This was published 4 years ago
How Jaide travelled overseas on cryptocurrency for 12 weeks
By Damon Cronshaw
Jaide Barclay has just travelled to 10 countries over 12 weeks, living only on cryptocurrency.
The volatile Bitcoin has been back in the spotlight, amid price rises and Facebook's creation of its own cryptocurrency Libra.
Pioneer: Jaide Barclay travelled overseas for three months, living on cryptocurrency.
Originally from Newcastle but now living on the Gold Coast, Ms Barclay has taken a keen interest in digital currency.
"I bought Bitcoin just before the 2017 bull run. Then in late 2017 and early 2018, the market crashed," Ms Barclay, 33, said.
"I continued keeping an eye on prices and related news throughout 2018, but it wasn't very exciting with prices so low."
Early this year, she decided to take the next step and get more involved in the culture of cryptocurrency.
"I wanted a career change, but I didn't know how to take that step. It's such a new industry and I knew no one in it," she said.
"I used Instagram to start connecting with other crypto enthusiasts and got invited to London Blockchain Week, which was six days away. I jumped on a plane and went."
At the conference, she realised that use of cryptocurrency needed to improve drastically for the market to evolve.
"I had never spent it myself and didn't even know how to spend it," she said.
From London, she decided to continue attending conferences, learning and meeting people involved.
"I decided that, while I did that, I would live only on crypto," she said.
She began her journey by setting up digital phone wallets with Bitcoin and another cryptocurrency called Ethereum.
"Then I Googled places that accepted cryptocurrency in the different places I was visiting," she said.
"These were either physical shops or websites that I could pay for things with crypto."
She started in Australia and travelled to Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, America and the Bahamas.
She acquired a few crypto Visa cards along the journey, which made life easier.
The Bitcoin price began to surge.
"As the market started climbing towards the end of the trip, I tried not to spend as much of my crypto because it was going up so much," she said.
She travelled alone.
"I didn't know anyone when I started, but it really didn't feel like I was travelling alone because I was meeting the same people at a lot of the conferences," she said.
"It was a great way to travel. I actually don't think I could have completed the journey solo. Friends bailed me out on a few occasions and I was able to repay them with crypto. It wasn't the original plan, but I had to adapt along the way to be able to get by."
New York was her favourite city for a few reasons. It helped that people spoke English there. The language barrier in other countries was an additional challenge on top of trying to live on crypto.
"I feel like the day I arrived in New York was the day the current Bitcoin bull market started. Everyone was euphoric, the parties were insane and I was on the countdown of my journey finishing.
"Luckily there were so many after parties in New York that were fully catered, I could hold onto my crypto. Every day we were waking up and prices had jumped another 20 per cent."
By this point, people were approaching her and asking if she was the girl travelling on crypto.
"It was cool but also weird," she said.
Another highlight of her trip was being able to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef and pay with crypto.
"I loved showcasing something really special that Australia had to offer," she said.
Despite its volatility, she believes cryptocurrency is advancing.
"Every year we will see more and more places accepting it and more people knowing what it is," she said.
"As the market matures and prices become less volatile, more people will start spending it."
She's just started a crypto news channel on YouTube with a friend. The show is titled, Crypto with Jess and Jaide.