From Class 10 to Crypto: My Unplanned Journey Let me take you back to the time when everything in my life was pretty normal. I was just a school kid, in class 9 or 10 back then around 2021–2022. I was kinda into coding memes and tech Instagram pages. You know, those fun meme pages that post about JavaScript jokes, VS Code crashes, and<i> "when your code runs in first attempt"</i> type of stuff. I had no clear idea what I wanted to become. Engineering? CA? Business? I didn’t even know what all was possible. But I was curious. <i>I was always curious about money, tech, and how the world actually runs.</i> One random day, I was scrolling through Instagram just casually. And on one of those tech meme pages called @meme_coding, I saw a random ad. It wasn’t anything flashy. It looked like some <i>"stock market course for students"</i> kind of thing. I was just getting into financial stuff, i had read <i>Rich Dad Poor Dad</i>, and was building that hunger to understand money and success. That ad pulled me in. I genuinely thought it was about the stock market. So, I messaged the guy on WhatsApp (yes, just like that). Got his number, dropped a message, said I wanted to learn investing. And what he replied changed everything. He said, <i>"Bro this is not stock market. It’s crypto."</i> <i></i><b> Me: Crypto?</b> At that point, I had zero clue what that meant. Bitcoin? I’d vaguely heard the name somewhere. That’s it. But still, I was like: <i>"Okay. Let’s see what this is all about."</i> And trust me, that was the first gamble I played with my future. Clicking on that link. Messaging that guy. Without knowing what I was walking into. That guy: <i><b><a href="https://x.com/AkshatSanwal">Akshat Sanwa</a>l </b></i>(yeah, I still remember and I’ll never forget) invited me to an open session he was hosting online, just for free. It was all about what is crypto, why we need decentralisation, types of wallets, how current financial systems work, and so on. The session was very technical but also kind of mind-blowing. Like : <i>why didn’t we learn this stuff in school?</i> Akshat spoke about<i> "how crypto isn’t just about 'making money' but solving real problems — privacy, control, owning your data, censorship resistance."</i> It all just hit me deep. But then life moved on. I forgot most of it. Months passed. Exams, life, school stuff. But somewhere around 5–6 months later, I felt the urge again. That itch to learn more about this world came back. So I messaged Akshat again. And guess what he replied. With the same kindness, same patience. This time, he was running a 2-month course for a small group of beginners like me. And he added me too. Then he showed us how Bitcoin was born out of that chaos. As a solution. As a rebellion. As an idea that <b><i>money should not be controlled by corrupt systems, but by Code, Math, and Consensus.</i></b> He explained decentralisation, mining, wallets, use-cases everything, but in a way that even a school kid could feel empowered. That’s when I knew <i>I want to do this. I want to go deep into this world.</i> Soon after, Akshat and his 2–3 friends were starting something maybe an education platform or a community, I don’t fully remember. But they offered me something more valuable than money: They told me: "You’re the technical person among this group. You should start learning Solidity and EVM. You have potential." And that... <b>that moment gave me belief in myself.</b> But there was one big problem:<i> I didn’t even have a laptop.</i> So, I went to my parents. I told them I wanted a basic second-hand laptop — anything that could run VS Code. I didn’t talk about crypto directly — I told them I wanted to learn Blockchain technology, Web3 development, smart contracts. But somehow, the conversation escalated. My parents were shocked. They heard the word <b>“crypto”</b> and panicked. In their eyes, it was something illegal, scammy, underground. In the heat of the moment, they thought I was getting into gambling, illegal stuff, maybe even scam networks, <i>you know how Indian parents think when they hear the word crypto.</i> They couldn’t understand what I was doing, and to be fair, I didn’t know how to explain it properly either back then. <b>And then came the final blow </b> they took away my laptop. Not just took it they made it very clear: <i>"No laptop until you finish your 12th."</i> That was their condition. That moment shattered me. I felt betrayed, misunderstood, and stuck in a house where no one could understand how serious this was for me. And to make things worse <i>they called Akshat</i>. <i>“What are you teaching our child?”, “How can we trust someone he met online?”, “We don’t want him to get into something illegal.”</i> They didn’t abuse or disrespect him. But I could feel the fear in their voice. And I could feel the shame in my chest. They actually called him to ask what this whole thing was about. And Akshat, like the absolute legend he is, calmly explained everything to them. He handled it with maturity. Told them I wasn’t into anything wrong, that this was the future of finance and technology, and that I had serious potential. I was heartbroken. But not angry. <i><b>I understood their fear. They grew up in a world where the government controlled everything and “crypto” sounded like gambling or black money.</b></i> So, I sat them down and explained: <i>What is Web3. Why crypto is not illegal. "How it’s simply outside the system, not against the system."</i> I explained how blockchain is about transparency. How it can change finance, governance, identity, and more. How it’s the next internet. I would sit them down, explain how blockchain works, how crypto isn’t all scams, how it’s being adopted by major companies, how smart contracts are changing how we think about code and money. Sometimes they’d listen. Sometimes they’d ignore me. Sometimes they’d get irritated. But I never stopped trying. I kept pushing. Kept learning with whatever limited access I had. Used my phone. Borrowed devices. Hustled silently. Because deep inside, I knew<i> I wasn't wrong.</i> And slowly, over the months, they started softening. They didn’t fully understand everything, but they started seeing that this wasn’t just a “phase.” This was my path. And finally after my 12th board exams they gave me a new laptop. <i>Not just a device it was a symbol.</i> A sign that maybe they were starting to believe in me again. <i><b>That moment meant everything. That moment... was the turning point of my life.</b></i> <i>I had gambled everything my time, my trust, my energy just because of one random Instagram ad. But it led me here.</i> It led me to Web3. It led me to Twitter, where I started following more and more people in the ecosystem. It led me to connections. I wasn’t learning to code yet, but I was absorbing knowledge like a sponge. Reading threads, watching spaces, DM’ing strangers who became mentors and friends. Even though I couldn’t yet write a single line of Solidity or Rust, I was building something far more valuable at that stage . I was learning how the ecosystem thinks, how people communicate, how builders ship products, how narratives are created, and how certain people became legends just by being consistently right and early. Founders, builders, contributors. I’d reply to their posts, DM them, watch everything they were sharing. I was learning not just how to build, but <i>how to think.</i> And through all that, <i>I made real friends. People who never asked for my age or my degree. People who just saw someone hungry to learn.</i> And then… after my 12th boards, it happened. <b>My parents gave me a laptop again.</b> <i>It wasn’t just “a device” — it was permission. It was trust.</i> It was them finally saying,<i> “Okay, maybe there’s something real in this.”</i> Looking back, I think that part of my journey <i>the fight for belief</i> shaped me just as much as the technology did. Because Web3 didn’t just teach me how to code. It taught me how to convince, how to communicate, and most importantly how to keep going even when no one else sees the vision yet. And all of that happened because of <b>one gamble</b> ~ <b><i>one random decision by a 15–16 year old school kid.</i></b> Today, I’m <b><a href="https://x.com/vaibhavjain_dev"><i>@vaibhavjain_dev</i></a>,</b> building my own path in Web3, decentralisation, and blockchain tech. Still learning. Still growing. Still remembering how it all started. And I’ll never forget the person who onboarded me: Akshat Sanwal — <a href="https://x.com/AkshatSanwal">@AkshatSanwal</a>. He’s doing great work. <i>He changed my life without ever asking anything in return.</i> Akshat, If You’re Reading This ... Thank You
