Chris has been an early adopter of Bitcoin in the truest sense of the word – starting to become interested into the world’s foremost “Cryptocurrency” at a time when 1 Bitcoin was trading at sub-1-USD-levels. He has also been involved in the organization of various Bitcoin Meetups in Germany, Japan and Taiwan – before finally making a move to Vietnam last year, where he has been taking part in the organization of the Bitcoin Saigon meetup but also helped to kickstart the Bitcoin Meetups in Vung Tau and Da Nang.
Q1: Dear Chris – you have been one of the core organizers of the local Bitcoin Saigon Community for a considerable amount of time. When did you first time hear about Bitcoin and why did you get interested in it in the first place?
A1: It is a bit difficult to trace it back now 😀
But i think i heard about Bitcoin when Satoshi’s Whitepaper was released in some hacker news and downloaded the first wallet to play with it… and then forgot about it again, probably deleted all bitcoins i mined back then. In early 2011, i started posting on the Bitcointalk Forum and in 2012 i got involved with the Berlin Bitcoin Stammtisch who met once a month at that time at Room77, the first bar in Berlin who accepted and promoted BTC. Actually, i got into Bitcoin first just because it was new – and i liked the cypherpunk anti-banks attitude. Just sending money around the internet the way you want it to whom you like sounded exciting enough to get more into it!
Q2: Looking back over the past 5 years – what surprised you most positively, what most negatively in the past half-decade of Bitcoin history?
A2: The whole rollercoaster ride was full of good and bad events, price pumps and dumps, scandals, arrests and faketoshis, forks, exchange hacks, mt.gox disaster, etc. It was never boring, picking the most or least favorite event is impossible…
Q3: What do you expect the attendees to learn from the 5 year anniversary event of Bitcoin Saigon?
A3: I am sure everyone who is attending the event has a slightly different background and knowledge so hopefully it is interesting for all of us. I am always up for learning something new and that’s the spirit i experienced in the community since i got involved.
Q4: Where do you see Bitcoin, the communities and its general impact on society going within the next 5 years?
A4: To the moon! 🙂
Chris will be participating in the complete Bitcoin Saigon anniversary event on the 29th of November – you can grab your tickets here!
