Bitcoin!

My OCD journey has made me find things to research that do not involve my condition. This has brought me to cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. Now, full disclosure here, I was into crypto before but; I let it fall out of my radar for a long time. I am not an expert but I have had a great time looking into the technology and how Bitcoin works.

I talked to my wife about sending some of our extra money during the month to Bitcoin. She agreed to do it! I also asked my daughter if she wanted me to invest her birthday money in crypto as well. She also said yes! I was super excited by this!

So, my first step was to figure out how to purchase some Bitcoin. The easiest and cheapest way that I had found was to use the Cash App. It is very simple to use but, the only crypto you can purchase is Bitcoin. This could be a negative for some, but I preferred to only invest in one coin.

My research also led me to storage methods for the crypto that we all now held. Most Bitcoiners recommended a hardware wallet. I saw the big names first, Ledger and Trezor. Unfortunately, these two devices had some drawbacks that I could not look past. The Ledger just had two massive data breaches that leaked a ton of their customer’s data, including names, addresses and phone numbers! This freaked me out, crypto is currently the Wild West and I could see how this information could make people who hold Bitcoin extremely nervous. Trezor does not have a secure element, so you can supposedly extract your keys to your crypto with very minimal equipment.

These devices are the most popular wallets, but their drawbacks gave me second thoughts. This led me over to the ColdCard. This device is pure Bitcoin. It is completely air gapped, which is awesome. What I mean by this is it never needs to connect to an internet linked computer. When you send transactions, you pass a MicroSD card back and forth to complete the signing. I will be honest, it is a pain to pass the SD card back and forth, but the security implications are worth it. ColdCard is also coming out with a QR code based wallet in the future. This will eliminate the need to pass the SD card back and forth.

I am no financial professional, but I wanted to share my experience. Bitcoin has given me something to look forward to and research. It has taken my mind off of the negativity of OCD. Plus, I feel good putting my money into something decentralized and immune from policy changes that your typical government controlled paper currencies have.