Let's get motivated with a True Story
On the morning of April 17, two brothers from Westchester, New York woke up to learn that they had become millionaires overnight, thanks to an unlikely bet on a cryptocurrency originally created as a joke. .
Tommy, 38, and James, 42, who were able to keep their last names to protect their anonymity, had invested hundreds of dollars in the cryptocurrency called shiba inu – a derivative of dogecoin, which is essentially a parody of parody. A coin was worth a fraction of a penny, but a friend, who happened to be a crypto expert, told them he thought it could be a great source of income.
"I thought about bitcoin, it used to be a fraction of a penny and now it's tens of thousands of dollars, and it happens to people, it's possible," Tommy said. "I trusted my friend and thought if he went to zero it would be fine. I thought of it as a lottery ticket that wouldn't expire.
Less than two months after their initial investment in late February, their lives have changed. It was his father's birthday, and instead of giving him a card, they made him a millionaire.
The differences between bitcoin, ethereum, binance coin and dogecoin cryptocurrencies The valuations of the cryptomonedas will disappear in 2021. Due to años de ser ignoradas y ser objecto de burlas por Wall Street, the cryptomonedas —incluyendo a jugadores establecidos como bitcoin y les menos conocidas “altcoins”— están disfrutando de un interés de los inversores unprecedented. Bitcoin's value has risen nearly 70% since January, and dogecoin, which started out as a joke and is still worth less than a dollar, is up more than 11,000%, according to Coindesk.
millionaire cryptocurrencies Tommy and James bet on a strange cryptocurrency. They became millionaires.
But cryptocurrencies are also extremely risky unregulated investments. Prices are known to vary widely. Additionally, digital currencies carry other unique types of risks, such as the possibility of a server being hacked, a file being deleted, or a password being lost, which could leave investors without access. to their funds forever.
James and Tommy rolled the dice, each initially investing 200. They also pitched the idea to their mum, dad, sister and a few other family members.
"My mom and sister were skeptical, but they also gave $100 each," Tommy said. "After a few weeks, when it had gone up about 300%, they put another $100 in each, and then it kept going up." In total, the group invested nearly 8,000 US dollars.
"Oh my God!" Before the pandemic, the brothers' main income came from filming weddings, but in the face of the covid-19 epidemic, their business nearly closed. Instead of planning 30 to 40 weddings this year, James said, they did no more than eight.
"We fell into oblivion," said Tommy. "Government stimulus checks weren't enough to sustain us. I'm a positive person, but it was really tough and the uncertainty was a bit scary."
As his investment in shiba coins took off, it was hard to believe how his fortunes were changing. While filming a wedding in mid-April, they kept half an eye on their investment, which quickly soared to $100,000, and kept growing.
Why does Elon Musk shake cryptocurrencies every time he speaks? “We woke up the next morning and it doubled. We were like, 'Oh my God,'" Tommy said.
"Then it went up to $700,000 and I told my brother it was going to be a million. I kept updating my phone.
The next day it happened.
"The day it hit a million, my mum and sister didn't think it was real."
The family's original bet of $7,900 is now worth almost $9 million. CNN Business confirmed the value through its coin portfolio and transaction history.
What is shiba currency? Shiba inu was created less than a year ago, an obvious derivative of dogecoin, which represents a Shiba Inu pet dog. It may have been a joke of a joke, but few people laugh now.
The value of the Shiba coin, known by the symbol SHIB, has increased by more than 11,000% in the past 30 days, according to the CoinGecko site.
Earlier this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made headlines by donating $1 billion in shiba coins to a covid-19 relief fund in India.
The cryptocurrency, known informally as memecoin or altcoin, has also attracted a handful of celebrity backers, from former boy band stars to NFL pros.
As is the case with Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter, who is frequently seen tweeting the hashtag #Shiba and #ShibArmy.
The fall of bitcoin is very bad news for other cryptocurrencies “As a cryptocurrency enthusiast and investor, seeing the announcement about SHIB and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin donating to India was very exciting,” Carter told CNN Business in a statement. "I think there is an incredible future for Crypto, especially knowing how it can be used for good and most importantly to save lives."
NFL star Antonio Brown tweeted to his more than one million followers on Wednesday that he too had invested in this cryptocurrency.
"The shiba business is booming and crypto is the way to go," Brown told CNN Business on Thursday. "It's a new way to invest."
There are thousands of cryptocurrencies, with bitcoin and ethereum accounting for nearly two-thirds of the $2.3 trillion global crypto market. And while they can be quite profitable, as James and Tommy learned, they are also extremely volatile.
For example, bitcoin, by far the most widely used crypto today, plunged 12% this week after Elon Musk canceled Tesla's plans to accept bitcoin as payment, citing environmental concerns. And dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that Musk has regularly touted on Twitter, plunged nearly 20% after Musk appeared on "Saturday Night Live" last weekend.
Tips from Tommy and James As for how Tommy and James plan to use their money, they're not entirely sure. They haven't fully withdrawn their investment yet and are waiting for something called ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange.
"It happened so fast that it's hard to even understand the things that can be done with that money," Tommy said.
But the first thing to do is to help mom and dad.
"My parents' house needs a new roof, so I'm taking care of it."
For anyone considering trying to replicate the resounding success of the brothers, James offers a warning: "Don't put in money you're not willing to lose," he said. “Meme tokens are very high risk and you really don't know what will happen to them. We know that's not what normally happens, although shiba has changed our lives. When you see it fluctuate so much, it keeps you awake at night."