the guy from Algeria
In Luxembourg I was trading bitcoins on the streets. Each customer was a super wacky character, and every trade was like a sitcom episode.
Once there was this guy from Algeria. We met at a restaurant and he said he wants to buy exactly 1 bitcoin. No problem, gimme your cash. The Bitcoin price was about 7600 euros, and he gave me a bag full of 10s and 20s. Imagine 7600 euros in 10s and 20s, mostly 10s. That was literally a bag of cash.
I counted that and told him it was not enough. He said "Just a sec!", jumped and ran away. I`m sitting there alone, with a bag of cash, the guy is gone. I`m thinking "WELL, THAT WENT WELL. NOW I CAN GO HOME", but I`m waiting.
10 minutes later he came back and gave me another 350 euro. Bitcoin price fluctuates a lot, so I checked with exchange and told him it was not enough again. He said "Just a sec!", jumped and ran away. I`m thinking "WELL THAT IS EVEN BETTER. HE LITERALLY KEEPS BRINGING ME MONEY."
10 minutes later he came back and sadly said "ATM doesn't give me more". I`m "Ok, how about 0.98 bitcoin?" He starts whining that he wants a full bitcoin, and I`m trying to reason with him. For some irrational reason it is very important for him to buy exactly one bitcoin. Actually there are only 21 million of bitcoins in the universe, so max 21 million op people can possibly afford having 1 bitcoin.
Finally I convinced him for 0.98 and asked for his wallet address. He gave me some sequence of letters and numbers. I`m about to send there his funds, but then I`m got cautious: - Is it your address? - Yes. - Where did you get it from? - Here. - Show me.
Because honestly all this is already fun enough. I don't want to send this guys bitcoins to some parking ticket serial number instead, so then we would find ourselves in a very particular situation, where I`m explaning him that all his bitcoins are gone, and I want to go home with my cash.
So I questioned him about every detail of the address, his bitcoin wallet, and even asked him for the master seed. When I asked for the master seed he got worried "But I should not show you my master seed, right?" I thought "OH WOW. WOW. LOOK AT HIM. HE JUST GAVE ME ALL HIS MONEY AND LEFT TWICE, BUT HE IS WORRIED ABOUT ME STEALING HIS MASTER SEED. TURNS OUT HE IS NOT A COMPLETE IDIOT!"
So I: - Look at the seed. Do you remember yourself writing it down on a paper? - Yes. - Are you sure? - Yes! - Are you absolutely sure? - YES. I WROTE IT DOWN, PLACED IN A CAPSULE WITH MY S-NANO, AND BURIED THE CAPSULE IN THE SAHARA DESERT IN ALGERIA.
I'm WOW. How can this be more awesome than that?
I sent him his funds. Turns out he is a taxi driver, and his clients pay him in 10s and 20s, and he decided to buy bitcoin because Trump is the president, the world economy is about to collapse and banks cannot be trusted.
He left, I got out on the street with a bag of cash, fed it all to the nearest ATM and went home.












