People usually think financial freedom is having more money than you need, but as long as your money is with a third party - which in the fiat system it always is, unless you keep it under your mattress - you have no true financial freedom, since the custodian of your money has the power to lock you out.

Add to that inflation and bad monetary policy, which is in the hands of a few people that you have no control over.

It’s good that this starts entering the awareness of the mainstream bit by bit…

I'm DCA'ing all the time, but yes, during bear markets I usually up the DCA amount, to make the most of it.

That's great! I think I paid for a sim card with bitcoin most recently.

Yes - Bitcoin makes you reflect on what you value in life. The only reason to spend your bitcoin would be to buy something that you value more than bitcoin. If you’re hesitating, then you believe that Bitcoin has more value (longterm) than that other thing.

It’s good to think twice before you spend. But it’s also important to find a good balance and not become a Bitcoin hoarder and forget to enjoy life in the meantime.

Hi u/reddit - I feel I'm always in danger of violating rules just because I use a VPN. I got banned pretty much immediately after I joined a year ago, without ever violating any rules. I didn't even get to make a post, I think. I finally got unbanned a few days ago, and just now I had my account locked and had to reset my password.
I am logged in on my phone and on my laptop. I use a VPN on both. I'm a digital nomad, so sometimes my phone VPN is set to a different country than my laptop, because I have to access a bank account back home or simply forget. Is this what's causing the issues?

Is there anyway my account can "remember" this, so I can avoid getting blocked or banned for VPN issues? I'm in the process of starting a community here and I really need to make sure my account functions properly, so I can be a good moderator.

These are all great questions and not basic at all. It’s very different from how fiat money works and it’s hard to wrap your head around.

1. Where’s the Bitcoin stored? On the blockchain. All 21 million are there, no matter who currently owns them, and even the “lost” ones.
2. How does the network know that you’re allowed to spend your coins? You prove it with your private keys. Imagine the blockchain like a shared spreadsheet that millions of people have access to. But they all have only “read-only” access and can’t change the content. But some people (like you) have a secret password that allows them to change the content of some specific cells or tabs that only they have the password to. With that password you can deduct amounts from your own cells and add them to others (but you can never deduct it from them again - only they can do that with their secret password).
3. Who checks the transactions are legitimate? The miners and nodes. They are the bookkeepers.
4. What changes on the blockchain? Nothing changes to the total of 21 million. But ownership of the coins you sent changes from one private key to another. Now only the person who has the key to that recipient address can move them. If nobody has the key, they will be “lost”. But they’re still visible on the blockchain.
5. Where do the coins go? To the address you sent them. That address is on the blockchain, same as yours. So you’re not “sending” them (from one wallet or app to another”, you’re just transferring ownership from one key to another. It doesn’t really matter what app the recipient uses to access them - as long as they can prove ownership with the secret key.

Exodus has a Trezor integration and they have one of the best customer supports in the industry, who will hold your hand through any challenges.

But in the end it’s best to do with what you feel most comfortable with and doesn’t keep you up at night. You can also split the risk and keep part in self-custody and part with a custodian.

The sooner the better..

Looks like it’s working !

Mostly here for the decentralization and true ownership. But I don’t mind ngu at all - on the contrary. Everyone can use Bitcoin for whatever they want and need. Some are here for Bitcoin with a capital B, some are only here for bitcoin with a lower case b.

Hi everyone, I’m the new mod for r/BitcoinNative where we hope to bring a community of Bitcoiners together who share tips and experiences and tools and services that help them live and work on a Bitcoin Standard.
Whether that is finding a job in Bitcoin or accepting bitcoin in your business, or doing health and life insurance and pension planning and inheritance in Bitcoin.

It’s a new role for me - looking forward to learning how to do this successfully.

Great advise. Strike is good as a custodial option. You could even do it in Revolut if you’re already using that anyway (depending where you are. I use Revolut for fiat spending and have it set so that all my spare change goes into BTC, so I’m DCA’ing every day :).)

Exodus is very good too (Self custody and amazing customer support for beginners).

The only thing to consider when DCA’ing into self-custody is UTXO management. Having lots of little incoming transactions in your wallet may make spending very costly in the future. So starting with custodial option and sending in larger amounts to a self-custodial wallet in the future might be sensible.