Why we write this and who we are

Carlitos

I have always been influenced by multiculturality. Born to a Spanish mother and a German father I never really fit in during my childhood. In Germany I was the Spanish kid and in Spain too, I was called a foreigner. I carry this inner struggle with me ever since I recall to think. This and growing up in a family with a background I want to tell you a little bit about.

As a kid, I was always outdoors,mostly pursuing a ball in sports like football, tennis, handball or basketball. My stay at home mum drove me around thousands of kilometers to participate in all of these and I even made the youth national team of Germany for handball. At sixteen I triple dislocated my right shoulder and needed surgery. A voice in my head became ever louder: ‘you will never actually make it as a pro athlete.’ I checked myself out of the clinic after waking up and went to a friends house close by, told him about my dilemma and we got drunk. That day, I buried my aspirations to finance my life with sports. A sad day I recall vividly.

In that same year, my uncle passed away from cancer. He was my dads twin brother and his loss affected all of us heavily. I saw my dad, a strong independent mind and brilliant businessmen turn into clear signs of depression. He stopped laughing, he couldn’t sleep for a year and still refused to medicate his pain away. Only his mind would get him through it and that would take time. I learned a lot from my dad. I watched him struggle and ultimately overcome his sadness without painkillers and my parents are still, happily married. This is one of my favourite teachings of his.

So now I am sixteen. All of that happened. I already had worked during holidays distributing newspapers, mowing the lawn, helping in our warehouse, and selling ice cream and my 10k village was starting to feel very small. I felt ready to go out and explore the world. I had a friend attending a great school not to far away so I jumped on a train and drove there, alone.

I walked into the head masters office and told him I like your school, where can I sign up for next year? He looked at me like a kind, educated man looks at a kid asking for more pocket money. He smiled. He asked where my parents were. I told him the truth, that I had not told them yet, that I wanted to see the school first with my own eyes and I liked it here, so while at it, I thought, I’d sign up and spare myself another trip. He told me that in all his years he had not seen a young fellah request such a thing from him. He handed me a paper and told me if my parents signed it, I could start in September. I thanked him, walked out and drove an hour back home. My mum asked where I was, I showed her the paper and she could not believe it. She said no way I am going to a boarding school, that I was too young and that she was against it.

I was sad, all of my effort was in vain. When my dad later came home from work, I told him too, his reaction was different, he was impressed. I got accepted at one of Germany’s best high schools without anyone helping me. In fact, the Spanish queen had attended the same school, so did Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. And I got offered a scholarship for my audacity.

Long story short, I talked my mum into my new dream and she ultimately agreed under the condition I come home every so often. In my first week at the new school I was elected representative of the new students into their school parliament. That single decision turned my orbit from a small village into a global town overnight. I made great friends there and shared countless experiences. This part is already much longer than I anticipated..

StarPlatinum

I think my story here didn’t start in the best way. It was the summer of 2021, I had just finished my studies, and for the first time in my 21 years of life I had a job and could have my own money.

I never lacked anything. My parents always helped with everything they could. We weren’t rich, not even close, but they worked hard so that neither me nor my brother would ever lack a plate of food, a roof over our heads, and support for our hobbies.

Even so, going from depending on them to having a job was a big change, but that was also when I realized something.

Is this it? Do I want this to be the rest of my life? Being here? Spending 50 years doing this and then retiring?

“I can’t allow that.”

At that moment we were at the peak of the previous cycle, NFTs were already flying, Bitcoin was close to ATH and all the news in Spain was talking about these virtual currencies.

I got curious, searched on social media and found all kinds of gurus selling me courses or promising me that if I bought the token they were talking about, I would get rich.

Funny enough, I believed one of them. He was talking about Shiba Inu. I put in a total of €100, which for me was already a massive risk. A few weeks passed and Shiba did a 14x. It blew my mind.

That shit made me more money than I was making in a month at my job?

We entered the rabbit hole. I started buying with the little money I had and that’s when I started being active on X, from my old high school account. I just wanted to participate in giveaways and follow my crypto gurus.

I bought the vast majority of altcoins at ATH, like Cardano at $2. In the long run I would end up losing everything I had made with Shiba, but I discovered NFTs and that was when StarPlatinum was born.