Mario Gibney: The Man who Conquered the World Through Bitcoin

The month of November hasn’t been the best for the crypto world as major currencies fell on its head and lost more than 30% of their market capitalization. People all around are scratching their head as to what caused the sudden fall. Many have sold their fortunes in crypto, while quite a few are optimistic as ever.

Mario Gibney’s story from being a depressed and suicidal man to turning his life on its head through Bitcoin is the story that would get everyone going. The story was initially shared on Twitter. Currently, a Blockstream employe and a co-host of Unhashed Protocol, Gibney’s account surely serves as the ray of light everyone can relate and take inspiration from. So, let us dive in and see what Mr. Gabiney’s story can teach all of us.

A little background

Mr. Gibney’s story begins in early 2016 and late 2015 in Seoul, where he was struggling to maintain an equilibrium in his life, thanks to increasing college debts. Most of his life was involved in getting drunk and clubbing at the weekends. He did not have any long-term plans and kind of avoided it to escape from the harsh realities of life. Most his life was spent being drunk or playing video games at night.

The unhealthy lifestyle had lead to erratic sleeping patterns, and his eating patterns were bizarre to judge it best. He was sliding further into depression with no real-world interactions to get away from it. The depression got severe, and in early 2016 he was contemplating suicide. He sought the help of Psychiatrist and family to get a bit stable and did not throw away his life to circumstances.

Gibney stabilized his life with the help of his friend and family, but the story still was the same, his debts were still intact, he quit his studies, and he did not have anything in life to look up to and feel excited. Thus he had a ton of free time in hand.

The introduction to Bitcoin

Mario remembers, how one evening Bitcoin popped in his head from one of those bar talks. He looked for any upcoming gathering in his locality and luckily enough there was one only 15 minutes away from his home.

The best part about the meetup was the people as most of them were English speaking. Now he had a purpose in life which he could look upto. He attended his first Bitcoin meeting in May 2016.

The Bitcoin meetup surely had a significant impact on his life as he duly mentions. There were great people around, always ready to help one another. After becoming a regular at the meetings, Mario started to show interest in the technical aspects of things. He started learning C++ to be able to interact on internet forums, although he had a tough time, with the help of his group members, he learned things quicker and very soon, was able to understand many technical aspects which he could only dream about a couple of months ago.

Mario could not have asked for anything to be different by a bit, as he felt content and intellectually challenged, than just chugging beer and getting drunk. The night video gaming was now occupied with Dan Boneh cryptography courses.

By early 2017 his life started to take shape, he found a day job as an English tutor and never buried himself under alcoholism and depression. Life did get tough a few times, but he chose constructive work over alcohol. The investment he made into Bitcoin in late 2016 paid him rich dividends in 2017 as he was able to pay back all his loan and clear all his debts. Mr. Mario was a better and happy man now. He says,

“I had been lucky enough in 2016 to set aside an investment in bitcoin which by 2017 allowed me to pay off my remaining debts. I’ll never forget that feeling of weight being lifted off my shoulders.”

Bitcoin brought great career Prospects along with the monetary returns

Korea embraced the 2017 Bitcoin Euphoria with open arms, and Seoul, where Mr. Gibney was located, saw the changes too. The meetings got more substantial, and the number of visitors increased overnight when compared to a few fortnights ago. The sudden attention to the Bitcoin gave Mr. Mario a hope that, maybe he can build a career out of it.

The Seoul based group which Mr. Mario was a part of, gained a lot of attention for speaking against Segwit 2X fork which brought Warren Togami in contact with them. Mr. Mario looking at the opportunity told Mr. Togami that he was looking for a career in the Bitcoin industry, to which Togami replied, “I don’t know if we’re hiring at the moment, but we can stay in touch.”

Mr. Mario felt embraced as he thought that he was technically incapable to be working with an institution like Blockstream. But, he was entirely wrong as Mr. Warren within two months managed to get him on board. Mr. Mario gave his final interview in January this year and now an employee at the firm, once he thought he could never be a part of, probably Mr. Warren saw more in Mario than what he thought of himself.

On this fantastic life-changing experience, Mr. Mario Gibney says,

“My life is so much better in almost every way than any other time in my life, and I’m beyond grateful. Bitcoin certainly wasn’t the only thing that dragged me out of that mess a few years back. The support of my loved ones, psychotherapy, and my own perseverance was huge. But yes, the bitcoin community and the people I’ve met along the way have been the kind of thing that makes this whole life journey worthwhile.”

You can read his complete story here