In the rapidly growing global Bitcoin community, Western biases often dominate the narrative, ignoring diverse stories from around the world. One such story is that of Didier Somnuke, a small business owner in the heart of Bangkok, a city known to welcome 22.8 million international tourists in 2023, surpassing cities such as Paris, London and New York City. Although Thailand has experienced a massive increase in household debt, which rose to 16.37 trillion baht (463 billion dollars), or 90.8% of national GDP. In 2019, it was less than 14 trillion baht.
Didier Somnukeborn in Yala Provincewhere geopolitical conflicts are a harsh reality. Southern Thailand is one of the poorest parts of Thailand with a poverty rate of 34% compared to the national average of 6%, according to the World Bank, is plagued by instability. Since 2004, this unrest has has More than 7,000 people were killed and 13,500 injured.
As the Thai saying goes, “ทวงสิทธิ์ที่จะมีชีวิตที่ดีกลับคืนมา” (Regain the right to a better life). In 2012, Didier left his conflict-ridden hometown for Bangkok, where pursuing further education was a beacon of hope for a better life. At the time, Bitcoin and financial concepts were still distant ideas in Didier’s universe. Didier navigated the bustling streets of Bangkok, completed his master’s degree, and went to work, working a typical 9-to-5 job. For a domestic migrant, this was a significant achievement. Looking back on his journey, he remembered the words of his teacher: “When you are old, you will have time and money, but you will lack the energy to start a business. If you want to do it, just do it.” With this advice in mind, Didier quit his monotonous corporate job after a year and started a new chapter in his life.
Didier borrowed 50,000 THB (approximately 1,500 USD) from his brother to start a street burger business. He chose to start a burger business because he believed it was easy to start with a small investment. Driven by his ambition and inspired by the vibrant energy of Bangkok, a city that never sleeps. He spent about a year developing the recipe and started the business in 2015. For the first three to four years, he managed everything by himself as a solo entrepreneur and his income was lower than the salary he earned in his corporate job. He often wondered if he made a mistake by quitting his job to start a business that generated less income. However, after five years, things started to improve. The sales in the shop started to increase and Didier started hiring employees.
He admitted: “I got into the crypto market out of greed; I just wanted to get rich quick.” In 2017, he and his friends pooled their resources to buy three ASIC miners from Bitmain to mine Bitcoin and altcoins like Litecoin and Dogecoin. They saw a return on their investment within six months. Didier bought his first Bitcoin in early 2017 to purchase those ASIC miners, but didn’t know how to transfer his Bitcoin, so he ended up using a bank transfer.
Reflecting on his early experiences, he recalled, “My first Bitcoins were slowly converted into shitcoins during the bull market. I was so lucky. I got 100% profit almost instantly whenever I bought anything.” Despite having no knowledge of cryptocurrency, he gained confidence and became a super shitcoiner, paying very little attention to Bitcoin.
In mid-2017, he learned about leverage and trading. His profits skyrocketed due to leverage. Although luck was not always on his side, in early 2018, the market crashed and he lost over 1 million Thai Baht (almost 30,000 USD), while his initial capital was only 100,000 Thai Baht (about 3,000 USD). In addition, he also lost his shitcoins from the mining pool. He had kept all his shitcoins in custody with the mining pool and one day, when he checked his account, all the shitcoins he had, worth 10,000 USD, were gone. The notice on the mining website, “Hash-to-Coin”, stated that if coins were kept with them for more than three months, they would be considered a donation.
He said, dejectedly, “I lost everything.” But unlike most people, “I didn’t blame Bitcoin. I still see it as the future. I blame myself. I didn’t know anything about it and I borrowed too much.” He stressed that his girlfriend didn’t leave him, despite his heavy financial losses. “My girlfriend was my customer. She would come to get burgers regularly. I met her when I was struggling financially in my early days as an entrepreneur. She supported me and said we could make the money back.”
Determined to change his circumstances, he discovered Mr. Piriya on YouTube and started following his live streams on real Bitcoin education. This marked the moment when he really started to understand what Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are. Enlightened by this unique knowledge, he started to see Bitcoin as a savings technology rather than just a trading instrument. In three years, Didier recovered from his losses and came out stronger. He became friends with Mr. Piriya and together they founded a company called Shift right to develop Bitcoin content in Thai language across multiple social media channels including on Us with one of the popular hashtags #siamstr. As a team they translated “The Bitcoin Standard” And “The Fiat Standard“in Thai, both of which became bestsellers in Thailand. They organized the very first Bitcoin Thailand Conference in 2023 and are now preparing for the next from September 2024.
Didier now accepts Bitcoin as a payment method in his main burger shop, one of four different franchises. He uses Wallet of Satoshi to process these payments. Within a year of implementing this initiative, he has received over 3 million sats in payments, although he initially expected to see more transactions in Bitcoin. In his marketplace, some neighboring small business owners occasionally ask him about Bitcoin when they see the large Bitcoin poster in his shop. Although, they often lose interest when he explains it, according to his various failed experiences. Instead, he now focuses his energy online, where he can make more of an impact on people who are willing to embrace innovation.
In 2022, about 8.4 million people in Thailand, accounting for 12% of the country’s population, used cryptocurrency. Estimates to suggest that this number will increase to around 17.67 million by 2028, which is 25% of the population. During our conversation, Didier claimed that there are around 50,000 Bitcoin users in Thailand and speculated that the Thai government could intervene in Bitcoin’s adoption, possibly by mandating the use of KYC wallets because they hate monetary systems they can’t control. In the worst case scenario, Didier remains steadfast: he will continue advocating Bitcoin to his friends. “It’s not an option,” he claimed, “it’s the only way to survive.”
This is a guest post by Win Ko Ko Aung. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.