Bitcoin has been described as a disruptive technology. What many of us are aware of is that it has created a new group of crypto millionaires. These are mainly innovators or people who adopted the cryptocurrency early when most people had not even heard about it. There are others that got bitcoins through unconventional means such as pyramid schemes. Nevertheless, what is obvious is that the societal acceptance of the technology has made people who own substantial amount of bitcoins rich.
However, a good number of these crypto wealthy individuals are starting to show off their new found wealth. One way they are doing this is by buying exotic cars, most popular of which is Lamborghini. This prompted an angry tweet from Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder last year, when he felt that the crypto community was not focused on building apps and solutions that solve everyday societal needs. In the tweet, Buterin said,
“If all that we accomplish is Lambo memes and immature puns about “sharting”, then I WILL leave. Though I still have a lot of hope that the community will steer in the right direction”.
To understand the tendency of most people who have seen themselves with more money than they envisaged, Lamborghini reported record sales in 2017 – the year of the cryptocurrency and ICO boom. The company said that prior to then, they were selling two Lambo supercars monthly, but this figure rose to ten cars a month by December 2017. These are $200,000 luxury vehicles. In fact, a website has been set up specifically for the crypto rich. The website, “when-lambo.com” enables owners of large cache of bitcoins to calculate when they have enough coins to purchase a top of the range $425,000 Lamborghini. A look at the site today indicates that you need 52.3 bitcoins to buy the Lambo.
Peter Saddinton, an Atlanta based computer coder, was among those that purchased a Lamborghini in December 2017. He paid 45 bitcoins for a $200,000 supercar. He said that he needed to prove to skeptics that Bitcoin is not just meant for criminals that use it for shady businesses such as drugs, terrorism financing and money laundering. Is this an attitude different from what we already knew in the current financial system? Bitcoin did not come up with the idea of making a profit to buy a “Lambo”, this is an attitude with a lack of vision about everything that this technology can offer, as Vitalik once commented.
Saddinton is just one of the many hodlers that adopted the cryptocurrency early and are now rich as a result. Forbes recently published the list of the richest crypto millionaires. Buterin made number 17 on the list at just 24 years old. That is an indication that cryptocurrency, which has attraction for many young people, has the prospect of being a trend far into the future and with a wide range of possibilities.
However, we are aware that not many early adopters are rich today. There are some that sold their coins when it was valued little, others bought pizza with theirs and there are some unfortunate few that have lost their private keys.
