Episode 45 Summary
We are excited to have Lee with OwlGuardCo join us for Episode 45 of The Crypto Mining Tools Podcast. Lee is a figurehead in the mining community who has seen a large amount of success over the last few years. In today’s episode, Lee will discuss how he got into cryptocurrency mining, blockchain technology, investing in crypto, and more. Welcome to the DLI team Lee!
Anything mentioned in today’s podcast is not financial advice. Do your own research.
Mentioned Topics and Links
Missed the Episode?
Watch it below!
Transcript
Scott:
All right. We’re live. So everybody welcome to the crypto mining tools podcast. This is episode 45 and today we have a special guest Lee from owl guard company, Al guard, co why don’t you tell us a little bit about, uh, yourself Lee and, um, then we’ll get the discussion started.
Lee:
Awesome. Thanks, Scott. Um, yes and no, basically, uh, OwlGuardCo is just a, uh, avatar that I use on discord. So I, I don’t know if, uh, our company financials are, you know, gonna go anywhere with that, but basically it’s just a, uh, avatar, but yeah. No, thank you so much for having me on the show. Uh, looking forward to talking about my journey through crypto and what answer, any questions that you guys might have.
Scott:
Yeah, so it sounds like, um, you’ve really been in crypto for, well, a few years now. Um, you know, just, just like everybody else, you know, some people came in earlier, some people came in a little bit later, but, um, when, when was it that, that you got started?
Lee:
Yeah, so we were actually trying to figure that out right at the beginning. So yeah, it’s a, it was 17, mid 17 kind of, it was a Coinbase user, you know, nothing, uh, nothing too high tech, but it was kind of one of those things I caught the, uh, last bull run right before it. So it was kinda, I think that’s what sparked the bug. I think I put like probably a thousand in Bitcoin and, you know, another thousand Ethereum and it’s my coin and, you know, and all of a sudden turned 4k in 16 and was like, wow, okay. This is not quite like, uh, options trading. So maybe we need to pay a little more attention to that. And so at the time I was a full-time, uh, healthcare sales rep, an options trader and, uh, just had a lot of, you know, not free time, but I was remote worker. So it was kind of, you know, messing around, watching YouTube videos on how to trade stocks. And I either came on Vox coins, a YouTube channel where I saw like, you know how sometimes there’ll be like one of those YouTube channels, it’ll be the ads for another video. That was just like, I think I saw a GPU rig and I was like, how many computers is that? Uh, that was pretty cool. I need to figure that out. Um, so had no idea what I was getting into at the beginning,
Scott:
So. Okay. So you got into crypto first and then, uh, mining was, was something that you quickly learned about then?
Lee:
Yeah, I mean, I had a, I have an office outside the house and kind of one of those things where it was like the power was included and it was kind of like, so wait a minute, when you say free power, like, do you mean like free power? And so kinda, you know, I think I ordered my first rig from actually one of boss friends that was getting out of the business. Uh, cause you know, you remember what happened after the bull ride, it just kinda started tanking. And so it was kinda, it was a good time to be buying gear because everyone was like, just throwing it out the window. And, uh, the first rig that came, I mean the thing was fully assembled. Like there wasn’t one pink static, you know, packaging material. It was like the GPS were plugged into the, uh, into the actual, uh, uh, into the board.
Lee:
I mean, it was, it was kind of terrible now that I’ve shipped a few. Uh, but you know, I was able to kind of look at it and, and piece back what the videos were talking about, seeing one in person. So it was kind of my first reg, it was a six card, a 10 66 gigabyte rig. And, you know, it was mine and Ethereum start, they went to Loki and a few others. And by that point I think I had, uh, I think my wife’s watching. So, you know, she probably not to want to hear this, but, you know, I think I kind of just was, I was, uh, I, I, my commissions from my health care job went to a separate account and I think I was buying GPS. Like I think I had two or three showing up every day to the point where we got up to about 60 GPS. And it was, uh, I mean, people were giving them away. I was buying a five eighties for one, 100 bucks. You know, it was that they were brand new basically. And people were just giving them away because they, you know, it was the, everything was catching on fire. And so now
Scott:
Talking about during the, the, the bear run after that
Lee:
And a three to three K Bitcoin days, you know, when it was like all of a sudden it was like the likeliness of it going to zero was a lot more than it ever going back up to 20 K. So yeah, for some reason I just turned a blind eye and moved on.
Scott:
So, um, when, so you said you started with that one, uh, six card rig and then you’re all the way up to 60 rigs. You said
Lee:
CGU. So I got up to about 10 rigs, uh, then I started getting into a six. Uh, and so it was kinda, uh, I think S you know, obviously I got some, I got two S nines and then I got to L three bus bosses. And so it was kind of you, I was mine a little bit coin mine and a little, uh, like when, I mean, I had these rigs all over this building, like, uh, my, my building owner would call me and be like, Hey, so I, uh, I went upstairs and I found, uh, these four things that are just howling. And I was like, yup, okay. I just want to make sure they were yours.
Scott:
So, so this was a, an apartment building or, or
Lee:
So it’s a manufacturing building. And so this building used to do the old, uh, it was a Kodachrome, uh, lift the Chrome building. And so it’s power in this building has, I mean, like every room has 60 amp breakers. I mean, just, it’s, it’s a way over the top on what the power capabilities of this building are for what it’s being used for. And so I never, you know, I think I tripped one breaker in, in three years and, uh, just kind of have rigs and, uh, I have another room outside of this, so it’s a farm room that’s running the Essex, and then I have rigs and two or three other rooms in this building. And so, um, I think I made it for about a year before by, uh, building on, it was like, so I think we need to talk about this. Uh, there’s a few more rigs than I was thinking you were going to be running it. Yeah.
Scott:
So what, what was the, uh, the heat situation there? Because, I mean, if you’re running rigs in, uh, in a building like that, uh, how are you exhausting the heat?
Lee:
Yeah, so basically, uh, it is a drop ceiling, um, tile room that I was writing the ASIC set. And so basically I had dissipated the heat, uh, I brought in fresh air and then dissipated up into the ceiling. Uh, and so that part of the building is actually not air conditioned. And so it was, uh, you know, I think before I figured out what I was doing, I think I went in the room, it was like 110 degrees Fahrenheit. I was like, that’s hot. Um, uh, so, you know, I got a little wiser after that, but, uh, it was, you know, it’s, it’s funny, every time I would drive, I walked by that, that, that hall, it’s kind of like, you just hear this, there’s a little, like how down the hall. And for some reason nobody really asks what’s going on.
Scott:
Yeah. Well, I know, you know, some people are used to seeing server rooms and, you know, they’re not quite as noisy. They probably not quite as hot, but yeah. Especially if you’re, you’re adding a six to the next, I mean, that’s, that’s definitely going to start heating things up.
Lee:
Yeah. I think it all changed kind of when I got psych, when CYA coined forked, uh, to, uh, you know, fork all the other miners off their chain. Uh, I think I was somehow able to get and snag, which, which now when I think of the price that I paid, it was kind of like, uh, while that paid that much. But I think I bought two for like $9,000. Uh, but I got them the week after the fourth. And so, you know, at that time, two of them was making a, you know, almost a hundred, $300, you know, every other day. And so, you know, it worked out swimmingly, but it was kind of one of those things where it was like, if I had done it again, I probably wouldn’t have paid that much for us to high point minor. Uh, subsequent cycling Myers were quite a bit cheaper, but I mean, that’s the thing is, you know, and then I met your friend, uh, at Sparta data. Uh, you know, I was able to flip, he flipped the, my first two side point of mine nurse. I think I, I made 2000 off of it. We sold it for 10. Um, you know, so I think I bought them freight and sold them for 10, but it was, uh, you know, all of a sudden I had an 1186 running and it was kinda like, well, I think we’re into this. Um, there’s no turning back.
Scott:
Yeah, absolutely. So, well, let’s, let’s go back a little bit and talk about that. You know, what, what do you know about that whole, um, Saya coin fork and what, what did it do to, um, to, to minors? You know, what, what was some of the controversy? Yeah.
Lee:
Yes. I mean, for the people that might not be familiar with that, basically what happened was, uh, there’s a, there’s a product called psych point. It was basically decentralized file storing, trying to take on a AWS or a, you know, a Dropbox type solution. So what it did was there was a, uh, supplier that Maine had, uh, it was, went live with the, have that 80 threes that were on it and a silicone made some, and I mean, they just pillaged that network. And so all of a sudden, you know, Oculus was going to be making their own. And they’re the, you know, I guess it’s nebulous or, uh, uh, [inaudible] uh, they, they had, uh, you know, they’d already started the production of theirs. And so, you know, all of a sudden their ASIC was worthless, um, and it hasn’t even been released. And so they had this wild idea, which was very controversial because, you know, it’s, you know, this is supposed to be decentralized.
Lee:
So if you’re, if you’re doing a centralized effort of saying, well, we’re going to fork off everybody, that’s not us. It’s kinda like, yeah, it’s kind of sketchy. But, uh, for the people that were able to mine it, the week of it was, uh, extremely profitable. And so I think that was really the pivotal point in my career where it became a success story versus it being, you know, like, well, gosh, I hope my wife never asks us how much, uh, all these, uh, graphic cards cost or, you know, whatnot. And so it’s kind of wild now that I can sell them for $200 more than what I paid for them three years later. Uh, right. That’s just kind of wild to me.
Scott:
Yeah, definitely. Um, so yeah, you know, you’ve, you’ve been involved in, um, a lot of different projects over the last few years. Um, w why don’t you tell us a little bit about that, you know, I think you mentioned boss coin a little bit earlier, you kinda first saw, you know, learn about mining from, from boss coin.
Lee:
Yeah. Yeah. Drew was definitely real important in my mining career. I mean, it was kind of one of those things where I don’t even think I had a discord before. Um, yeah, I grew up in the generation of don’t talk to strangers, you know, on the internet. I think that was all starting with, you know, aim as a kid. And so it was kind of like all of a sudden this concept of talking to people in a discord, uh, was like, why would you do that? And, uh, so all of a sudden, you know, I find as YouTube started watching some of the videos and started kind of learning how to rebuild these machines, following the guides and, you know, looking into certain projects that he was reviewing and, and so became part of the discord. And so that’s probably how most people know me is I am a moderator, uh, for that discord.
Lee:
I think I’m the fourth longest user for the discord. Uh, that probably means, um, that’s probably why my wife is always mad at me, um, spending too much time over there. Uh, but I mean, that’s, that’s how I learned, uh, you know, how to do that. You know, it was kind of one of those things where, um, there wasn’t a lot of content out at the time. And so it was kind of revolutionary to have somebody specifically talking about, um, cryptocurrency and how you can actually mine it, I mean, before it was like, if you weren’t a farm, I mean, I don’t think you could really get into it. And so, you know, this is kind of when I became a hobby miner, it was, uh, it was quite a bit, uh, wild, wild West. I mean, when you, when your rig went down, you know, it was nice to be able to turn into a discord because you could ask me like, Hey, I, you know, I don’t know why, you know, this is working, they’ll say, Oh, we’ll try a rise or take out this riser, you know, or, uh, you know, put these clock settings on the GPU and it should, you know, be better at cooling.
Lee:
And it’s kind of one of those things where, you know, I had to learn everything from scratch. I mean, there was, this is, I don’t have a background in computing. Uh, so it was kind of one of those things where it was like, I didn’t know that there were other, other nerds out there that were, uh, just as excited about this as I was.
Scott:
Yeah. And then, uh, so you’ve, you’ve stayed involved with the lost coin, uh, in, in, uh, in a deeper way or,
Lee:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we, we, um, me and another individual, Eric Greer, we help them out, uh, kind of help moderate the community as well as, uh, moderate with his, uh, girlfriend, uh, Ms. Bossy, you know, so whenever there’s a live stream or whatnot, you know, you gotta kind of keep the comments, uh, you know, uh, in check. So it’s, uh, you know, people are always trying to share their, their, uh, wallet address or whatnot, you know, it’s like, so you gotta kinda, you know, patrol that pretty quick. And so yeah, involved in, uh, uh, Bosco talk as well, that was kind of where we were having a lot of information that was going on and discord, and there was just these really knowledgeable users. I mean, there’s some really powerful people over there in terms of this community. Um, they all kind of United over there.
Lee:
Um, you know, and so it’s kind of, uh, we were, you know, people would ask the same question day after day, and it was kind of like, can you, can you not scroll up? You know, like, just look right above here. And so, uh, sure enough, we decided that it was, it was time to create, uh, a forum where we could actually link out some of these articles once we had a solution, or once somebody talked about something we could go in there and actually, you know, like, this is how you fix that problem that you just asked and the guy above you just asked. And so it was nice to be able to actually have that, uh, that resource. Right.
Scott:
Yeah. Sounds like a great resource for sure. You know, having that forum, having discord chats, YouTube videos. And, uh, yeah, I know. I mean, there’s, there’s all sorts of different, uh, communities out there as well. Um, we, we’ve got a telegram groups based on different topics as well, you know, and I find that, uh, you know, there’s your discord users and then there’s your telegram users. And sometimes
Lee:
On that, I can’t catch up. I don’t know what it is. It’s something about, it’s like a different language. Like I can discord all day long and then I get on telegram and I’m like, how do I use this again? Yeah. So it’s good to be able to kind of bridge the gap because I feel like there’s, there’s this whole separation. So that’s why we’ve made a telegram a connection between the two in that actual discourse so that people that didn’t want to leave discord could stay there and then, you know, people that wanted to be in telegram exclusive. I mean, I understand your use of it. I mean, it’s a, a great overseas tool, uh, to be able to communicate with some of these farms. Yeah, absolutely. Um,
Scott:
So yeah, well, let’s just, uh, take a little break here and, uh, I’d like to mention the upcoming conference, um, mining disrupt. So I know a lot of people have heard about this. Uh, it took place last year in July as well. Um, so there’s the website mining disrupt.com. It’s actually taking place July 20th, the 21st. Um, we’re going to be there. Uh, you’re going
Lee:
To be there, Lee. Yes, I am. Yeah.
Scott:
So, I mean, this is where all the miners hang out, you know, there’s other conferences out there that are, uh, you know, more crypto, uh, related and or blockchain related. Um, but this really was the first conference that I’ve ever seen that was specifically Bitcoin mining related. Um, and, and so, yeah, you know, we had a great time last year. We’re actually a distributed ledger, Inc. That’s DLI. We’re going to have a booth there. Um, and we’re, we’re sponsoring as well. I think our name’s going to be on the lanyards, um, and maybe the wifi sponsor as well. So we’ll see. But yeah,
Lee:
That’s the most legit sponsor there is. Everyone wants to know, like, who’s got the wifi, how do I get on the wifi? So
Scott:
You might see our name there as well. So, uh, yeah, quick crypto mining tools and distributed ledger Inc. Will be there. Um, and, uh, it should be a really great time. Um, yeah. So anyway, um, you know, why don’t we just talk a little bit about some of the tools that you’ve used in the past, you know, when you’re first getting into mining, uh, you were, you were trying to figure out, okay, you you’ve got these GPU’s, um, or you’ve got these 86, you know, what, what’s the best claim to mine? Um, you know, what did that kind of look like for you as far as picking that?
Lee:
Yeah, no, so basically it’s, uh, you know, obviously I started out on boss point that was kind of, you know, I had no idea what I was doing. Uh, it was kinda nice that he had, uh, a myriad of different, uh, uh, gear that he was reviewing. So, you know, I even remember when he started doing Asics, you know, everyone said August, he’s selling out and he’s going to the basics, but I mean, that’s, that’s, that’s really the, uh, that’s where the, you know, the, the mining is, is towards, you know, it’s, it’s a dedicated machine that, that just does that. And so, you know, obviously the GPS, I have loved them just because of the resale ability, you know, it’s kind of a little more secure, you know, you, you can do it and then, you know, get out of it. It’s not just a, uh, uh, well, I hope this works out and it’s not a doorstop later. So, um, but yeah, no, I mean, I kind of, after that, I started going to like, uh, what to mine.com, uh, that was obviously a great tool. I, I, I’m a big hardcore MOS user. Um, it’s kind of one of those things where I know there’s a lot of other solutions out there, but like I’m so handy with SMS and they update all their stuff so quickly that it’s kinda like, you know, why mess with a good thing. And so, uh, use that, um,
Scott:
Now what’s, what’s that, what’s that word you were saying? S Mohs.
Lee:
Yeah, SMS, simple, minor. Um, so basically what it is is it’s a Linux-based distribution for specifically for, uh, GPU mining. And so you basically go in there and, uh, you can set up a rig, you can monitor it remotely. Um, and so, you know, it’s, it’s funny. I always, I, I forget to check it until like 10:00 PM. And so I’ll all of a sudden, like a rig will be down, Oh, Hey, Dave, I gotta go, I gotta go restart a reg real quick. And so it didn’t take me long before I started getting some wifi switches because, uh, it was only so fun, uh, rushing off a mile a half from my house at 10:00 PM. Oh yeah. You can only do that so many times and get away with it.
Scott:
So ha having those, uh, uh, the ability to remotely turn on and off, uh, an outlet to, to restart the minor, you mean?
Lee:
Yeah. Yeah. So basically if you go in there into the motherboard and, uh, bypass the, uh, start switch, um, when you go in there, you can kind of basically just toggle on power, sweat, you know, power cycle. It, I mean, people joke and, and, uh, and tech support, you know, if you tried turning it off and turning it back on, but I mean, that’s really the best. Uh, I think it’s probably one of my most powerful tools I have, uh, when it comes to mining, there’ll be things that you don’t know why it’s not booting correctly, but if you power cycle it another five times somehow that’s the magic number.
Scott:
Yeah. So I’m, I’m seeing in the comments, uh, people are commenting here. It looks like Vos coin, uh, is online. And, uh, and he’s, he’s saying, uh, Hey, have you been biking to work?
Lee:
So, uh, during those a few months, a year that it actually is nice and comfortable to bike. I will live about a mile and a half from here. So it’s a, that’s an electric bike as well. So, I mean, it’s kinda nice when you’re in traffic and, you know, you can pedal and then a car gets behind you. You can kind of zip up in front of them. They’re kind of like, Oh, well, okay. Um, and so, you know, but then, then it gets hot here. So it’s kind of one of those things where I’d say, uh, eight months of the year is not a good idea to bike, to work. Cause you’ll, you’ll get to work and you feel like you need a shower. So it’s, uh, yeah. So that’s probably why it’s hard to bike to work when the bike’s already at work. Uh, so,
Scott:
So you’re, you’re down in Alabama that that’s right.
Lee:
No, I’m in Georgia, so Georgia. Yeah. So yeah, it’s a, it gets, um, about, we got 10 months of summer here, so it’s, uh, it’s got its ups and downs. If you have a pool, it’s great. But if you don’t, it’s, uh, you, you about August, you want to get the heck out of town. Yeah.
Scott:
Um, so yeah, you know, you talked a little bit about earlier about some of the coins you’re mining, but, uh, what about right now, you know, what, what are some coins that, that you’re watching, or maybe some, some projects that you aren’t.
Lee:
Yeah. So, I mean, obviously I think, you know, uh, you know, they, they did comment about CPU mining, you know, I’ve done some CPU mining basically, uh, SSH into the simple minor platform mixing, you know, simple monitor doesn’t actually support CPU mining. So I, I can’t say I’m a big CPU minor. I, you know, I’ve done some Minero, I’ve done some low-key, but I mean, and just as again, I don’t think I ever caught the CPU bug. I think it’s cool. I think it’s a super power efficient, but, you know, I just didn’t have, I had Celeron. So it was kind of one of those things where it was like, it, it, you know, if you have a nice AMD CPU, it might be worth it, but I, you know, I never had them. So it was kind of, it was a mute point, but, you know, basically, um, I think Ethereum is always on the radar.
Lee:
I mean, in terms of being a GPU, miner, you know, anything that’s double what the other points are, you know, obviously you’re going to gravitate towards, um, I’ll be interested in seeing that what actually happens with this, uh, one five, what is it? Nine, nine or one, five, five, nine, um, you know, EIP. Yeah, I think I could kill it, but I mean, as if they’re not doing enough things to kill their project, so, you know, it’s, I don’t know. Uh, you know, so it’s like, you know, Ethereum is always the kind of go-to, um, they’re the Mack daddy of, of GPU mining. Um, uh, Bitcoin always got a Bitcoin miner running, uh, you know, so I’ve got two S nines that I bought for a one 50 a piece in the three K Bitcoin. I think I’ve, I’ve like, I’ve made my money back like 10 times over now.
Lee:
So it’s kinda like there, I know I can sell them for like 400 bucks, but, you know, they were my first day sick. So it was kind of like, I dunno, I feel like you’re supposed to like, hold on your first day. That’s probably not true. Um, and my wife’s probably like, w what do you mean? You made the money back and they’re worth more, you should be selling those. Um, so no, it’s, it’s kinda one of those things where I’m always running those, I’ve been running the psych one miners, just because I don’t, I mean, I know, I know they’ve, they’ve made their money back and then some quite a bit more. And so it’s kind of one of the things where it’s like, you know, they’re not really worth selling at this point just because there’s so many more efficient, so I coined minor.
Lee:
So they just, you know, they still make 17 bucks a day, you know, they’re not eating exciting, but, you know, at the same time, 17 bucks or 17 bucks a day. Right. So, um, during that, uh, let’s see, let me pull up some winter real quick. Um, so I’ve been doing Ethereum and zil quite a bit. Um, that is something that I think is just really cool because it basically cycles off six to eight times a day. Um, you can con you’re not really dual mining. It basically just switches off into zil. I mean, make an extra 300 bucks a month, you know, anything, uh, that, that adds to it is cool with me. And I think it’s kind of a Google project that they’ve allowed, uh, Ethereum miners to kind of piggyback their project. Uh, I mean, there’s a lot of the theory of minors, so I think it’s a good little concept.
Scott:
Yeah. So I, I don’t, I don’t know what that is. I’ve never heard of it. Theories Zillow.
Lee:
Okay. Well, I guess I’ll be hassling you in Slack, uh, after this about learn how to do it. Yeah. So basically what it is is instead of like Saya coin, how Ethereum, and, and used to be dual mining, um, they’re not actually coinciding. So basically it’s almost like the downtime of a reboot. So I it’s as if it rebooted six or seven, eight times a day, but it never actually did. And so if you think about that, that’s kind of an acceptable amount of downtime, you know, with a rig, you know, it’s like, nobody’s really gonna ever be like, Oh, but it restarted six times, you know, so it was down for 10 minutes. So basically in those 10 minutes it does one or two minute bursts, um, something called, I think it’s called sharding. Um, but basically it just, it mines quickly, uh, does the, uh, execution, then it switched right back up to a theory. So it’s kind of what was those cool projects that, um, I think it was a smart bot. I mean, I, you know, you got such a big, uh, resource with it there in minor. Why not? Yeah.
Scott:
Interesting. Um, so there was a comment from Shaka Zula saying which quaint is next in line after a Ethereum 2.0, that’s okay.
Lee:
Good question. I, I, you know, I think that there’s going to be quite a few, actually. I, you know, I, I think that, like, I think what’s going to happen is obviously people are going to get upset, uh, that, um, let’s see. I mean, I I’m always like Haven. I think Haven’s really cool. Um, I learned about it from a buddy, uh, Jim, uh, in the discord and it was kind of one of those things where, you know, during the heat of Cola, you know, Columbus, it, it gets hot. So it was kind of one of those things where, you know, theory of mining and hot don’t really mix well. And so Haven runs real cool. Uh, what’s kryptonite heavy, I believe, or kryptonite Haven, you know, there’s so many different kryptonites I can’t keep up anymore, but it runs super cool, you know, 40 degrees in the middle of summer.
Lee:
That’s, uh, that’s like a minor stream. Um, and so it was kind of one of those things where it’s, you know, it’s a product I like supporting, um, you know, so I think it’s, it’s, it’s a cool point. Think that’s going to really take off when Ethereum blows up. I mean, Raven, coin’s always cool. I’ve mine quite a bit of that. Um, yeah. Ever since they went to, uh, Kapow though, it, you know, it keeps those wires hot. So, you know, it’s kind of one of those things where you, you really, you don’t want to have splitters on your rig if you’re, uh, gonna run something like that. It’s a lot more, uh, electrical intensive. So, uh, you, you really need to have good rigs if you’re going to be doing Raven coin.
Scott:
Cool. Okay. So, um, yeah, you know, there, there was some talk earlier, um, offline about, uh, you know, investing into crypto using your, your stimulus check.
Lee:
Yeah. I would be surprised. I wish I got one, but at the same time it was, uh, it was, I bet you that’s, I bet you that’s where like 60% of all of that stimulus check went to, you went to that with the stock market. Um, you know, so we’ve got this whole new trend, you know, wall street bets, you know, there’s, you know, all these people, they’re becoming stock traders that, you know, I’ve never probably looked at a stock chart in their life. Uh, and then all of a sudden, you know, they’re like, well, I don’t get this, but maybe I might get, you know, investing in the Bitcoin. And so I, I think stimulus is great every time there’s an announcement board, uh, the coin moons. And so, uh, you know, um, in that regard, I’m all for stimulus checks. Um, but you know, I think that’s the thing is I think, you know, one strategy that people always ask me, which ones should I invest in?
Lee:
You know, or obviously it’s, you know, not financial advice, but, you know, I, the dark costs, there’s a website called DCA btc.com or something like that. But like, I always bought that to people because, you know, if you don’t know which one to get into, you know, the coins hallways, like going to be here, it’s kind of one of those things it’s almost too big to fail at this point. So, um, you know, I I’ve always thought dollar cost averaging into Bitcoin. That’s really, it shows you exactly how much, like if I invest $10 every Wednesday, or if I invest a hundred dollars every Wednesday, it’ll show me that, you know, I can make 70% over three years. I mean, you can’t get 70%, any other marketing. I mean, that’s that that’s what’s wow. Yes. I mean, it’s like, if you invest at $10, it’s going to be at 666%. I mean, that’s, that’s, that’s, that’s killing it. If you asked me, um, you know, I’ve always thought, you know, I’ve always been a top 100 kind of guy. Uh, I’m not much for speculation. So it’s like, my thing is, is once they get into the top 100, top 200, uh, I’m starting to pay attention to them. So it’s, um, you know, there’s quite a few that I like. Um, but you know, don’t want to shout them from the rooftop because some people don’t, you know, want to hear, but
Scott:
Yeah, yeah, no. So, I mean, with, with Bitcoin, you know, sometimes we’ll, we’ll hear the argument, uh, you know, Oh, well, it’s too expensive now. Or, you know, I, um, maybe I missed the, or whatever, you know, but, uh, like you were saying a dollar cost average.
Lee:
Yeah. I mean, I know that’s why I don’t think people understand, like, you know, everyone’s used to like a stock where it’s like, okay, well Apple’s 120 bucks, you know, I can only afford a hundred or one of those, you know, like people, like, I can’t afford a hundred that’s, you know, that’s a lot of money. Um, so people don’t realize that you can buy such fractional amounts of Bitcoin. I think, I think like everyone thinks like why need a Bitcoin? And yeah. I mean, if you get the opportunity to buy a whole Bitcoin, I mean, take it. Um, but at the same time, you know, buying closer to the top is usually not great investment advice though. Uh, and the everywhere I think is what buy high sell low is the, the, the new strategy, right?
Scott:
Yeah, no, I remember, you know, back in 2017, um, probably probably when you were getting into it, um, I was telling all my friends and family, Hey, you know, you should, you should get, get into Bitcoin, buy Bitcoin. And then, uh, you know, anyone who was getting in at that point, you know, yeah. There, they saw their returns going down pretty quickly, for sure.
Lee:
Not like for like, I think it was what two years we had that winter. So it was, you know, I, I remember being like, Oh man, I’ve got 40 K in crypto, this is wild. And then all of a sudden I was like, I have 20 K in what, like, what happened? You know, I was killing it. And obviously, uh, with this bull run, that that number exuberantly changed. So it was, it was, it was good, you know, I’m, I’m a, Hobbler, you know, it’s, you know, some people like to I’m, I’m an options trader when it comes to stocks. So, you know, I’ve got enough to stress about in terms of, uh, you know, turning my hair gray or, you know, whatnot. So it’s like, I don’t trade as much as I should for crypto. Um, you know, if I buy a bag, I stick to it until it’s a price that I want to sell it for. So it’s, um, it’s worked out very well for me. Uh, so it’s, I think it’s just the easiest way to do it passively that it happen. Yeah. So projects. Yeah.
Scott:
Well, I’m changing topics a little bit here. You know, we, uh, you’ve recently joined the team.
Lee:
I did. I did. So, yeah, I’m the director of financial services. And so I’m finding out that that title is very open-ended. So I, uh, I feel like each week I’m working on a new project or, uh, and now thinking I should have narrowed the title more financial services has a lot of, uh, a lot of things that can fall into that. So it’s, but it’s exciting, you know, it’s fun to go. Full-time, it’s different becoming a hobby minor than it is going professional crypto. Uh it’s you know, it’s probably not for the faint of heart, you know, most people don’t even probably know you can have a job and crypto, so it’s, it’s kind of one of those things where it’s like, Oh, you mean that thing that you told me to buy in 2018? Like, no, it’s like, that’s my job, like, like a job job.
Lee:
And I don’t think people even realize it’s a whole industry out there. And so, uh, it’s, it’s definitely different. Uh, the projects are a lot more vast, but you know, the opportunity and blockchain, I think is something that’s just going to the next decade. It’s going to be really exciting. I think we’re still very early on this. I don’t think, I mean, we think you and me think this is normal, but I mean, my wife still thinks like, you just shut up about that. You know, I, I don’t really care about that cryptographic equation. Like I’m like, you should. It’s awesome.
Scott:
Yeah. Sometimes try trying to explain it to other people, you know, their, their eyes kind of glaze over.
Lee:
Oh, I don’t even think she hears anymore.
Scott:
Yeah. Are there other things to really talk about in life?
Lee:
No, I mean, it’s, I mean, that’s the thing, man, if you don’t wake up excited at 7:00 AM to go to work, I mean, you’re in the wrong job and, you know, I wasn’t, I wasn’t healthcare for the last decade. I made a great living. Um, I just never excited me. I mean, I felt like we were doing digitalized form sometimes, you know, like we weren’t really innovating for these hospitals. And so it was, it was kind of one of those things where it didn’t, it didn’t like the bug like a crypto, uh, mining rig did. And so it was kind of one of those things where I was good at it, but, you know, pay the bills. Um, and so I finally, I think last, uh, July, I went full-time options trading, you know, obviously my wife was very supportive and, um, you know, but if you take special individuals to be full-time entrepreneurs, my wife owns a, uh, store, uh, council studio. And so it’s, uh, you know, she does a women’s clothing. And so it was kind of one of those things where, you know, uh, I ran an Airbnb business before that, you know, so you really got to be an entrepreneur if you want to, you know, go to, you know, not having one safe job. Um, it’s, it’s not for probably most people, you know, I’ve loved it. So, you know, went full time, uh, with DOI in February. So it’s, uh, it’s exciting.
Scott:
Yeah. So what’s, what’s, um, a project that you’re working on. What’s an example there, you know, I, I know you don’t
Lee:
Yeah, nothing that I can’t talk about right now, but, uh, you know, we’ve got an exchange that’s about to launch, uh, Bolsa DX. And so it’s a, uh, an exchange for Latin America, uh, and then as well, um, we have a payment, uh, reman system where we’re able to send stuff like a Western union or MoneyGram. Um, it’s, uh, the ability to load a card immediately. So, you know, being able to transfer funds, uh, for individuals, uh, in different countries. I mean, that’s just a challenge that, uh, so many people don’t realize, you know, you’ve got your, what bank of America, you know, or region’s card or something, you know, and, you know, you just, you know, your, your check goes in there and you use your debit card and, you know, you just don’t think about it. You know, it’s super easy. Um, and that’s just not something that’s always afforded to every country. And so, um, that’s a challenge we hope to, um, solve for individuals, you know, being able to get that money, uh, to, uh, their families taking 10%. I mean, some of these fees to get international wires are outrageous. So I think crypto is going to change all that, you know, you can do an instantaneous transfer for penny.
Scott:
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Crypto has a, has a good, um, good potential to change that for sure. Um, so yeah, you know, just finishing this conversation up, um, you know, I just wanted to talk a little bit about you actually coming on board as a, as a co-host here on the crypto mind tools podcast.
Lee:
Yeah, no, I think we’re what we’re waiting to see how this went before we say anything, because I guess at the end you could just be like, nah, that’s not gonna work in terrible this, um, yeah. So I’m excited I’m going to be coming on and helping you co-host and we’ll be bringing on all kinds of individuals. I think we’re going to kind of, uh, I mean, obviously we love talking about mining. Uh, we don’t think it’s weird, but, um, you know, I think we’re going to kind of add some different topics as well, you know, kind of talk about how blockchains affecting normal industries bring on some individuals that are entrepreneurs and, you know, kind of talk about how they’re experiencing blockchain. Um, I mean, obviously we’re always gonna be talking about mining. I don’t think, you know, we love it. So it’s why, why I stopped talking about it. Uh, I’ll probably, it’ll probably be the last thing, you know, the last word they’ll be like reset the rig.
Scott:
Um, yeah. Well, so anyway, um, it was great having you on, thank you for having me, man. Yeah. We look forward to seeing you around here more and, uh, it’s good to have you on the distributed ledger Inc team. Thank you. Thank you. Um, yeah. Thanks for sharing all about your, how you got into crypto and into mining and, um,
Lee:
Yeah. Thank you everybody for coming to watch.
Scott:
Alright guys, take it easy.