Eric Fineman
Teen Millionaire
Eric Fineman was not a typical teenager. He did not like going to school, and his parents dreamed that their son would graduate from college. Both of them had doctorates, Paul in electronics and Lorna in physics, and hoped that their son would follow in their footsteps. And then the boy set a condition for his parents: if by the age of 18 he earns a million, they will not impose their desires on him.
Eric had money, albeit virtual, (thanks, to his grandmother and the advice of his older brother!), And he invested part of it in the creation of the startup Botangle, an educational platform that provided video lessons for schoolchildren. But why did Eric choose such an unusual niche for his first startup? After all, back in 2014, no one had heard of the coronavirus, and online learning was not so in demand…
As it turned out, Eric was inspired by his own experience. Back in elementary school, the teacher told the boy that “the pinnacle of his career” was working at McDonald’s. After that, Eric didn’t want to go to school. That is why he created Botangle, which was worked on by 20 developers around the world. Eric had no doubt that the service would help other students who did not find mutual understanding with teachers to find “their” teacher in the virtual space.
And he did not lose – Botangle soon became popular. Investors became interested in the platform and offered 15-year-old Eric to sell the company for either $100,000 or 300 bitcoins. The teenager, of course, chose cryptocurrency. Three years later, when he turned 18, the value of bitcoin exceeded $2,700. Then Eric Fineman earned the nickname “Bitcoin Millionaire Teenager” … And the parents, looking at the success of their son, kept their word – they did not send Eric to college.
Today, Eric Fineman’s fortune is estimated at 4 million. He is 24 years old, and he decided to devote his life to the popularization of cryptocurrency. In 2019, he introduced Metal Pay, a website that teaches people how to invest in Bitcoin. According to Feynman, the main problem of inexperienced investors is the inability to calculate the development of the situation several steps ahead.
He is sure:
“The biggest mistake they can make is to leave the market now and sell their bitcoins just because of bad luck.”
And he clarifies that you need to calmly react when bitcoin falls, and believe in a long-term project. And Eric also recommends that if you want to invest in bitcoin, you need to choose the most reliable crypto exchange… For example, Binance, the story of whose founder (ethnic Chinese Zhao Changpeng) is no less incredible…
Zhao Changpeng
Billionaire in a sweatshirt
Zhao Changpeng – a closed person, and talks little about his life. It is known that he was born in China in 1977, in a family of teachers who moved to Canada due to political persecution. The family lived in poverty, and Zhao (who was 12 at the time) had to work part-time at McDonald’s and at a gas station on the night shift. He studied well and easily entered McGill University in Montreal for computer science. In his third year, he went for an internship in Tokyo (Japan), and after graduating from the university he moved to Shanghai (China), where he created one of the highest frequency systems for brokers.
His life was completely changed by playing poker. At that time, Zhao was 36 years old. He had a house in Shanghai, made good money, had fun. Once one of the partners in the game told him about bitcoin. Zhao liked that the virtual currency is not tied to a specific country – no need to spend money on conversion, pay commissions. To explore the prospects, he quit his job and joined the team of Blockchain.info, a company providing financial services in the field of cryptocurrencies. Then he took the position of technical director of the OKCoin crypto exchange. Gradually I gained experience, and in 2017 I decided to open my own business – I sold my apartment in Shanghai, invested all the money in cryptocurrency and opened the Binance crypto exchange. It took Zhao only 8 months to become prominent in this market!
Today, the crypto exchange owned by Zhao Changpeng is one of the largest in the world and occupies the first lines in the ratings. As of August 2022, the daily trading volume is $76 billion! And the state of Zhao himself in December 2022 was estimated at 13.1 billion dollars.
Moreover, Zhao Changpeng is still one of the most mysterious cryptocurrency billionaires in the world. According to him, he has neither a personal car nor a house. In an interview, Zhao admitted:
“The problem with cars and houses is that they are not liquid. Once you buy them, you can’t easily get rid of them. I am one of those guys who value liquidity much more than owning something. And I prefer not to own anything…”
Yes, and he dresses very democratically: at all presentations – either in the same sweatshirt, in which he first appeared on the page of Forbes magazine in 2017, or in a simple black T-shirt. Of the small weaknesses, Changpeng only has gadgets. It is known that he has several smartphones and laptops, which he uses mainly for work. They say that there is only one tattoo on his body – the logo of his crypto exchange Binance …
Secret of success
It is said that today it is impossible to earn millions on cryptocurrency. Say, it was necessary to start in 2010, when bitcoin was worth less than a dollar. However, the success stories of our heroes say otherwise. Eric Fineman became a crypto millionaire in 2015, and Zhao Champeng even later, when bitcoin was almost at the peak of popularity. Moreover, each of them managed to find their own niche in this difficult crypto business.
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