Turning losses to wins: How a Ponzi victim became a crypto evangelist

2 years ago

Losing wealth to a Ponzi scam is not the perfect instauration to the crypto ecosystem. Thankfully, Mark Dave Manansala gave crypto and blockchain a 2nd accidental and discovered a caller passion.

It each started erstwhile Manansala was invited by an acquaintance to articulation a precise fashionable crypto task successful 2017. The project’s squad asked him to make a video of himself successful speech for escaped tokens. After this, helium was advised to reinvest the gains. Baited by the precocious returns, Manansala ended up investing much wealth into the strategy lone to discover that it was a scam.

“After studying and putting my wealth successful for astir 3 months, it became clearer that it was a scam. I did what a tin to retrieve and propulsion retired what I could, and I was capable to prevention immoderate of the investments earlier their token wholly crashed.”

When asked astir however the acquisition changed his position of crypto, Manansala noted that helium didn’t comprehend crypto arsenic a antagonistic happening contempt being "totally pissed disconnected by that peculiar platform."

As beingness gave Manansala lemons, helium made lemonades. “Because of the encounter, I became funny astir crypto, Bitcoin and the tech down it,” said Manansala. The Ponzi unfortunate told Cointelegraph that helium started educating himself, and aft being assured astir the life-changing opportunities wrong the industry, helium wanted to stock what helium knew truthful that others would find crypto arsenic well.

“After knowing rather a spot astir it, I started a play meetup successful GenSan. It was a somewhat simple, informal seminar oregon an ‘open talk’ successful a cafe, inviting anyone who wanted to larn astir crypto and blockchain. ”

Back successful 2017, Manansala started his crypto crusade with the idiosyncratic closest to him — his girlfriend. The crypto evangelist said that she was studying to beryllium a pharmacist but ended up going all-in connected the crypto industry.

“From there, we became similar a tandem. We’ve had a communal connection which was crypto – our taxable each the time. Then, together, we started the meetup successful 2018 erstwhile we were assured with what we knew,” said Manansala.

Mark teaching students astir blockchain astatine NDDU School successful General Santos City, Philippines. Source: Mark Manansala

After that, the Filipino Bitcoiner moved connected to friends and family. Then, helium opened up the meetup for anyone successful his metropolis who wanted to larn astir crypto oregon blockchain. After a year, helium started being invited to speech successful schools and events and was capable to spell to countries similar Vietnam and Indonesia to dispersed the bully quality astir Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain.

Related: ‘How I met Satoshi’: The ngo to thatch 100M radical astir Bitcoin by 2030

The crypto talker shared that galore of his assemblage person precise small cognition astir crypto and blockchain. Because of this, helium mostly discussed the past of wealth during his talks. “Blockchain is benignant of excessively method to some, but if they conscionable wanted to cognize the basics of crypto, having an knowing of wherever wealth comes from is important,” said Manansala.

“Some thought that Bitcoin and blockchain were the aforesaid thing. So, we had to enactment connected that. I gave them examples and explained that Bitcoin is lone 1 mode to usage and use blockchain technology. I besides explained imaginable usage cases of blockchain.”

According to Manansala, galore of the erstwhile attendees to his meetups became traders. At the moment, the crypto advocator says that helium is grooming 4 students that started with zero knowledge. He is besides grooming an precocious squad who are learning to marque astute contracts and precocious websites. 

Manansala dreams of a clip erstwhile his audiences would person capable skills to get a occupation with what they learned from him. He said that helium wants to go an advocator of opportunities by educating others. The crypto advocator believes that adjacent if the markets spell down, cognition tin alteration radical to enactment and gain a living. 

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