Here is my story of how I earned my first Bitcoin. It was a Sunday evening, the second in February 2018. Night came briskly, as it had rained earlier. I was inside pressing my shirts in preparation for a new week at the high school where I taught Physics and Mathematics. "doink"; my phone chimed, I picked it up, and it was my old friend P.O, as everyone fondly calls him. His full name is Paul Oyero, and he had sent me a chat on Whatsapp. In his message, he said that he came across a blockchain platform where someone could earn some 'freebies.' All the requirement was just to have a wallet address and some social media accounts.
Photo credit Hitesh Choudhary
Earning from Airdrops
His chat explained what an airdrop was about in just a couple of lines and the platform on which it was based (citing Ethereum). He included a link for me to get a wallet address (myetherwallet.com). He also kickstarted my airdrop journey.
In the chat, he mentioned that he would add me to a Whatsapp group. However, the first rule of thumb was that "I would not just leave, at least not without a good cause, else he would be affected too." This rule gave me some degree of confidence that the strictness could only be because it was a legitimate platform and that they only needed focused individuals. As a result, I decided to do some homework about the information I received. I launched my chrome browser and searched for the keywords in the message he sent to me (Ethereum, Airdrop, Blockchain Technology). A few other words (Bitcoin, ICO, decentralization, IPO, bounty, bitcointalk) came to my , and I ensured I searched for the meaning of all and took notes. This helped me to flow along when I was added to the group.
Photo credit Jae Rue
In the group, all they did was share airdrop links and advise everyone to fill these airdrops. If you don't know what is airdrop, it is a freebie you receive for engaging in some activities of new crypto projects. I started filling these forms, and continued to pick up every bit of information shared in the group. There are a couple of professionals on the platform. They motivated newbies by sharing testimonies as older members cashed out from airdrop.
Gradually, I started having different types of token in my Ethereum wallet address. Before the end of February, I had over ten different types of tokens. In the first week of March, one of the blockchain veterans and admin in the group [Precious] rewarded me 10$. It was for proving myself to be a self-starter and for taking the activity so seriously. He mentioned my hard work would pay soon.
Not long after, the majority of us who had filled this particular form received an email from the administrators of the project. They mentioned about a week from that date, they would be swapping the token in our wallets.
The swap would be automatic, and all we had to do was wait it out. This caused us to discuss and share knowledge about token exchange in the group and what it meant. The bottom line - the swap would not affect what we have received earlier. It would only render the former token useless once the new one hits the wallet. The token in question was "Hydro" of the Hydro Labs Project. e had been airdropped 222,222 units of Hydro each. A new (swapped) batch of 222,222 hydro was distributed to holders of the older version of the token. Among whom I was a beneficiary.
In the third week of April 2018, Mercatox exchange-listed Hydro on their platform, and the price started moving gradually. At $35, some members of my group decided to sell theirs and cash out as soon as possible. They feared that the price might drop (who would have blamed them). I did not join the early sellers because I was in for the long haul and wouldn't go through the stress of airdrop hustle for crumbs. Days passed, and Hydro token became the talk of the town. The first week of May, the discussions of this asset has taken over the entire crypto community, it was always talks of hydro, holders kept selling and non-holders were either buying or 'buying back' as the price kept pumping.
I watched my portfolio grow, and I still didn't flinch even as my portfolio made a smooth ride past 300$. Alas, on Friday the 11th of May, my portion of 222,222 hydro was already showing about 578$. I had quite a difficult decision to make because a couple of guys in my group had sold theirs earlier. Just a few of us were remaining. We were wondering whether to sell or no. The big question was, "What if it drops"?
On that day, I decided to sell 90% of my Hydro token and keep the remaining 10% for later should the price continue to rise. I transferred the token to my mentor and friend, Precious, to assist with the selling even though I had earlier learned how to trade on exchange platforms(I wanted him to do the honours). Before 5 pm that day, 200,000 units of my Hydro token was exchanged on Mercatox for bitcoin worth $520; my first ever bitcoin earned in the crypto space! The total funds after conversion was One hundred and eighty-two thousand Naira (#182,000). was transferred to my account that same evening.
This was a very massive win for me and an event that will always be fresh in my memory, mainly because I only earned twenty thousand nairas (#20,000) a month as a teacher. I had just earned my nine-month pay in a single day for doing seemingly next to nothing. 'Just an airdrop form' -- Christmas just came early for me thanks to Bitcoin.
Contrary to my fear of price falling, hydro kept surging until 222,222 units of hydro were about three thousand dollars ($3,000). I was not sad that I sold my tokens earlier. It was because I made a call to sell when I felt okay with the price of the token. Also, at this point, I sold my 10% reserve (22,222 units) for about $250.
How I moved from airdrops to other Crypto jobs
I used part of the funds generated from my first Bitcoin transaction to buy a brand new HP 15 laptop. Moreover, I doubled my crypto hustle. I started applying for community management and content writing jobs. Within a month of application, I got about two jobs. Ever since, I have worked for over five different projects as a community manager, two as an ambassador (including Credits blockchain), and four as a content writer. In July 2018, I contested for Waves Dex review for content writers. Luckily, I came to the first runner up winning 50 Waves coin (about $150). This feat led to my appointment as Waves community Ambassador. My adventures in blockchain/crypto wonderland have been an amazing one till today. And I continue to add more feathers to my cap.
