My Electroneum Journey

Seems a lifetime ago…

I remember the days: Growing up; going through school; learning the stuff thrown in front of you as part of the curriculum; stuff that maybe sometimes interested you (but on the whole was damn bloody boring). I remember thinking to myself, “Show me something…” Show me something that is new; something that is pioneering, groundbreaking, interesting, and potentially something that could change the world and for the better… I’d often arrive at the conclusion: perhaps it would be something science-related; an invention! Yes, that had to be it – an invention that would change some of the wrong in the world.

I day dreamed about leaving school and finding something special in life, being part of a revolution perhaps; some great revolutionary idea that no one had thought of or something of that nature. This would make me make lots of money; would allow my parents to enjoy life more fully, and not have to work as much if at all. An opportunity, to be sure. An opportunity that knocks once in a lifetime; like buying into Microsoft or Nike at their inception, or buying Bitcoin at a penny. Helping my family in any way I could is something I have always wanted. “How could I accomplish this?” I often asked myself whilst bouncing from idea to idea. “Do well in school son and study hard! Get the grades then you can do whatever you want,” my dad would say. And yes, I knew what he meant, but wasn’t always on the same page with him. Nothing excited me. Years passed and a great career made, but still the opportunity that I was looking for (even though I didn’t know what it was) didn’t cross my path.

Remembering back, I first heard about Bitcoin (BTC) from my brother who was discussing it with his World of Warcraft friends online one night. I recall thinking, “That sounds really interesting, new, and where can I get some?” That was in 2010. It wouldn’t be until some years later when I managed to get my hands on BTC mainly because I didn’t know where to start in getting some. I wasn’t gaming anymore and unfortunately my brother didn’t even remember talking about it! Ruminating on the whole idea of a digital asset had definitely whet my appetite for blockchain technology and all the potential it could bring.

Fast forward another few years. Whilst researching for solid Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) with promise and potential, I was looking for that rough gem of a start up. You know, that uncut jewel of a project with all the ingredients to cook up a crypto-graphical tempest of a venture screaming: “I’m here and one day the whole world is going to know it and love me for it!!”.

After regimentally allocating downtime for myself apart from my day-to-day activities, I spent hours and hours painstakingly reading white paper after white paper searching for that diamond in the rough. Sure some of the project ideas were good, if not great, and the companies generally ticked the boxes – but nothing was getting me excited…

Seems strange to put this in print, but I remember the day, the evening actually, after what must have been a few weeks of searching for something to really make the hairs on the back of my neck prick up. It was then in that moment I stumbled upon something that really stood out from the rest. But what was different?

I’ve always been a people person, and I don’t know why but I’m usually spot on with my gut instincts especially when it comes to people. In view of this, after getting the gist of the roadmap and idea I tend to research the team before diving deep into an in-depth multiple page white paper, and in this instance who was the first person I saw? Richard Ells, of course. After looking into Richard’s background and achievements I had an automatic conclusion without question this was the project I was seeking. To this day I can’t explain it, and ultimately time is the teller of all, but I had this overwhelming feeling of trust, good will, and talent in Richard and had no doubt he was the man for this job, this task, this journey. I didn’t, and don’t, know Richard personally, but I knew I would be in safe hands jumping onboard this ICO. How right I was.

I read that white paper in sheer excitement, and then when I had finished reading it – I read it again. For only the simple fact I felt enthused and refreshed now with my long sought after ICO, and even more importantly could participate in comfort and self reassurance which hadn’t been the case with many of the other projects.

So it was safe to say I was hooked on Electroneum; furthermore, they were British! Everything about it rung home with me. Everything. The Mobile Miner, for one, excited me just imagining how that would work and the implications of using it as a gateway into the inevitable (IMO) economies of the future; espcially, of course, the unbanked population of this world. I mean the pure genius of Richard and the team tapping into specifically the smart phone user sector being roughly 2 billion people and growing was a clear winner for me. The more I researched the project the deeper I went down the ETN rabbit hole with no intention of leaving it.

I pounced on any and every opportunity to tell family, friends (and on a few occasions even complete strangers on a night out)! For the first time in the whole time I had been in the crypto space this was the ICO for me – so I invested as soon as it went live and boy was I excited. I was determined to spread ETN as far as I could in the little time the ICO was on for and with so many investing shortly after. In fact, I was so much so determined that I managed to get my home residence in the ETN most searched position for a day or two on Google trends! That was a great day for me. Would you believe I only got one referral bonus after all from my best friend? But it wasn’t my goal to push Electroneum to make money, so no worries there.

I remember a real buzz in the air in the ETN Telegram channel I had found – a feeling of anticipation and excitement! Almost like a communal knowing that we had each stumbled onto something very special and we were the first of a kind; the first of a kind to see and embrace a vision that came from the very foundations of a group of geniuses who we see today as a super successful company. In the days of just hundreds of people in the telegram chat I don’t really know much about the others, but I felt a growing bond with the daily increasing community and that was something I hadn’t seen with any other ICO community chats. Yes, it was early days, but it felt right and really good to now also be a “member of the family” so to speak.

I made many friends and talked with community members from every corner of the globe, gaining a position of chat admin which I was super proud of (but boy it got tiring). I think a question that will never go away from my memory is the amount of people asking, “When lambo?” lol

If there was ever a time in my life when I can say time seemed to slow down, I can say that time was with Electroneum. The delays, the updates, and the news (or no news) started becoming factors correlated with the price and faith over time, much the same as it would do with any project. I think it was down to the anticipation of this potentially massively successful project starting to set its cogs into motion: one brute of a machine that would run day and night through thick and thin, ups and downs, and still start the day firing on all cylinders – yes the team were certainly grinding it hard. I couldn’t wait to see it out there being used and having real utility, as this was lacking in the majority of other projects at that time and even now for that matter. For me this factor alone was super special about this vision pitched to us all. Utility is key to adoption and overall success IMO, and boy does ETN have it.

Days, weeks, and months passed… The time had come and the clock was stopped. The Electroneum ICO had finished and finished early. Hard cap was reached and the goal had been met, breaking records in doing so I must add. Success!!

Little did we all know there was a vicious attack only weeks away that would unfortunately yet temporarily halt Richard and the team in their tracks.

I don’t want to cover the d-dos attacks in detail as it is now pointless, but it’s safe to say there were certain individuals making life difficult for the team. As most of the community know, matters were swiftly handed over to Hackerone after attempting to go live, and after the dev team made their code modifications and upgrades to fortify Electroneum from such attacks – And what a fantastic job they did! We were solid, solid as it gets and even more importantly a seal of approval from one of the biggest Hacker fortification companies out there. I mean even the US ministry of defence use them!! Serious!

We were away to the next stage and that was the launch; again, however this time we weren’t going down without a fight! The delays, the FUD, all took their toll but the long hours and hard work had paid off. The launch in November was a walk in the park compared to the first attempt. Job done and done well. The software attacks continued, but that ETN machine just kept plowing straight through them all – they were no longer a threat to ETN.

Now it’s a general certainty that people who invested are looking for a return on their investment. I mean they weren’t doing it to lose money were they. Building up to going live on the first exchange, Cryptopia, there was general concern amongst some investors that because of the bonus offered in the ICO – effectively free coins – the vast amount of that free ETN would be dumped. With certain individuals that indeed happened, but what really stood out were the growing HODL gang members, as NWO likes to call them, who I believe were not selling. “Not selling for all the tea in China!” I recall being told by one.

I admit, initially I took a little profit as well, but left the bulk of my investment on the table. At least 90%. I, too, wasn’t going to sell and was going to Hold On for Dear Life! As it was, the market was showing signs of massive growth and adoption. Google analytics went off the scale with crypto activity and all people were talking about was Bitcoin and crypto. It was exciting and a whirlwind of a time. Ups, downs, and everything in between. Electroneum hit it’s all time high, as did many other alt coins, and of course BTC did it’s thing too – but that wasn’t to remain the case moving into the new year. Oh no, the market had an entirely different agenda due to certain powers of this world, influence, and damn right BS which I won’t go into now (but to put it simply they wanted to get their grubby mitts on our precious coins – and cheap)!

Now fast forward some more as I’ve heard just about enough of the phrase

“B…r market”. Perhaps Beer market is better!!!

Anyway I’m skipping that as it was painful and it gives me nightmares lol.

But in all seriousness it was a trying time for all investors in crypto and really tested the weak from the strong hands. It tested our patience, our faith in the project and in the cryptocurrency space as a whole; but it was not the first, and certainly won’t be the last.

Having already taken a little profit and hodling the rest, I wasn’t too worried and kept my composure (apart from one isolated occasion, when I wasn’t too well and had a few too many to drink, and threw my toys out of my pram in main chat yata yata…whilst being an admin also! Not my proudest moment but was safe to say I was relieved of my duties.) Lets just leave that there…but hey! We all make mistakes right?! :hugs:

So, many exchanges later, deal announcements, partnerships, upgrades and all of the other awesomeness that Electroneum have brought to this world: we are here where we are right now today and it feels great! Truly great it is to be a member of a fantastic, friendly and pioneering project, company and community. So great, in fact, I know this is my opportunity of my lifetime. I found it – finally.

So stupendously great I even liquidated my entire portfolio to consolidate into ETN; after all, October is going to be a HUGE month!! NB (I’m not a financial advisor so don’t rely on my actions as sound)

So stunningly great my entire family is invested, as well as my friends and their families.

I often try to be reminded of how unfortunate some of the people that live in this world with us are (us being of the first world population). We don’t know we are born half the time, and I’ll be the first too admit I also have forgotten this from time to time.

From living in dangerous, unhealthy, and dirty conditions to fighting life every day just to put that meal on the table for the family is where Electroneum will make the biggest impact: the poor.

Electroneum is a beautiful and complete solution into the unbanked population; a way to put value into the hands of the people who really need it. These people are desperate for that little hand of help, that hand held out to guide them through to a better life filled with opportunity. I truly believe ETN is an answer – if not The answer. This is my wish; this is the goal I wish to see for those communities, families and so fourth: Income, prosperity, and improved value of life and that Electroneum will make this happen… In fact, it already is. With the new cloud mining platform so close to launch for iOS, the android mobile miner and the instant payment patent – mass adoption is coming, mark my words.

Just watch!

Thank you for reading and being part of this historic movement with me which is our beloved Electroneum and finally congratulations to Richard Ells: Chris Gorman: the Electroneum Knights, Imogen and the whole Electroneum team for doing such a superb job! Well done guys and keep up the outstanding work!

Yours, CDEX

Nice Read and liked the way how you put them in words…

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Well Done :bow_and_arrow::bow_and_arrow::bow_and_arrow:Indeed, Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.

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What a great read. I can only say I know the feeling. Having no technical clue whatsoever but when someone pointed out Electroneum to me I also got this feeling in my stomach of it being very special. I could get really aggressive when reading some really dumb FUD. Leaving a cranky remark here and there but now it is their loss and if they still don’t see the potential, well I ain’t gonna fix them. Now every month I invest a little more. Feeling good and hopefully it will be my pension too. In my opinion Electroneums future and for the HODL GANG is looking bright :+1::muscle:

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Fantastic post, You made me actually laugh there. It’s a great story and one to be shared.

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Thank you CDEX, Not only for your story but also for your excitement and passion, your desire, like mine is to be a witness to one of the most innovative and revolutionary initiatives to enter the crypto space and this is a huge space to fill. Sadly hundreds of projects designed to be tech savvy are thought provoking are intuitive but fall well short of the mark, telling someone your going to be great one day because you wear red socks isn’t walking the walk. ETN on the other hand, was similar for me as it was for you. I really value what people feel and think, what actions they take and how that affects the imagination and desire of individuals to share there dreams and ambitions. I have decided to follow your great example, and if you don’t mind link arms with you and tell the story of my ETN journey so far, it would be refreshing and enjoyable reading what challenges and victories each of us have dealt with while learning to walk with ETN. I hope your honesty and genuine chracter encourages an army of writers to step forward.

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Fantastic article. I enjoyed reading your journey from the begging to the end, You could not have described it better. Well done.

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Beer Market lol I love it! Yes I found myself nodding my head a lot reading your most excellent article.I too played WOW and still am a gamer. I too did research and kept waiting for that Ah HA moment. So many similarities that I am sure so many of us feel and have had and are still having. Feel the belonging to something you want to see grow and not just for the reason of profit but to see something actually create change and do something wonderful where one individual can begin to dream again and make that dream become a reality, what ever it may be for them. That is what Electroneum had delivered to me and I am as stoked today as I was on the first day I signed up in ICO land! Where ever this crazy train is going I am all in!!!

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Well voiced hear hear!!

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