How a minor car accident led the author to the path of Bitcoin: what it is, why it’s revolutionary, and how it can be abused.
A couple of months back, I got into a car accident. I was driving straight out the basement parking lot of a shopping mall, when a car coming from the left side had unknowingly driven onto my bumper, rumpling the bodice in. The driver stepped out of his car, scratching his head with surprise. He admitted that it was his fault, we exchanged documents and agreed to sort things out ourselves. Things were quite civil, until the man—let’s call him Anton—learned that I did not have car insurance.
The damage cost P7,500 to repair. When I texted him this a week later, he said he didn’t have the money; that he had medical bills to shoulder, and his son’s tuition fee…he could only afford to chuck out P1,000 a month in installment. He tried to borrow some money, but to no avail. He promised to pay me over the course of more than half a year, if I allowed it—and because he always ended his sentences with, “God Bless,” I guess I figured, what’s the worse that could happen?
For the next few months, we would converse via text and online. He kept to his word—P1,000 a month—but always with me having to prod him for the money. And then, one day, during about the third installment, he messaged me first, that he would be able to pay the P1,000 with money he was able to earn through Bitcoin.
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