Name: Toni

Country: Croatia

How long have you been into Bitcoin and what got you interested?

First time I heard about Bitcoin was around 2011 on the Keiser report, because I followed that show from time to time to get an alternative view on economics. At the time I was interested in the censorship resistance of Bitcoin, but unfortunately I hadn't dived in and researched it thoroughly to find out about other properties. Even if I understood how important Bitcoin is at the time, I was a broke college student with barely enough money to pay for my current expenses. However, I kept an eye on Bitcoin in the years after that and finally decided to start learning about it properly at the end of 2017 during the mania. After that, in the beginning of 2018, I started investing into Bitcoin as well. Although I was fascinated by Bitcoin even at the start, It took me about 6 months during 2018 to begin to grasp the absolutely revolutionary nature of Bitcoin, to disregard all other noise and go Bitcoin only.

Best Bitcoin experience and worst Bitcoin experience?

I don't have a single moment to point out as the best Bitcoin experience, however I can say that the way Bitcoin reduces your time preference is an amazing experience. Also, considering I haven't been into Bitcoin for a long time, it's incredible to experience how number go up technology works and how amazing it is as a savings vehicle. The worst Bitcoin experience I would say was at the beginning of my journey when I was a degenerate gambler and tried to increase my stack by doing some trades on Bitmex. Of course I got liquidated after a while, but I'm also kind of grateful for that experience.

What is the biggest fail you have seen in the Bitcoin world?

Although there were many big fails during and before my time in Bitcoin, the one that got me the most personally was when Robert Breedlove shilled bitclout. This one comes to my mind first, although objectively there were bigger fails. Probably because Breedlove seemed like a guy who gets it, and was always talking about morality and how only Bitcoin matters. The morality part of it is what got to me the most, because I can't comprehend how you can preach about it so much and then go and do something so obviously immoral like pumping your bags by dumping on followers. After this, I can't take that guy seriously or even care about what he says.

How did you get into memeing about Bitcoin?

I joined twitter about a year before I even started commenting, liking and retweeting stuff. I just used the app to follow Bitcoiners who I thought had something smart to say, and to learn from them. About a year into it, I started commenting a bit and then I found people like Labrahodl, Gregzaj and Seanstackn. I saw the memes they did, which inspired me to do them myself. When I started doing them it was so much fun, especially because of interactions with other plebs.

What’s it like being an anonymous Bitcoin pleb who memes about donkey Bitcoin influencers?

It's great! You get to call out whoever you want. People can agree or disagree, IDGAF. It's so much fun triggering people with memes, although after a while you get blocked by most of these people, so it's much harder to find material over time 😂

What is your favorite Bitcoin meme of all time?

Classic ones like Hodl, number go up, Bitcoin fixes this, etc. are great, but for me personally the best ones are the ones I do internally with my fellow memetards. It's kind of hard to single out one, but if I have to choose, I'll say when we did chinese letters. I'm not sure if people will remember that one, but we started adding pics of chinese businessmen to our profile pics and adding chinese letters. It took only a couple of hours for the whole Bitcoin twitter to be in chinese. That one had me rolling. I also love meme threads that we do from time to time. Those can be hilarious. 

What is the worst blowback you have had from one of your memes?

To be honest I don't care about blowback, so it's a bit hard to even remember which one got the most. Whenever you do a provocative meme or you meme influencers, you will always get people who are offended by something or people who come in to defend their favorite influencer. What actually annoys me the most are people who don't get memes and want them explained and picked apart.

Who is the biggest Bitcoin sell out that deserves to be put on blast?

I don't know if I can classify him as a Bitcoin sell out because I don't even consider him a Bitcoiner, but I would say Peter McCormack. I don't understand why so many Bitcoiners still seem to like him and watch his show. Out of people who I considered as Bitcoiners, I would say Robert Breedlove for reasons I explained earlier.

Why is it important to call out the bad actors?

First of all, I think it's important to make people think twice before doing similar stuff. Also, I think it's important to encourage discussions from which people will learn, especially noobs.

What do you think about the current Bitcoin price considering the inflationary and chaotic world we are living in?

Obviously I think that Bitcoin is extremely underpriced, but to be honest I don't care that much about the current price. All I can say is that I think Bitcoin is the truth and that it is inevitable. As far as I'm concerned, if you have cash flow and you can cover your current expenses, the only thing that should matter is the long term and in the long term Bitcoin wins.

Where do you see us headed?

It's really hard to predict anything in this clown world, especially short term where governments and the media jump from crisis to crisis and try to scare people with the next "current thing". Like I said earlier, I think the best thing you can do is think about the long term and take care of your family.

What is something you wish you had learned earlier in your Bitcoin journey?

I'm not a technical person, so at the start I thought running your own node was much more complicated than it is. I wish I learned earlier how easy it actually is, and how amazing you feel when you know you can do it all by yourself and that you don't need a third party. That's also why I think people like McCormack have a negative influence on noobs, because they scare people at the start of their journey.

Why do you think some people, especially noobs gravitate to shitcoins or NFTs?

I think the simple answer is greed. I think a lot of people saw what Bitcoin did and hope they'll be lucky and pick something like Bitcoin, which will change their life. In my opinion, what they should do before investing in anything is learn about Bitcoin and how it works, what a blockchain is, and what it is actually used for. Unfortunately these people gravitate towards YouTube scammers who profit from these noobs, because they are lazy in most cases and don't want to put in the time needed to learn. Good thing is, some of these people who get rekt will then start learning about Bitcoin and why it matters.

How do you feel about NFT’s?

I think NFT's are scams which are mostly used for money laundering. It's ridiculous to me that people think they have something unique if it's digitally signed in some database, when you can have the same exact file with a right click - save as. Also, I think a lot of people fall for the story that you have legal copyright without actually understanding how it works.

Who are some of the most hardcore Bitcoiners you know and why?

There are many hardcore Bitcoiners who I like, too many to mention here, but I'd like to give a shoutout to my fellow memetards. I think people like Fullmetalhodl, LC Hodl, Andhans, Patrick Blake, Spinte, Seanstackn definitely fall into this category. I love these guys because they are honest and will call out bullshit as soon as they see it, no matter who it involves. To top it all off, they usually do it in a hilarious manner which I enjoy very much.

Why do you think people shit on Bitcoin Maximalists?

I think the simple answer is because people don't like to hear the truth. People outside of our community think that we are a cult or something, but in my experience the problem is people don't realize that we put a lot of effort into trying to understand Bitcoin and the incentives around it. I also think people don't realize that most Bitcoiners went through a shitcoin phase and had to think it through. Having said all of that, I think Bitcoin maximalists enjoy people getting angry at them. In fact, I have a feeling we try to even amplify it, because we enjoy seeing people get triggered.

What Bitcoin startups or companies are you most excited about?

To be honest, I haven't been paying that much attention lately. The one I was most excited about last year was Strike, but we still don't have it in Europe. It actually became a meme because we are waiting on it for so long. Other than that, I am excited to see how the lightning network continues developing. Since I'm running my own lightning node, I'm excited to see new apps or improved apps for managing the node. Especially in terms of managing inbound and outbound liquidity.

What are your goto Bitcoin storage options?

I use a hardware wallet. I don't like to advertise specific products because all of them have trade offs, and it's hard to know which one fits someone the best without knowing their personal preferences.

Any tips you want to give to people new to Bitcoin?

The best advice I can give is try to learn and read as much as you can, have an open mind, don't get frustrated by price movements, and always just continue stacking.

Name some of your favorite information sources and/or podcasts in the space.

Two of my favorite websites are Gigi's website https://bitcoin-resources.com and Nakamoto institute https://nakamotoinstitute.org. I think these two websites contain pretty much every source regarding Bitcoin or Austrian economics. I especially love articles from Bitstein, Pierre Rochard and Gigi. There's a lot of podcasts in the space these days, but I'll give a special shout out to Blue collar plebcast from my fellow memetard LC Hodl, which I very much enjoy listening to.

Any final words of wisdom?

I don't have anything wise to say, I'll just add that I'm so glad that I joined this community. There are so many amazing people in this space, and it feels great to meet plebs with similar interests in this community. I've had the privilege of meeting a few of them IRL and it was a great experience. I Can't wait to meet a lot more of them in the coming years! Thanks for having me!

Stay highly regarded frens!