On the morning of April 17, two brothers from Westchester, New York, woke up to find out that they had become millionaires overnight, thanks to an incredible bet they had placed on a cryptocurrency that was originally created as a joke.
Tommy, 38, and James, 42, who asked CNN not to publish their last name to protect their anonymity, had invested a few hundred dollars in a bizarre digital fund called shiba inu coin – a variation of dogecoin (symbolized by dogecoin). a dog), essentially a parody to parody. Such a cryptocurrency was worth a fraction of a cent, but a friend of theirs, who happened to be an expert in cryptocurrencies, told them that he believed it could be profitable.
“I thought of bitcoin – and it used to be worth a fraction of a cent and now it has reached tens of thousands of dollars and that is a fact, so it is possible,” Tommy said. “I trusted my friend and thought that even if nothing came out, there was no problem. I thought of it as a lottery. “
Less than two months after their initial investment in late February, their lives changed. It was their dad’s birthday and instead of giving him a card, they made him a millionaire.
Estimates of cryptocurrencies have exploded in 2021. After years of being either ignored or ridiculed by Wall Street, cryptos – including standard “players” such as bitcoin and the lesser-known “altcoins” – are enjoying unprecedented investment interest. Bitcoin has risen nearly 70% since January – a record high in April – and dogecoin, which started as a joke and was worth less than a dollar, has risen 11,000%, according to Coindesk.
At the same time, however, cryptocurrencies are extremely risky, unregulated investments. Their prices fluctuate at an incredible rate. But digital currencies also bring other unique types of risk, such as the possibility of a compromised server, a deleted file or a lost password that could hurt investors without access to their money.
In all, the family invested about $ 8,000
James and Tommy roll the dice, with each investing an initial $ 200. They also presented the idea to their mother, father, sister and a few other family members. “Our mother and sister were skeptical, but they put in $ 100,” says Tommy. “After a few weeks, which had gone up about 300%, they put in another $ 100 each and that went up.” In total, the family put in about $ 8,000.
From almost unemployed, they became millionaires overnight
Prior to the pandemic, the siblings’ income came from wedding videotapes, but the outbreak of the coronavirus nearly shut down their business. Instead of closing 30-40 weddings that year, they did not do more than 8.
“We collapsed,” James told CNN. “The government’s demands for help were not enough to support us. “I’m a positive person in general, but it was really hard and not knowing what would happen in the future was scary.”
As their investment in the Shiba cryptocurrency took off, the two brothers had a hard time believing the change in their fortunes. During the videotaping of a wedding in mid-April, they took a look at their investment, which had quickly reached $ 100,000. And he kept going up.
“We woke up the next morning and it had doubled. “We could not stop saying, ‘Oh my God,'” Tommy says. “Then he climbed to $ 700,000 and I told my brother it would reach one million. I was constantly updating the page on my mobile phone where I was watching its value “.
And the next day, it did happen. “On the day it reached one million, my mom and sister did not believe it was true.” How much did the family’s $ 7,900 raise? It is now worth about $ 9 million!
But what is shiba inu cryptocurrency?
The shiba inu was created less than a year ago, a mutation one could say of dogecoin, with its mascot also a Shiba Inu dog. And it may have been a joke at first, but not so many people laugh at it anymore.
Shiba, symbolized by SHIB, has risen more than 11,000% in the last 30 days, according to the CoinGecko website. Earlier this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin made headlines for donating a $ 1 billion shiba cryptocurrency to a coronavirus relief fund in India.
Celebrities invest in cryptocurrencies
This cryptocurrency, unofficially known as the joke (memecoin), has also won a number of supporters – celebrities and even NFL professionals. Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter often tweets with the hashtag #Shiba or #ShibArmy. “As a cryptocurrency investor, I was thrilled to see the announcement of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin in India,” Carter told CNN Business. “I believe there is an incredible future for cryptocurrencies – especially knowing how they can be used for good, to save lives.”
NFL star Antonio Brown tweeted to more than a million fans on Wednesday that he had also invested in the cryptocurrency. “Business shiba is thriving and cryptocurrency is the way to go,” Brown told CNN on Thursday. “It’s a new way of investing.”
There are thousands of cryptocurrencies with bitcoin and ethereum accounting for almost 2/3 of the total $ 2.3 million global cryptocurrency market. And while they can be quite lucrative, as James and Tommy have learned, they are also extremely volatile.
For example, bitcoin, by far the most widely used cryptocurrency in use today, made an impressive 12% dip this week after Elon Musk overturned Tesla ‘s plans to accept bitcoin as a payment, citing environmental concerns. And dogecoin, another cryptocurrency that Elon Musk often tweeted about, fell nearly 20% after appearing on “Saturday Night Live” last weekend
Tips from Tommy and James
As for how Tommy and James plan to use their money, they are not entirely sure. They have not yet fully redeemed their investment and insist on something called ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange platform.
“It all happened so fast that it’s hard to even understand what you can do with that money,” Tommy said.
However, the first thing they plan to do is help their parents. “My parents’ house needs a new roof, and that will be the first thing we do.”
However, for those who dream of reproducing the success of the two brothers, James warns: “Do not invest money that you are not willing to lose,” he said. “These investments are high risk and you really do not know what can happen. “We realize that what happened to us is not normal, although shiba has changed our lives.”
