed with enthusiasm and cannot wait to jump on my computer and read the news from while I was asleep. I never want to go to sleep because there is so much information to digest. I sometimes have to remind myself to eat. This is how I know I have found something that I need to delve deeper into. I want a job in this new emerging market. I have even taken it upon myself to teach myself coding languages. I just started learning Python this week.

I have been unlucky when it comes to money all my life. From skiing injuries throughout my 20's that left me bankrupt, to other health and banking issues. My ex girlfriend of 5 years decided that our car that we bought brand new together was her car. For the first time in my life I feel like I have an opportunity for financial independence. Free from high interest credit cards and making sure my bank account has enough money in it so they don't charge me fees. If you don't have a lot of money, it cost a lot of money to keep your money in a bank. Think about how ludicrous that sounds. Having effectively negative interest rates is criminal.

My name is Danny and I am proud to be a part of this community. Nice to meet you all!

If you want to help a broke ski bum with the next chapter of his life feel free to donate:

ETH: 0x36687D3dD26986E3349f3367E97bd22a64dB4523

BTC: 1JFyhp5dJfJWuw43nKez2Y26cd4qHhpdkH