Today we’re doing something a little different, talking with one of our readers, someone who has come out ahead through crypto investing — though not without some stomach churning reversals along the way.
Why it matters: Cryptocurrency is often referred to as a democratizing opportunity. However, regular people rarely see stories of non-professionals placing wagers in the space. Here is one.
Details: Canadian marketing technologist Darragh Grove-White is ahead, but not without taking some painful hits.
“I made many mistakes. I’ve had crypto exchanges take my money,” he tells Axios.
He was among many Canadians who lost their luck when Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, died (?). India.
State of play: Grove White is one of the lucky ones. According to his account, he has made a complete turnaround since Quadriga’s loss. Although there have been some wild fluctuations in that number, he’s now up about 11x over his principal.
Axios has verified the success of his portfolio.
The scoreboard: He has invested in over 180 coins, his first three purchases being bitcoin, Monero (a privacy coin — that trade is still down) and Verge, a coin with salacious affiliations.
“I have had a few that have done really well and even fewer that I knew would do really well,” he said.
The biggest loss was a token that was the right idea (blockchain finance), but the wrong company at the wrong time. His greatest win was his lucky guess as to which solution to Ethereum’s speed issues would be most popular with users.
Context: Although he only became interested in crypto during the bear market year of 2018, he did have some advantages. Given his day job, he’s considerably more technically sophisticated than most people.
It has worked in his favor. He explained, “I’m just super curiosity.” In crypto, it’s not enough just to read and watch charts. He contends that one must get into crypto to fully understand it.
Be smart: He has been in the business for four years and sees new people arrive in waves. You can spot the new investors on Twitter and Discord — they are always looking to make a quick buck.
“This most recent cohort of noobs, their on-ramp was the Wall Street Bets experience,” he said. “A lot of the n00bs go for meme coins. They make it seem a joke to invest in meme coins.
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