My first run-in with a bitcoin enthusiast back in 2010

Got a story for you all. So back in 2010, I was chilling in San Diego and hopped into a cab. The driver started talking about bitcoin, telling me I should invest because it was gonna be the currency of the future and super valuable someday. At that time, bitcoin was under 50 cents. I had heard of it before and thought it was kind of a scam, so I didn’t really pay much attention. He insisted that one day I’d remember him and what he said. He was so passionate about it that I couldn’t shake off that moment. Sometimes I wonder if that driver was actually Satoshi Nakamoto! He was South Asian, probably from Punjab in North India. He even said, "One day you’ll remember a taxi driver in a turban" while pushing me to get into bitcoin. What a wild encounter with a bitcoin believer!

I hope I don't read a report one day on a popular news publisher about a taxi driver who has had a one-on-one encounter and conversation with the real Satoshi Nakamoto, our almighty anonymous Bitcoin creator. So many people had a lot of wasteful opportunities in the past, which they could have taken advantage of to acquire bitcoin at its early stage but didn't, which I don't blame them for, but their mistake can go further ahead if, after realizing what they have missed in the past and not making use of what they have in front of them and still living in their regrets, they continue, and this present might be another wasted opportunity for them again.

You're right. 10 years from now someone would say I wish I'd bought bitcoin when it was $100,000 and hodl because by then it could be $2,000,000.

Is this Taxi guy a technical guy like how come he already knew Bitcoin that time? Because I believe before in early days of Bitcoin, mostly know Bitcoin are technical guys like techy guy who spent most of the time in the internet.

Your story is truly amazing and perfectly shows what Bitcoin was like in its early days when most people thought it was scam and price was less than 50 cents in 2010. It is wild that taxi driver spoke with such strong belief about its future value asking you to invest. But that is little funny that you think he was Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin mysterious creator. Don't you think this is too much to say a taxi driver a Bitcoin creator. That was your mistake that you thought Bitcoin as scam but this is nonsense to say that taxi driver was Satoshi.

Did you ever take the taxi drivers advice to buy bitcoin? Have you been keeping up with the price after 2010, or did you just totally forget about it after your taxi ride ended? If you were keeping up then you could see it went from 50 cents in 2010 to around 20 dollars in 2011. After that the taxi driver probably quit his job and moved to a mansion in Malibu and driving around in a Lambo.  Seeing the price jumping so massively in just one year must have given you a very strong urge to start buying bitcoin, unless you just completely forgot about it after 2010.

Yeah I also heard about bitcoin here and there from a few people. However honestly at the time it sounded like some scam and I avoided it. I think it had mostly to due with the media and how back then they portrayed bitcoin in a negative way and urged you to stay away from it. When bitcoin hit a new all time high it wasn’t in the news as much as if it fell to a yearly low due to some hack like MtGox theft. And this is why you shouldn’t trust the media all the time.

I don't blame you for not believing this strange taxi driver. If I were you, I wouldn't believe him either. Taxi drivers are talkative and talk about a lot of strange things, and I usually don't pay attention to what they say. I think the taxi driver himself didn't believe what he was saying. He may have heard it from someone else who was in the taxi with him, but he didn't believe him. Because if he did and bought Bitcoin at that time at 50 cents he would have been one of the richest people today and would have proudly and arrogantly appeared before the press and media about his story.

If you could only turn back the hands of time and belief that person, you could be a self millionaire by now. In any case though, it's just weird that a person that early and a taxi cab driver could have known Bitcoin that time. But that could really be someone as you have said, a angel that might be giving you a good advise. We have this kind of chance and talk to people and years later if might come back to haunt us in a positive way.

Guys, what struck me about the Sikh cab driver was the deep conviction in his voice as he was urging me to invest in bitcoins. I kept thinking about it and I recall later reading about bitcoins jumping to $5. At that time coinbase was already in business. I wouldn't dismiss the taxi driver as definitely not the creator of bitcoins. And I'm not declaring that he is Satoshi Nakamoto himself. I'm just saying it's within the realm of possibility given the way he was telling me about bitcoins. Remember, Jesus Christ and Albert Einstein had humble beginnings. The great inventors of yore, even the great tech leaders of today did not start with a silver spoon. So ....

I think you underestimate the number of people who could understand Bitcoin back then. Working as a taxi driver can be very tiring and requires lots of energy and time. Thus, I highly doubt Satoshi was a full-time taxi driver. It's also strange that you didn't create this thread in the past 15 years of Bitcoin's life. Why share the story now? If I had the same story, I would have revealed it when Bitcoin reached $10,000, because it would be when I would have remembered about the taxi driver talking to me about "something" that went from $0.5 to $10,000. Before $10,000 (and before the news talked about it), I would have definitely forgotten about it.

Plot twist: that taxi driver is now retired on his private island while you’re here telling his legend. The man tried to bless you!

Story about your past experience with Bitcoin was fascinating. There are many stories like yours who considered Bitcoin a scam at that time and refused to buy it for a small amount of dollars. Investors who really valued it at that time have succeeded. What is surprising is that you still remember the man who offered you to buy Bitcoin. After almost 15 years, you are regretting and remembering such a person. I think that man was a wise man and an intellectual of that era. I also think that if that mysterious man is still alive he must be very lucky because at that time he was able to understand the importance of Bitcoin and having a large holder.

It's also worth to mention that Uber and similar service wasn't popular back then. So at that time, conventional taxi company usually only hire full time worker.

But you did get at least a coin? Even if it was not in 2010, you did start taking it seriously a few years later, right?

I also probably wouldn’t believe the driver if I were in your shoes because the obvious reason is that it was the year bitcoin was considered a scam or just a fad so not many people would invest in it even though the price was low. However regrets do come too late and there is no need to regret. One thing for sure is that it is never too late because the current price of 100K is still in the early stages for bitcoin and it will continue to increase many times over considering the number of adopters coming in and also the involvement of big institutions.

At that time, no one will pay attention much about Bitcoin. They will think like you that Bitcoin is a scam and they don't want to take a look or research. That is normal because that is what people will do. But after they see what happen to Bitcoin, they regret it and hope that they can buy Bitcoin but they don't. That taxi driver understand and it seems know what will happen to Bitcoin in the future. Maybe he was Satoshi Nakamoto Did you invested in Bitcoin now? Or you don't? If you don't, it is better you start invest in Bitcoin before its late.

It might not have been Satoshi but someone who truly believed in Bitcoin too. I remember when I first started investing in crypto, I was so optimistic about a particular altcoin project that I even have to talk my friends into investing into the altcoin. I promoted the project for free as if it was my project, because even on Facebook and Twitter, I was posting the token with a caption that says, "if you want to get rich, invest on $xyz token" I just believed so much in the project, but don't blame me, I was new and didn't have any knowledge of altcoin. So, the person you met was an early Bitcoiner, if you had taken his advice then, you would remember him with so much happiness in your heart but now I don't know how you knowing that you missed such opportunity then.

You came to the forum after 15 years to tell us this "true" story? Where were you before? This morning, you remember and decide to come here, or did you dream it? The clarification "true story" from a psychological point of view is already questionable if a person emphasizes this as if justifying in advance. I do not see anything surprising in this; in 2010, there were many people who began to learn about Bitcoin, whether it was a taxi driver or a taxi driver who was driving a techie. Except for fantasy to attract attention to this topic, there is nothing supernatural. Next time, open an account when Satoshi himself visits you.

Incredibly could be an angel and can not tag that to Satoshi Nakamoto.  Besides... Bitcoin at 50 cent $ a lot have been investing on it while it has not been viral like it is today. So either you take the driver to be one of a descended angel that was destined to lead your success but you were just like us the skeptics who also had the golden opportunity in those earlier times but were so ignorant and uncompromising. May you were even at the best chance that you could physically relate with someone who talks about Bitcoin like he really believed in it. Most of us only came about it in the internet which we know to be flooded with scams. So it was more difficult to believe either the internet and the digital currency. Affirmatively there was no one beside to physically relate it discussions with to build our trust and internet was never trusted due to our odds of level of digital and advanced education too.