Since I can remember, there was always something stronger than me that was driving my impulses, questioning everything and everyone. But then again, what do you expect growing up in the post-socialist republic of Yugoslavia. 

Yes, the same one that the history books have branded as the bronze medal of hyperinflation. I’m sure we could have had 1st place if it wasn’t for the West’s intervention. But then again, it’s hard to beat German efficiency. If there was a hyperinflation Olympics, they would rightfully deserve to win the first spot. They set the bar really high, and the fact that even Balkan corruption couldn’t beat it is a proof-of-work by itself. 

The 80’s had a special feel to them, something was brewing for sure but as a kid I couldn’t put my finger on it. Before the civil war in Bosnia, my dad was the city’s bank director, and I literally grew up playing in the safes, leaving my fingerprints all over the place. I will never forget my dad’s VZ 61 Skorpion in his top right desk drawer. Yes, the famous Soviet automatic rifle was the defense of last resort. Welcome to the Balkans. 

I tasted the socialist reality early on in my childhood. I was no stranger to danger, and that led me to my first hospital visit when I was 5 years old. I went straight through a glass door (soviet quality ladies and gentlemen) and lacerated my right wrist. And socialism being socialism, the hospital is always 2-3 towns away, which was about 40km in my case.

Seriously, I don’t know how I made it that night, but a honey badger was born and there was no going back. 

I hated the recitals at school where we had to pledge allegiance to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, wearing the five-point red star on our blue berets. I never felt part of the whole charade. The same Motherland broke apart a few years later, in a matter of a few months, just like the local economy and the Yugoslav Dinar. I still remember the bank notes at the time and their designs. I didn’t pay much attention to their value back then, but now that I see them again, being a multi trillionaire didn’t really bring that much more happiness. It’s funny how I have a whole different perspective as an adult when I think about that time. Having numbers with a lot of zeros in your bank account doesn’t mean anything if your money isn't backed by anything. 

Having access to a satellite dish at that time helped me learn English early on. I picked up on the Western culture by watching Hip Hop clips on MTV and movies like Star Wars. Then one day, my dad brought me with him to the village near our city. His friend was selling his Commodore 64 and that was my birthday present. With it came a case of about 50 games on floppy disks. Needless to say, that day changed my life forever. At 8 years old, I was typing my first lines of code to load those games and it felt so awesome. 

Then, everything started falling apart. 

As the foreign money supply was draining away, the ultra-nationalist movement led by ex-communists was rising fast. Too fast even. The out-of-control hyperinflation and a high unemployment rate acted like a super-inflammable gas that ignited the flames of ultra-hard nationalism. It was the beginning of the spiral to the bottom with no hope in sight. Like the saying goes, “first gradually, then suddenly” the chaos settled in. The autopilot mode that I was in as a kid was abruptly switched OFF for the rest of my life. Then again, there’s nothing like a war to teach you something that most scholars only learn as theory, and forget as they pursue their careers — that fiat money can really lose all of its worth when people stop playing the game. This time is different, everyone said. Europe is going to save us. There can never be a war here, we are too civilized. 

None of it mattered anymore. The real value of exchange wasn’t fiat cash anymore, it was commodities like cigarettes. 

And yes, the hyperinflation stories about cigarettes are true. A pack in the morning was worth as much as a single cigarette at night. And as the supply shortage began, people started smoking dried flowers and tree leaves. Play socialist games, win socialist prizes, I guess. Then, a few weeks after the shelling started, we had a chance to take a bus to Serbia, where we stayed in a two-star hotel for nine months with refugees that came from Sarajevo. Although I had just escaped from hell, I never felt so free in my life. For a few years of my life, I was literally stateless. The country that I was born in didn't exist anymore, and the one I left wasn't officially recognized as a country yet. A statistical improbability, falling through the cracks of the bureaucratic system. 

I understood pretty early on that politicians cannot be trusted, and that adults often behave worse than kids. I will spare you the details of the horrors that I saw and lived, but it made me who I am today. And when I talk about the past, it’s never in the role of a victim, but of somebody who is trying to warn future generations that you cannot argue with crazy. We had to leave everything behind and start over. The classic story of first-generation refugees. If only bitcoin existed back then.

Mid-90’s Montreal was literally my second chance at life. My passion for computers grew even more. One of my first new friends introduced me to mIRC (Internet Relay Chat) and the rest is history. Since I didn’t have many friends due to the language barrier, I was spending more and more time learning about computers. Then the movie Hackers came out. Besides the kitsch visual effects, it was like a calling to me. The soundtrack of that movie had me hooked on it too. Not too long after, I discovered the underground rave scene. 

To my surprise, geeks were running that scene, and it was just like in the movies. Skaters, punks, jocks, nerds, geeks, pimps and simps, dancing all night long to the sound of the legendary Roland TB-303. That’s where I met some of the local hackers and phreaks. 90’s computer security was a joke at best, and I was having the time of my life. This was also the time where I discovered more and more the implications of the financial system on our world. And that this exact system was responsible for funding the wars, just like the one I saw. The illusion of a modern mankind was eroding more and more. 

As time passed by, the Internet became more and more compromised.

It was taken over by commercial and financial agents, monetizing our every click, selling our information to different agencies without the citizens having their opinions heard. Well, those that saw through all the bullshit and tried to warn us. The West wasn’t as innocent and clean as we had thought back on the other side of the world. We had already fled the corruption once, but now, our new politicians were starting to get addicted to power, control and dictatorship once again. 

The necessity for more privacy was becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like the feeling of being tracked like an animal.

Having each of my movements recorded by a multinational organization, that is also going through my emails trying to sell me stuff. That is the fiat mindset that we are fighting against. And the roots of this evil are far reaching and strong. The corruption in the banking system has hundreds of years of training and experience. It is soaked in blood and greed. It is the final boss that we are up against, and the honey badger doesn’t give a fuck.

The beginning of my 30’s was a rollercoaster to say the least. Having kept all my emotions inside since leaving my war-torn country, once they got through the thick skin, it was just a matter of time before a tsunami of anxiety and depression swept in. But as new challenges and life lessons were thrown at me, instead of falling into victimhood, I confronted them one by one. It was a hard time for me, but my family and my kids meant more to me than anything else. Illusions of society were falling, I felt wide awake, and I had nobody to talk to that would understand how I was seeing reality.

That is, until Bitcoin came along. 

All of a sudden there were people that were talking openly about what I was thinking myself. I knew that the game was rigged, and I finally found people to help fight against it. That flame that was threatening to burn out, started burning stronger and hotter than ever. I felt alive again. The grey clouds of the past were being swept away by a force unknown to me. Even though I felt like giving it all up at one point, everything started to make sense. The signals became stronger the more I learned about Bitcoin. The connection with nature, and synchronicities that started popping up out of nowhere. I remember media going bonkers when bitcoin hit 20K (and the following crash). The more they talked badly about it, the more it was a blatant red flag. I understood that it must've been doing something right if the legacy system was freaking out about it so much! 

And just like a new block in my life, I discovered Bitcoin Twitter.

That’s when the real fun started. I met some of the most awesome, honest, true to themselves, down to earth and intelligent people on this planet. Just the memes and shitposting at the beginning felt like a relief. After a while I saw that Francis Pouliot from bullbitcoin.com was on the platform as well and straight up asked him if he could guide me in the right direction to learn more about the technical aspect of Bitcoin. Not too long after, he sent me a list of books to read and got me deep into the rabbit hole. I'll forever be grateful for that. 

Now, after what felt like an eternity learning about the subject, I feel really comfortable with the next step on my path: running my own node and starting to verify the network myself. You cannot wait for the State to help you. It won’t. It doesn’t care about you. It's up to each one of us to stand up, get our sleeves rolled up and go out there to spread adoption. Educating people, building tools, using, selling, and buying bitcoin. There are many ways to contribute. The Bitcoin infrastructure is up and running with an impressive track record. We will lose some warriors and gain some more on the way. Keep in mind that every bitcoin transaction, be it on the main network or a L2 solution like Lightning, is like a drop of water that ends up contributing to the end of the legacy financial system that refuses to innovate in this time and age.

Big thanks to @eprefon and @hodl_adu for taking the time to guide and help me with this text, and to Citadel21 for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself.