{"id":944,"date":"2025-10-27T10:35:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T08:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/?p=944"},"modified":"2025-10-27T10:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T08:39:10","slug":"confessions-of-a-boomer-bitcoiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/2025\/10\/confessions-of-a-boomer-bitcoiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Confessions of a Boomer Bitcoiner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n


How a 67-year-old discovered freedom and curiosity in the Bitcoin revolution<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\n
\"Bitcoin<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019m Marius \u2014 born in 1958, proud boomer, who started his journey almost 10 years ago into this strange and fascinating world of Bitcoin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidenote: Around 2013, as a techie I did dabble in some mining but quickly abandoned that as something that is going nowhere (In hindsight, not the wisest thing)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Now, before you roll your eyes \u2014 no, I haven\u2019t joined some crypto cult, and I\u2019m not day-trading meme coins on my phone. What drew me in wasn\u2019t hype or greed. It was curiosity<\/strong>, mixed with a fair bit of scepticism. Like many of my generation, I wanted to understand what all the fuss was about \u2014 and why so many young people were suddenly allergic to banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first, I\u2019ll admit: I thought Bitcoin was a scam. Magic internet money? Anonymous developers? A network with no central authority? It sounded ridiculous. Even 3 years before (around 2013), I actively started to take notice of Bitcoin, as a techie, I set up a Linux machine and mined some Bitcoin. But the deeper I dug, the more I realised it wasn\u2019t the scam \u2014 it was the system around us that was broken.

From Chequebooks to Seed Phrases<\/strong>

I still remember balancing my chequebook with a calculator and a pen. Fast forward a few decades, and I\u2019m sitting at my desk trying to figure out what a \u201cseed phrase\u201d is \u2014 12 or 24 random words that somehow control my money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • It was intimidating.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • It still is, sometimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The first time I set up a hardware wallet, I felt like I was handling plutonium. The warnings were terrifying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • \u201cDon\u2019t lose your seed phrase.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • “Don’t take a photo.”<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • “Don’t connect to the internet.”<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      I must\u2019ve checked that thing ten times before I felt confident. But once I got it \u2014 really got it \u2014 it clicked. I wasn\u2019t just using an app. I was becoming my own bank<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      And that was a powerful feeling for someone who grew up trusting banks, governments, and neat little passbooks.

      Learning Not to Trust (and Verify Instead)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Our generation was raised to trust institutions. The bank was safe, the news was honest, and the government would look after you \u2014 or at least try. But over time, that trust has been chipped away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      We\u2019ve seen currencies devalue, pensions underperform, and money printers go brrr<\/em>. So when I stumbled upon Bitcoin\u2019s mantra \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t trust, verify\u201d<\/em> \u2014 it struck a chord. For once, the rules were transparent. The supply was fixed. The math didn\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      It felt\u2026 refreshing. Maybe even hopeful.

      The Scammers and the Noise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Of course, it\u2019s not all sunshine and sats. The number of scams out there is staggering. Every week, someone forwards me a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d to double my Bitcoin \u2014 and it\u2019s always fake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      The crypto world is noisy, flashy, and full of distractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      That\u2019s why I\u2019ve learned to stick to Bitcoin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      No \u201cnext Bitcoin,\u201d no \u201cnew project,\u201d no influencer nonsense. Just Bitcoin. The rest feels like a casino designed to separate the hopeful from their money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      The Dinner Table Dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      When I bring up Bitcoin at family dinners, I usually get a few smirks. My kids roll their eyes \u2014 \u201cDad\u2019s orange-pilling again.\u201d<\/em> My friends joke that I\u2019ve gone off the deep end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      But that\u2019s fine. We boomers have been through cultural revolutions before. We went from vinyl to cassettes to CDs to streaming. We\u2019ve seen the Cold War, the internet, and social media rise and fall. Bitcoin is just the next shift \u2014 only this one actually gives us freedom<\/strong>, not just convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      And truthfully, learning about Bitcoin has given me a sense of youthful energy<\/em> again. I\u2019m learning, experimenting, and challenging assumptions. It keeps the brain sharp and the spirit curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Leaving Something That Lasts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      What drives me most is legacy.
      I want my kids and grandkids to inherit something more stable than the fiat system we grew up with. Bitcoin offers a way to pass down value that can\u2019t be printed away or frozen by a bureaucrat\u2019s pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      It\u2019s not easy. It takes patience, caution, and humility. But for anyone my age who\u2019s willing to learn, it\u2019s one of the most rewarding adventures out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
      My Advice to Fellow Boomers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Start small.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Read, listen, and ask questions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Don\u2019t let the tech intimidate you.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • And most importantly, don\u2019t outsource your understanding<\/strong>. Learn enough to hold your own keys, even if you just buy a few thousand rand worth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Bitcoin isn\u2019t just for the young. It\u2019s for anyone who believes in self-reliance, fairness, and freedom \u2014 values that boomers like us actually helped build society on.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • So yes, I\u2019m a boomer. But I\u2019m also a Bitcoiner.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • And honestly? It feels good to be early to something again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        About the author<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        Marius Bock is a 67-year-old boomer who stumbled into the Bitcoin rabbit hole and decided to stay awhile. When he\u2019s not managing tech projects or exploring the world of digital finance, he enjoys hiking the mountain trails in the Western Cape and enjoys small town life in Yzerfontein and reflecting on how fast the world is changing. As a hobby, he dabbles in coding some Rust applications. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        I\u2019m a 67-year-old boomer who once thought Bitcoin was a scam. Now I see it as one of the most important inventions of our lifetime. Here\u2019s what I learned when I finally took the orange pill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[163],"tags":[164,187],"class_list":["post-944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin","tag-boomer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Boomer-image.png?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1SHVw-fe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":959,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions\/959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mariusb.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}