I was enjoying myself at a local bitcoin meetup recently. I really treasure the friendships I have made over the past few years hanging around with bitcoiners in real life, as I have said here before.

This meetup was particularly good, because it included my regular group along with another group we were not familiar with. I met all sorts of interesting people.

As I was talking to one person, another guy looked at me and said "Do I know you?" I looked closer and recognized his face, but I couldn't place him. He then asked if I was his customer. It then dawned on me who he was. He has done work for me at my home once or twice a year for the past two years. It turns out he has been a serious bitcoiner for about as long as I have. It was great to discover this. We have had many conversations, and never have either of us mentioned bitcoin. I said to him that I will pay him in bitcoin the next time. Of course he was happy to hear that. Our mutual friends were shocked that we knew each other.

Now, the downside to this is that my privacy took a serious hit. Names and places were blurted out before either of us came to our senses. I must say that he seemed much less worried about privacy than me.

Will this make me stop hanging out with bitcoiners in public? No. I feel like this sort of interaction is inevitable as bitcoin adoption grows. We can't sit alone in our homes if we want to change the world. But it did make me a little nervous.