Humble Bitcoiner

Just in time for @LuganoPlanB, I've prepared new ready-to-flash microSD card images for the R36S and RG28XX handhelds! Both come with a multilingual version of Hero of Bitcoin, including a fresh Italian beta for the Lugano crowd 🇮🇹 I'll bring handhelds and games! Already picked up a handheld at a previous conference or through @copiaro? Stop by our booth or get in touch via heroofbitcoin.xyz/?lang=en#s…

After looking into the technical aspect of things, I want to say something to the people who lost a significant amount of Bitcoin because of the Coldcard RNG issue. I know that nothing anyone writes right now will undo what happened. For some of you, this was years of work, savings, sacrifice and plans for the future. It may feel like your entire life changed in a few minutes. But your life did not end last week. Why am I saying this and what do I even know? A few years ago, I went through the worst period of my life. I had a severe infection and spent months almost entirely in bed. My body was shaking constantly. I could barely walk for ten minutes. Some days I could only look at a screen for a few minutes before everything became too much. My wife was taking care of our little children, one of them almost newborn, while also trying to take care of me. Sometimes she only had to ask me to help for a moment and I would immediately start sweating because my body had nothing left. At the same time, I watched my Bitcoin portfolio collapse. I had been in Bitcoin since 2013. I knew the fundamentals. I had trained myself for years not to panic and not to sell at the bottom. I still sold around 80 percent of my stack in 2020, close to the bottom. And I do not regret it. It was the only sane decision. There was a real possibility that I would not make it. I wanted to know that my family had enough cash for the essential things and still had a decent Bitcoin stack left if I was no longer there. That mattered more than any potential future price. The pain continued for years. I barely slept for months. At some point it became so unbearable that I could no longer imagine living with it. After roughly a year, I said goodbye to everyone online. I told people that we would probably see each other again, but just in case, here was my email. At the time, I had around 50,000 followers and had spent years talking about technology, security and Bitcoin. None of that knowledge helped me solve what was happening to my own body. During COVID, I was lucky enough to find a doctor who offered me a place in a pain treatment program. Because the groups were much smaller than usual, we had a lot of time with the doctors. I still did not know how much of the pain came from the original infection and how much came from the stress, the lack of sleep and the enormous amount of medication I had been taking. So I decided this was my last real attempt. Over roughly six months, under medical supervision, I slowly came off the oxycodone and the other medication. Very slowly, things started changing. I gained a little more stamina. Then a little more strength. I started sleeping two or three hours. Later it became more. And at some point, I realized that I might actually get my family back. Not just financially support them from a distance while lying in bed. Actually be there. Be a husband again. Be a father again. Have a life with them again. In that moment, the money did not matter. I still believe deeply in Bitcoin. I think it is one of the most important technologies of our time. It matters enormously for people living under hyperinflation, capital controls and broken financial systems. I also still enjoy number go up. I like nice things. I like holidays. I would obviously rather have more money than less. But the price no longer defines what Bitcoin means to me. Over the years, I have lost what would now probably be a two digit million amount in Bitcoin through sales, mistakes and circumstances. Fuck it. There is only one life.