The Anti-Cryptomillionaire
Tags: Anti Cryptomillionaire, Cryptocurrency, Millionaire, Cryptomillionaire, Bitcoin

Q: So when did you first hear about cryptocurrency?

A: Some time in 2011, I decided I wanted to make money online. I started off by going through various “pay-to-click” sites, survey sites, pay for traffic sites, etc.

The problem was, being that I was underage (probably like 14 at the time), it was impossible to get something like AlertPay (now Payza) or PayPal to receive the money without putting in false information. This led to the issue that my funds could be (and were) seized at any point, simply because the world’s payment systems discriminate against underage people.

I then found out about Bitcoin. I was glad there was finally a system where I could receive payments, and not have the risk of payment providers shutting me out simply because I was underage.

I then spent a lot of time just scraping Bitcoin faucets, and developed some applications for Bitcoin and Namecoin — the two major coins at the time. I was happy to finally do some work for a payment platform that wasn’t actively discriminating against me. That’s why I loved cryptocurrency, because it didn’t care about my age.

Q: Lol yea faucets were the lifeblood of Bitcoin in the early stages. Not so much now. Did you ever decide to buy any?

A: I have never bought cryptocurrency before with fiat. I have earned every coin I have right now, apart from the few which I’ve purchased using other cryptocurrencies (e.g. bitcoin->litecoin)

Q: So when you say “earn”, does that include mining? Or just faucets?

A: I had mined for a while. Funny story — I had some cheap PSU that came with my case. When I started mining for the first time (I had an AMD HD6870), turns out my PSU was falsely labelled as 500W. After about a day of mining Bitcoin, my PSU caught fire and shut off. Thankfully my grandfather was kind enough to buy me a new PSU.

I’m not sure how much I mined after that event, I think I was terrified of burning out my GPU or PSU a second time and didn’t mine much after that.

Q: Okay final question. In 2017 you became a millionaire. What was that process like? How much was holding? How much of it was earned?

A: At the start of 2016, I had around $20,000 spread across Bitcoin and Litecoin. It was mostly amassed from donations and small development projects that I was paid to work on.

In mid-2016 I joined Steemit, the social media platform running on STEEM. I made some open source projects for Steem, as well as some posts, which had made me over $10,000 in the space of a week. This was the most money I had ever gotten from such small projects.

I then started being a STEEM witness within a few weeks of joining Steemit (somewhat like mining but you get voted in). In the beginning I was only earning pennies, but I slowly earned more as I climbed up the ranks. It’s taken over a year but I’m now a high ranking witness making over $10,000 USD per month. I also continue to regularly post for additional income.

At the start of 2017 (when I was 20 years old), I had roughly $300,000 USD spread across STEEM, Litecoin, and Bitcoin. A large portion of this was mostly from hodling the Bitcoin and Litecoin payments/donations I received from development projects I did early on. But the other significant portion was earned through my STEEM posts and payouts as a STEEM witness.

Finally on January 2, 2018, now as a 21 year-old, I checked my crypto portfolio to find that I had a total net value of over $1 million dollars.

To be honest, I live a very modest life generally spending no more than $600/month. which has helped sustain and grow my crypto holdings. I also don’t spend on crazy things like Lamborghini’s or other “rich people things,” but I don’t really need that kind of stuff.