Brian Hoonjong Paik | Founder of SmashFi

I never thought that I would chase disruption.

I was a salaryman in South Korea, doing everything right but still feeling trapped. Each paycheck felt like a ceiling rather than a stepping stone.

The harder I worked, the more it seemed that the system was set up to keep me where I was.

So in 2018, I decided to be part of the chaos.

I joined Coinone, one of South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges, as a corporate sales manager. What I saw was intoxicating.

Overnight wealth. Twenty-something developers becoming billionaires. New tokens launching daily: solar power coins, ad-view tokens, copy-trading projects, all promising easy riches.

I wanted in.

I followed the new coins. I bet on futures with crazy leverage.

I won, lost, and fell. My life was all about price charts during the day, and liquidation notifications at night. The tension was non-stop.

It was like I was in a fog. Until that fog lifted.

I realized the truth that most people learn too late: in the altcoin casino, if you are not the house, then you are the prey. Projects disappeared. Ecosystems which were "Guaranteed" collapsed. The insiders left first. The rest of the people paid the price.

I took a step back and began to study.

I read The Internet of Money. I investigated the currency's past.

Bitcoin was not a trade. It was not a speculation.

It was real estate. Unchangeable. Limited. A “Digital Manhattan” in the ocean of unlimited copies. And I took the "Orange Pill".

In 2019, I laid the basis of what eventually turned out to be SmashFi.

The temptation of going the popular way was hard to resist. The investors told me to issue a token. "Why wait for a slow building when you can have the money printed?" they said.

I said "No".

I was not going to build upon the fault of pre-mined tokens. I was not going to put another chip on the broken system's floor.

On the contrary, I constructed something unexciting and transparent.

A foundation meant to support the average person through the very process that is sure to yield results: accumulate Bitcoin.

Others were after the hype while I was busy building my conviction. While billions were being lost, my thesis only got more solid.

SmashFi, alongside my writing, The Final Answer: Bitcoin, is the vehicle through which I,  Brian Hoonjong Paik, today, am not offering an overnight millionaire guarantee.

I am presenting something less common: the truth.

I am bringing people from gambling to saving. I am helping them to see Bitcoin as the digital oil of the future economic system. I am teaching people to keep one simple target, owning one Bitcoin.

For a short period, I could have been a token millionaire.

I decided to be a Bitcoiner for a lifetime instead.

"Be humble. Stack sats."

This is my kingdom.

– As narrated by Brian HoonJong Paik, penned by the Rolling Authors® Team. Visit us at www.rollingauthors.com for biography/memoir writing.