The value of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, used to be regarded as quite far fetched until fairly recently.
However, a mysterious cryptocurrency trader has now enjoyed enormous success making $283 million through trading the alternative currency.
The secretive trader, known only by a number, was able to turn $55 million into $283 million within the space of just over a month, making a staggeringly impressive 413% profit.
Naturally, people are eager to know who exactly this anonymous financial genius is, and what the secret is to their phenomenal success.
Bloomberg, reported in July the total combined worth of cryptocurrency was over $100 billion, approaching the market value of the global corporation McDonald’s.
Enormous international corporations such as JP Morgan and Microsoft have begun experimenting with virtual currency, a realm once regarded as being primarily for dubious purposes.
With cryptocurrency fast becoming serious business, regulators have expressed concerns about the anonymous nature of the virtual wallets used by traders with many experts believing it’s time traders were more transparent about their identities.
However, financial privacy is an enormous draw for many cryptocurrency traders, despite this potentially hindering credibility and consequent mainstreaming process.
Traders can currently accumulate great wealth while enjoying complete anonymity.
Although much has been reported of people using the system for money laundering and other criminal purposes, the choice to remain unknown does not necessarily mean they are engaging in illegal activity.
Details about this particular person/money magician are quite scarce, however their remarkable story went viral after an Instagram post was made which revealed their vast fortune.
The trader, known by his catchy virtual wallet identification code 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184, gave the following message in his post:
I get many private messages asking how much ether I have.
One of the cool things about Ethereum is that all wallets around the world are transparent and open for everyone to see. And this is my wallet’s savings.
0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 was able to make a profit using ether, the online currency of the Ethereum blockchain.
‘Transaction friendly’ Ethereum, the second most successful cryptocurrency next to Bitcoin, was created by 23-year-old University of Waterloo drop-out Vitalik Buterlin who launched the technology in 2015.
Known to be fast and flexible, Ethereum uses Bitcoin’s Blockchain technology, creating a blockchain app platform which allows developers and consumers to take full advantage of decentralised networks, such as BitTorrent.
Many apps are created through Etherium, and plenty of start-ups utilise the network to raise funds with initial coin offerings.
Despite being such a new currency, it’s believed there are already dozens of Ethereum-made millionaires, with the possibility for one individual to have multiple virtual wallets.
Going forward, it’s clear cryptocurrency is changing how we talk about money.
Some even believe similar digital infrastructure could one day be used by Wall Street traders, showing the unprecedented influence such platforms have had in a relatively short space of time.
With more and more being invested in cryptocurrency, the question is: will we soon be seeing Ethereum billionaires and will they be willing to go public?
It puts a new spin on the old term: new money.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.