Benaiah Akinlade's Story

My name is Benaiah Akinlade, I’m a Nigerian and I’m from the South Western part of Nigeria known as Osun State. I currently work as a school teacher in a private school in my state. I have a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computer Science, so I obviously teach Computer Studies (Information Technology) but my love for knowledge led me to also teaching other subjects, such as Government and Economics.

The school where Benaiah works.

It was the norm in the private school sector that a teacher cannot just teach only one subject. This is my day job and I love being a teacher.

Benaiah on the job, in the school’s courtyard.

Anybody who looked up my profile on Revain will see that I joined the platform on August 8, 2020. Yet my journey in the crypto space started earlier. I had been introduced to cryptocurrencies as far back as the year 2017 but I never invested in anything related to decentralized finance (crypto) until three years later due to the skepticism created by a popular Ponzi scheme that millions of people invested their life savings in. They ended up being scammed, so when Bitcoin was introduced to me at that time, I automatically shut down the idea of investing in it due to the fear surrounding investing in digital assets.

The month of March 2020 was a significant year in human history as the whole world was on lockdown due to the covid-19 pandemic which sent shockwaves all over the world. Everything was on halt, we could not go out nor go to work for months. Our sources of income were gradually disappearing.

By the end of March 2020, there were over 100 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria.

Things that grew stronger during this pandemic were family ties and relationships. The lockdown made room for conversations between me and my cousin David Olayide who spoke to me about earning little crypto assets via Telegram bots and other online platforms. I immediately rejected the idea due to the fear and mental baggage I’ve accumulated.

David managed to finally change my mind. The absence of work also played its part. I took it as a way to occupy myself as the bots and platforms operated like games that you have to play to be rewarded with tokens and I would spend hours claiming these cryptocurrencies. Some of them had little or no worth, but I didn’t know it, since I was just a novice in the crypto space.

It was through these activities that I got introduced to Coinbase and Trust crypto wallets which were the first wallets I used. I enjoyed these games so much that by the time we partially recovered from the Covid-19 lockdown at work around July 2020, I introduced most of my colleagues and friends to the telegram crypto bots and online platforms which some of them also started using to earn crypto assets.

Most of these tasks require you to be active on social media, especially Twitter and Telegram, and through these platforms, we discovered more games, tasks, and websites that give rewards in crypto for being active on their platforms. All these was captivating until the “EUREKA MOMENT”

Eureka is a cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something. I call the 8th August 2020 my Eureka moment because that’s exactly what it is. A friend on Twitter with the handle @lifemademe, who goes by the name Paul, posted a tweet that said something like “Hey crypto gurus, tell us how you make your crypto.”

I love sharing my knowledge with people. So I immediately replied to his tweet by sending all the links to my telegram bots and online platforms so that I can refer him for more crypto rewards.

I really felt proud of myself thinking I was helping out a novice in the crypto space, not knowing that I was the novice. Paul just replied to my tweet with these words “check out Revain” and nothing more. I was so shocked as this was the first time I never even got a "thank you" for my links so I was more determined to find out what Paul had that I didn’t have.

I looked up Revain and wow. I was blown away by the beauty of the website. I read what the website was about since I didn’t ask Paul what the link he sent me does, I signed up on Revain that night and completed all necessary registration, and had my first taste of the KuCoin crypto exchange.

Benaiah used this smartphone to earn enough rewards to buy a laptop.

I also told my cousin David about Revain, although he wasn’t too keen on it at that time as he actually registered but didn’t complete the registration due to reasons best known to him. I was not going to pressure him because I hadn’t tested the platform yet.

Like every other Revain beginner, my main motivation for signing up was the rewards. especially because the lockdown had made my salary epileptic so I needed a good way to recover financially.

Getting rewarded in REV was not an opportunity I was ready to let slide.

This was the first time in my life I was working online and getting rewarded for my labor in cryptocurrency/foreign currency. I did not yet know if Revain was legitimate or not, as I had used other websites that ended up not paying for tasks that I did or they required me to pay some money before getting my rewards, so I was rightly skeptical and at the same time optimistic.

As at this time, I had not told any of my friends about Revain as I had not been paid. As friends, we have a tradition of mocking anyone who introduced a potential money-making venture that ended up being a ruse or scam, and I wasn’t ready to be made fun of. So I was going to let everyone know after I got rewarded.

The first hurdle was the Artificial Intelligence software that checks the quality of reviews on the website before they get published. After a while, I learned to write good enough reviews to pass the AI check. Mind you, at that time, the daily maximum limit for reviews was five reviews and I constantly ensured that I wrote the maximum daily limit every single day on my mobile phone as I did not have a PC at that time.

The more reviews I wrote the more my opinion about Revain changed for the better, but my main goal did not change: “I must get rewards!”. After about two weeks of writing five reviews daily and going up levels and also passing the AI check, I was finally qualified to make a withdrawal.

I placed the withdrawal and discovered that the conversion of the pay to my local currency at that time’s USD exchange to NGN was around ₦16,000 (Sixteen Thousand Nigerian Nairas) for less than a month’s work. This was big money at that time given the fact that I had not received a salary since the one I got in March 2020 and this was August 2020 and my monthly salary was around ₦30,000 (Thirty Thousand Nigerian Naira Only). 

Minimum monthly wages in Nigeria in NGN (according to Trading Economics).

I said to myself if Revain could pay me more than half my salary in two weeks then I would have made it if I could consistently write reviews daily. It was finally time to let my people know about Revain.

The first colleague I told was Adedeji Adefisayo (nicknamed Deja Vu). I told him I was expecting the rewards to arrive within 24 hours as I had placed my withdrawal the night before. I was optimistic, but he told me that I shouldn’t place too much faith on online platforms and reminded me of the platforms we checked together which ended up failing.

Benaiah and his colleagues. The gentleman on the left is Adedeji Rilwan Adefisayo, who is also a Revain author.

A part of me thought he was right and a part of me believed in Revain. As we continued our discussions, other colleagues joined in and I knew I was in trouble. Revain must pay me now, I can’t afford to be mocked by these guys.As hours go by, the transaction was still awaiting manual verification. This was just supposed to take 3 hours, I should have been rewarded before I woke up, and I should have been paid before I told “Deja Vu" about Revain, but I still opened my big mouth and told him and now all the guys know about it.

Expectations turned to regret, why couldn’t I just wait to get rewards before telling others? I said to myself, “the guys will have me for breakfast the next day if I don’t get paid.” After up to 24 hours since I placed my withdrawal.

I chatted in the Telegram group about my plight of not getting paid and the group admin Ksenia. Oh, my beloved Ksenia, a woman of steel. You can actually feel her toughness from the way she converses with you. A lot of people have problems with how she handles the group but it’s only a no-nonsense person like her that can keep the group running.

Ksenia replied to me by asking for my email address in a private message. After she checked my account, she gave the worst news I could ever have received: “Your withdrawal was rejected due to low-quality reviews.”

It was like a real Deja Vu moment as I literally ran mad when I heard this. I thought about all my reviews and how I passed the AI check for my publishing. I thought about how I would face the guys the next day. I was going to become breakfast, lunch, and dinner for them. The mockery would be unbearable as they would tell me that Revain was just another scam and I was going to agree with them, they were right and I was wrong.

Stats that show why reviews are important for everyone: customers, companies, and authors.

I was going to look for any means to make a meal out of their mockery, I was going to make their mockery less important. I voiced my discontent in the group and some others did too, but I learned one lesson, that passing the AI check is no guarantee that your review was high quality as that the software can still be cheated but the manual check hardly gets cheated.

I calmed down when I discovered that my earned funds were returned to my wallet with a deduction of the fine for one of the reviews which was of low quality.A part of me believed in Revain and I was determined to see the adventure to the end, so I decided to continue writing my reviews quietly to avoid the repeat of the first withdrawal episode.

The denied withdrawal gave me more insight on how to write better reviews that will please both the AI and the Revain team. I must say that there is no perfect review as we must all get penalized for low quality at one point or the other and that’s what makes the activity exciting.

I started reducing the number of reviews I write daily so that I could do better research on the projects and companies. I suggested to the Revain team to reduce the maximum daily limit for reviews so that we would be able to do more research and will not be under too much pressure to post five reviews daily.

More stats about reviews.

The limit was initially adopted but later changed, but I had decided that I would write no more than two or three reviews per day so that I could carry out proper research. This decision helped me as I was able to win competitions on Revain both in review writing and on the Telegram group competition.

Finally, Revain was no longer about the rewards for me, it became a way for me to earn while learning. I was getting prizes for learning about crypto space. By the time I made my second withdrawal, my wallet had already been up to 106 USDT in REV.

I placed the withdrawal and it was approved within 3 hours. How happy I was when Ksenia dropped the message in the group that my withdrawal had been approved!

When I received my REV in the KuCoin account, I immediately made a screenshot and sent it to all my friends that made fun of me when my first withdrawal failed. They were shocked that I still continued with Revain, and at the same time that I finally got rewarded and this finally made some of them register on Revain.
It is also noteworthy that I used part of my proceeds to purchase a laptop that will make my work efficient both on Revain and off.

The laptop that Benaiah bought with his Revain rewards. Yet another proof, that reviews make life better.

My successful withdrawal inspired me to tell more people about Revain, I had reached level 10 which is the highest level, I had applied for the expert level which was initially denied but later approved at the second time of asking. I also won the Revain team’s choice award for the Bitcoin review competition among several wins including the weekly Telegram group competition, but these were not my crowning moments.

Benaiah’s achievements show his dedication.

My first crowning moment on Revain is that I have been able to directly invite at least ten people to Revain. Out of these ten, I have expert level reviewers Okedeji Joseph (another cousin) and Adeniji Adedamola (a childhood friend) who have also invited people who have become experts.

Benaiah was an active participant in the Review Marathon.

Secondly, anytime competitions are held on Revain, one or two of the people I invited are always part of the winners or better still the people that my invitees invite are part of the winners. This makes me feel so fulfilled and happy, more than any token reward.

Thirdly, the crypto space has been stereotyped as a male venture, that is why I am always fascinated by females doing well in the crypto space. One of such ladies is none other than that beautiful and tech-savvy Mariam Abdullahi. This teenage sensation is a crypto farmer and already an expert on Revain and she always drives me to do better in my Revain activities as her knowledge of the crypto space is nothing short of amazing.

My biggest crowning moments to date came when I was contacted by third parties to write content for their organizations.

One of such is Oluwatobi Oluyede, a content writer and strategist who read some of my reviews on Revain and decided to add me to his team of content writers on cryptocurrency-related topics (DeFi). It was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass, as it would give me more exposure to learn about the crypto space, and at the same time my writing skills will be there for all to see, and not to forget that it pays fairly well too.

I was also contacted by one of my friends, a lawyer and a poet, Adebimpe Oluwafunmilayo to be part of a team that writes whitepapers for new organizations in the crypto space.

I can’t end this story without mentioning those that have in one way or the other driven me to become a better reviewer. These are the role models who guide me in my crypto-related activities, they are Robiul Islam, Temitope Faith, Hsotaka, Steve Toluwani, Gregori Cordova, and many more people that I cannot remember. 
Revain has served me well and I believe I have been useful to the platform either directly or indirectly. I also have the conviction that my reviews have helped a lot of people to be able to navigate their way in the crypto space.

I have earned the respect of my friends and colleagues through my activities on Revain so much that they have recommended me to be a part of other teams that have to do with the crypto space for my input and reviews.

I believe there are more good things and opportunities coming to Revain. I am still looking forward to improving my review skills and to letting investors and users worldwide know which projects and companies they should trust.

Revain has a great community with members from all around the world. Hope to see you there!

Revain strives to make choices easier. Benaiah is one of those great authors who connect companies with customers, who help others make the right choices and dedicate their time and effort to an important task. We are very happy and proud to see these people on the platform.