Would you give up all your possessions for Bitcoin in the hope that one day it will reach new highs?
It’s certainly not for the faint at heart, but this Dutch family is showing that by putting your fears aside you can always start a new adventure.
In October 2017, the world was introduced to a family of five, affectionately known as the Bitcoin family, who were in the process of selling everything they owned – house, car, pension, savings – all for Bitcoin. Didi Taihuttu, a husband and father of three, even sold his motorbike to prove to his wife, Romaine, he was serious.
They then moved to a campsite in the Netherlands.
It couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. Bitcoin was steadily rising in price during 2017’s bull run, reaching a peak of nearly $20,000 mid-December. It was a heady time to be involved in the space, and even better for a family that had just sold everything they owned.
Yet, according to Taihuttu they didn’t do it to become millionaires, but to change their way of life and to support what he calls the “crypto revolution.”
“We decided that if we got rich from it we would share it with the poor and that’s what we do at the moment,” he told Crypto Briefing.
Since 2017, it has been a continual adventure for the family. They no longer live at the campsite because Taihuttu explained they were getting too much attention from the media. At the moment the family is in Thailand, but since becoming the Bitcoin family they have travelled to 40 countries, exploring the acceptance of crypto in all of them.
According to Taihuttu, some of the best places for crypto include the village of Rovereto in northern Italy. Here, he explained that it’s possible to use Bitcoin to pay for groceries, clothes, and toys, for instance, with more than 60 shops accepting the cryptocurrency.
In Spain they found Bitnovo, a site that makes it possible to buy and sell crypto at 30,000 stores in Europe, and enables the easy purchase of Bitcoin in Carrefour-associated supermarkets in the country.
And Then What Happened…?
Of course, while 2017 proved to be profitable year for countless investors, 2018 was the reverse. It was something the family felt keenly, losing half of their crypto value in less than two weeks.
“Spending Bitcoin valued at $3,000 compared to $6,000 can make a huge difference,” said Taihuttu, explaining that they had little time to trade as they focused on educating people on how they could get involved with crypto.
Despite this slump, Taihuttu remains optimistic.
“I still believe Bitcoin will go up again and this bear market will change into a bull market,” he said. “Maybe the market will go even lower first to $2,000 before it climbs to new all-time highs, but in my opinion $40,000, $100,000, and even $200,000 are still possible highs in the next five years.”
He thinks that Bitcoin will first become a store a value before it eventually becomes a combination of a store of value and digital currency.
Aside from their trading, they also speak at conferences, and have written a book, currently available in Dutch.
Considering what the family has learnt now, what advice would they give their 2017 selves? Taihuttu declares he would“Pay more attention to market cycles, hedging a bit more in stablecoins like Pax or USDT to later increase the amount of Bitcoin. Why? Because living on Bitcoin cost Bitcoin and you need to multiply your supply for this.”
Bitcoin Living Is Just Different
For Taihuttu and his wife it’s important for them to show their children that they can still be happy in life without life’s luxuries. They don’t talk to their children about the value of Bitcoin, but rather they educate them on how the blockchain and cryptocurrency are helping to change the world.
Homeschooling their children as they travel the world, Taihuttu said that the crypto industry helps with this as it’s a “great example” of how a technology can make it possible to live in a decentralised world with only digital belongings.
Citing the lending industry as an example, Taihuttu said that if they want to drive a car they rent one from location A and drive it to location B, paying for the miles driven. Bikes, houses – rented, not bought.
“If you need a house you use Airbnb or trusted housesitters or hopefully a decentralised blockchain solution in the near future,” Taihuttu added. “We all started as nomads many years ago and settled in cities because of work. Now work is being disconnected from those cities and people can work from home or online. So will part of our society become (digital) nomads again?”
While this is certainly food for thought, it’s not going to be up everyone’s street. In fact, since making their lifestyle change, plenty of people have viewed their opinions, claiming that what the family are doing is crazy.
“The worst negative comments are mostly from people that are just too afraid to change life themselves and then trash you for it,” he added.
Undeterred from living a minimalist crypto lifestyle… quite the reverse of the familiar stories of crypto millionaires that have surfaced over the years. And possibly more sustainable.
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