Editor’s Note: His journey from a graphic designer paid in Bitcoin to a dedicated Shiba Inu community builder is a story many in crypto will recognize. He lived through the fear, the FOMO, the painful lessons, and the quiet conviction that turned a simple token into something much more meaningful. In an edition about the Greater Fool, his experience reminds us what real holding and real contribution actually look like.
My beginnings in crypto were with Bitcoin. I always enjoyed graphic design and drawing, so around 2016, I landed a job creating characters for an Android game. The client who hired me didn’t care for traditional finance and offered to pay me in Bitcoin.
I had no idea how to receive Bitcoin, or anything about crypto at all, but I was curious. It felt innovativе and liberating. It gave us the freedom to own our finances without intermediaries. The mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto also drew me in; people love a mystery, right? That experience led me to my first DeFi wallet and sparked a deeper interest in the entire movement.
I did not want to be just another spectator. I wanted to feel part of the movement and contribute to the growth of something I believed could be positive for the world. In those early days, I lacked the vision of Bitcoin reaching its later values. I assumed it would be just another currency, an alternative. Because I wasn’t in a great economic situation, I had to convert my pay to USD immediately to cover rent and expenses. I lived paycheck to paycheck.
Bitcoin traded around $300 at the time and climbed to $700 or so. I fell for FоMO when it hit $20,000, and when it fell to $3,000, I lost everything I had invested. It was a small amount, but the lesson proved invaluable. It led me to my next step: Shiba Inu.
Shiba Inu taught me the power of holding even through a bear market. My first buy of SHIB went down significantly, but instead of selling, I used dollar-cost averaging (DCA) and finally earned a return. SHIB taught me how to actually invest in crypto.
I had a brief stint with DOGE, but I remained on centralized exchanges and didn’t understand decentralized exchanges (DEXs). When DOGE was listed on Robinhood, I bought a bit, but as always, I was late. While searching for tоkens with lower market caps, promising futures and strong teams, I found Shiba Inu.
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What attracted me most was Ryoshi’s blog. When he said he was giving the project to the community, the lightbulb went on. A thought came to me: “This is for us, it’s for the people.” The extreme decentralization of Shiba was mind-blowing. Almost everything happened on Telegram, which was also new to me. At first, I logged in with my real nаme, and people from my contacts started reaching out. I quicklу realized the downside of Telegram: scammers trying to take advantage of that anonymity. I created a new, anonymous profile for privacy and to avoid becoming a target.
At the time, I was excited about the Vikings series. The reason I chose the pseudonym “Ragnar” has a lot to do with Ryoshi. I never saw myself as a leader. At first, I chose the nickname “Floki,” a character I liked, but one who was an assistant rather than a central leader. For me, the name Ragnar felt too big.
But Ryoshi’s blog resonated with me again. He wanted a “leaderless” Shiba, a project without leaders where each of us acted as a leader simultaneously. That encouraged me to use “Ragnar.” I wear the name with pride because each of us acts as a Ragnar, a Caesar, a Cleopatra, or any important historical figure we choose to embody. Shiba Inu was not just an experience in crypto growth; it was a character shaper that formed us technically, technologically, and psychologically. As Ryoshi wrote: “It is the process of self-actualization realized through the playing field of blockchain.”
I started working as a Telegram administrator in the Spanish SHIB group at the request of ShibaXanders, who saw me in the chats. I organized a campaign to promote SHIB on the streets of New York, pasting stickers in the subway and on traffic lights. That caught attention, and Shibinformer tweeted photos of my stickers.
I was recruited by other administrators who worked more assiduously for SHIB. I joined a group where Ryoshi, Shytoshi, Kaal, and Eric were present, аlong with several other administrators from the community. It is a community of holders who manage the project themselves, just as Ryoshi wanted. Ryoshi was in that group, though he was no longer very active when I arrived. Unfortunately, I lost access to my old groups after an incident forced me to delete my Telegram account.
Members of the community who showed initiative, collaborated, and dedicated themselves to the project were added to that inner circle. They helped SHIB gain visibility. Eric, one of the developers, owned the Shib Spain group and was with us for a long time. Over time, members in charge of different groups rotated. It was one of Ryoshi’s ideas for decentralization, to ensure power was taken by those who came later. That is how it works now. Members always complete stages and leave room for new ones. They pass the torch, just as our dear Milkshake, who helped a lot in marketing, did. Everything in Shiba was done with very hard work and grew organically.
Around that time, Ryoshi said goodbye and stopped using his Telegram account. He left as he promised he would in his blog, to keep SHIB decentralized. Shytoshi was chosen by Ryoshi to carry out his vision. We were all part of the community; each had an important task, but Shiba followed its decentralized ethos.
I also remember the “Breeds” group fondly. Being brought into that group is one of my best memories in crypto. It included all the people who worked so hard to take SHIB so far. We planned everything to achieve the goal Ryoshi gave the community. I won’t list names because it would be unfair to forget anyone, but those who were there know they are present in my memory. They helped make SHIB the second most important meme token in crypto. My goal, and I am sure the goal of all of us, is to be number one. It is a simple goal, but it reflects my personality, I like simplicity and directness.
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The birth of Shibarium brought a change. Here, Shiba entered a new stage that left many of us a bit confused until we adapted to this more decentralized vision. Before Shibarium, the focus remained on SHIB and its ecosystem, SHIB is SHIB. That is still true, but there was an opening.
A new Telegram group was created, the Shibarium group, where other projects building on Shibarium could post and promote themselves to the SHIB community. That was not previously allowed. At first, it was funny to watch administrators try to figure out which project could be posted аnd which could not. But we realized this is how Shibarium would grow: by encouraging everyone to build on it.
Previously, you could not post about other projects in Shiba groups. Now, both types of groups coexist: those focused only on SHIB and those open to other projects linked to Shiba because they are built on Shibarium, our L2 blockchain. The time for real expansion has arrived. Shibarium has forced us to look outward, since a blockchain needs to be used. Important partners are pointing in that direction.
Shytoshi is doing a tremendous job bringing in big companies that give Shibarium visibility and utility, such as the collaboration with DeLorean, Mass.build, and others. Kaal and all the developers creating Shibarium are doing incredible work, it just needs more people to notice it. Many blockchains get hype and are used for meme coins, but I believe Shibarium is creating a foundation for something durable and long-term.
I have always been closely linked to the work areas directly with the base, the Telegram groups and the communities working on incredible things in Shibarium. My vision of what Ryoshi proposed comes from those references. As decentralized as we are, everyone makes a contribution. Some bigger, others smaller, but absolutely everyone is essential to make Shibarium the project we dream of and to fulfill the plan Ryoshi left us.
You are the key to Shiba’s success and the key to Shiba becoming a tool for global use.
submitted : October 2024
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