A man who initially found fame for urging people to buy Bitcoin back in 2011 is now living a life of luxury.Bitcoin has made some people incredibly wealthy. Credit: SOPA Images / GettyI'm sure we've all had a moment in our lives when we've looked at ourselves in the mirror and asked: What if?For some people, it'll be about romance, for others it might be traveling... but for a lot of us, it's probably financial.Well, one man tried to make us rich with a video he posted over a decade ago, but very few of us listened.Davinci Jeremie, a Chilean software developer, was dropping game-changing financial wisdom on YouTube, and nobody took any note.But Davinci stuck to his guns.He invested his own cash, rode the Bitcoin rollercoaster through its most volatile years, and walked away filthy rich, per The Sun.Now, the crypto visionary flaunts a net worth north of $10 million and lives like he’s starring in his own music video: supercars, yachts, private jets, and bikini-clad women at arm’s length.But let’s rewind to where it all began.Davinci first introduced his audience to the wild world of crypto back in 2011, calling it “amazing stuff.”Even he admitted he was skeptical at first — but once he dove deeper, he became one of Bitcoin’s loudest early believers and advocates.By 2013, he was full throttle. In a now-iconic YouTube moment, Davinci pleaded with his followers to stop hesitating and just go for it.He said: “Look, for the price of a lotto ticket you can hold Bitcoin for 10 years and become a millionaire,” he said. “It’s time you stop living in fear. If it goes to zero you lose $1, who cares!“But if I’m right I want all of you to thank me, it will not make me happy if you come back to me in 10 years saying ‘dude, I wish I listened to you back 2011 or 2013’.”At that time, a single Bitcoin was going for $116.75.Fast-forward to 2021 and it hit a jaw-dropping $61,000.Even now, after plenty of ups and downs, Bitcoin sits at a solid $100,000—a dramatic payoff for anyone who took that $1 leap.Davinci, of course, is living proof.His Instagram reads like a billionaire’s brag reel.Videos show him lounging in Dubai, partying in Monte Carlo, and chilling on yachts off the Mexican coast with three models in bikinis.“A yacht filled with women, you know I am down,” he captioned one post. “This was just a taste.”“Once in a while, something comes along that makes poor people rich because they got it really, really cheap,” he told CoinTelegraph.“This was one of them. I thought I was gonna be the hero to my community, but no, they thought I was crazy. They actually thought I was losing my mind.”Now, Davinci rocks a massive Bitcoin ring on his middle finger - just in case anyone forgets what got him here.But he’s not just basking in the crypto glow - he’s also mentoring the next wave of investors, helping others navigate the world that made him a millionaire.Featured image credit: X

When Bitcoin was first introduced all the way back in January 2009, almost a decade ago, it might have seemed like a pipe dream. But now people are making a lot of money off the cryptocurrency, especially its elusive founder. Little is known about this person, apart from the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The name is a masculine Japanese name, but it could easily be representative of a group rather than one individual. Regardless, one thing is known: Nakamoto is loaded. No one has heard from the founder since an email sent back in 2011, but it is known that they have never spent a single bitcoin they owns, which amounts to a staggering one million. This means they could have as much as $17 billion at their disposal, making him the 52nd richest person in the world. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/binarybits/status/938784176198901760]] Bitcoin is one of those topics which everyone seems to be talking about but most people know nothing about. Even when it comes to those who have invested in the cryptocurrency, it's still a topic that many don't understand. Regardless of the confusion around the topic, it seems that things have skyrocketed for Bitcoin, with a lot of us having missed the boat. After all, if your grandma is asking you what Bitcoin is, it probably means it's too big to get on board with at this stage. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/norm/status/940731645195272192]] Yet one person who believed in the currency at an early stage was none other than American rapper 50 Cent. In what was a risky move at the time, the artist accepted Bitcoin as payment when he released the album Animal Ambition in 2014, which sold its fair share of copies despite receiving a mixed critical response. During this period the currency was valued at around $663, so after the album pulled in around 700 bitcoin in sales, it all amounted to $400,000. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BeTjTI2l-LO/?hl=en&taken-by=50cent]] Now, however, the value of Bitcoin has risen drastically. It now is valued at around $10,000 to $12,000 per coin - which potentially means that the rapper could be sitting on between $7 million and $8.5 million for that sale alone. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/50cent/status/22201409032]] Only recently the cryptocurrency was rising towards $20,000 value per coin, but last week it fell over 10 percent, with its total drop in the last month equating to 40 percent. On the other hand, its overall rise is up to 1,300 percent over the course of the last year, so these drops aren't quite as significant as they sound. Not everyone is so keen on Bitcoin. South Korea promised to outlaw the sale of Bitcoin, recently settling to ban anonymous bank accounts being used to buy or sell cryptocurrencies - something that will have a significant effect on one of the world's most popular Bitcoin markets. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/questCNN/status/940363458805039104]] There's general fear that the lack of regulation can lead to exploitation by certain persons, with even the wolf of Wall Street himself, Jordan Belfort, warning people away from what he refers to as a "huge danger" with the potential to be a "f***ing disaster". As it stands now, there's no way to know for sure, but fiddy is raking it in regardless.

If there's one subject that economists can't seem to stop talking about, it's Bitcoin. After a sudden drop in value, it seemed that the financial fad might blow over. But it appears as though the opposite has happened. First invented back in 2009 and released as open-source software by an anonymous group or individual going by the moniker "Satoshi Nakamoto", it's easy to see why Bitcoin has taken off the way it has on the internet, where peer-to-peer sharing and digital transfers make it easy to understand and use. In layman's terms, the word "Bitcoin" refers to interchangeable online tokens; random sequences of numbers and letters which humans, called "miners", attempt to guess the value of, using complex computer programs. When a miner eventually guesses the sequence correctly, (and everyone can see for themselves that they guessed right), then they receive that Bitcoin and know how much it is worth. Real world money is mostly generated through transactions: after all, it's easier to buy Bitcoin from people who already solved the puzzles, rather than mine it yourself. Once it's bought, you can use the sequence to store money or share it with friends and family. Miners mine these sequences until they have 50 Bitcoin, which is called a "block". Blocks are collectively referred to as "blockchains", which contain the entire history of every transaction which has occurred in the Bitcoin network. Currently, the reason Bitcoin is so profitable is that huge bidding wars are breaking out for certain blocks, which means that the value of Bitcoin can fluctuate wildly in a short space of time. In theory, one could avoid the whole process of bidding and mine Bitcoin, but it would take a long time and a vast amount of manpower. Who would sit and mine Bitcoin for someone for free? Well, a woman named Theodora has worked out a way to amass a gigantic Bitcoin fortune at no personal expense, by mobilising a vast voluntary army of slaves. What's her secret? I'll tell you: Theodora is a dominatrix, and in her line of work, consensual slavery is all just part of the game. Pretty smart way to make a million dollars, right? Theodora, who boasts over 1,200 followers on Twitter, is a professional dominatrix who specialises in psychological domination. Rather than relying on whips, gags and hot wax, Theodora prefers to humiliate and debase her willing clients by getting inside their heads, employing subtle methods such as hypnosis and, in this instance, financial domination. Yes, it sounds like a pretty expensive kink, but some people get a strong sexual thrill out of becoming voluntary victims of blackmail and extortion, putting their own money, bank accounts and credit cards in the hands of a willing dom for the sake of erotic gratification. Using Twitter, Theodora was able to convince hundreds of her randy drones into becoming Bitcoin miners and they gleefully worked away to make her a fortune.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/TheOnlyTheodora/status/951081976626384896]]

In a recent interview with MarketWatch, the articulate Theodora explained that: "It's a form of psychological domination where money is the tool for the transfer of power. It’s quite common for powerful men like politicians or CEOs to look for a form of sexual release by submitting to a woman - they are in control all the time during the day - and giving up control financially is a more tangible instrument of power for them ... I take donations and also have people mining for me. I take a lot of geek clients who like new technology and they were really excited when I taught them how to build a mining rig for me so they could mine 24/7 from their home." She added: "I have seven or eight different currencies - I see it a bit like play money and try to adjust to which is growing the most. If you anticipate growth, that’s where it will become interesting. Everyone is now interested in Bitcoin because the growth has been exponential. Soon it will be too high for individuals to invest in, so you have to invest in others. I think it’s smart to have diverse portfolios of currency ... Bitcoin could crash in two days, you don’t know what’s going to happen, so if you have enough to invest in smaller currency you should. For me, it’s play money. You have to bet on several currencies to see what will happen, and if it’s your main source of income you have to be smart with it." Indeed, because most of her clients are high-powered businessmen, Theodora has managed to develop a pretty impressive sense of financial acumen and watches the market like a true Wall Street broker. Theodora is now convinced that the growth of Bitcoin has been so exponential that it will soon become too expensive for individuals to invest in, and that the end of net neutrality might mean that Bitcoin is too closely regulated to profit from successfully. Theodora is also careful not to push her clients straight into bankruptcy and claims that she has to very carefully budget how much money she takes away from them and how long her miners spend working for her. I suppose you could argue that she's being compassionate, but I think it's probably just her good business sense shining through again. After all, you can shear a sheep as many times as you like, but you can only skin it once; so pushing a client too far, or demanding too much, could lead to them becoming completely broke. Now, some of you out there might assume that this is easy money and that it's high time you quit your day job, invested in an all-leather wardrobe, and got to work forcing fetishists to get cracking. Personally, I don't think that Bitcoin is stable enough for me to sink my career over it. Sure, you get occasional success stories like this one, but far more failures. Over Christmas, my own uncle had been left completely depressed after losing a huge sum of money over Bitcoin. So I think I'll stick to making cash the old-fashioned way. Besides, bits and blocks aren't really my bag, and neither are wax and whips.

For most people, forgetting a password is a mild inconvenience, but for one man, it could mean losing a fortune.

Stefan Thomas, a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency world, is locked out of a digital wallet that holds a staggering 7,002 Bitcoins - now worth roughly $609 million.

And he has only two tries left before the device deletes itself permanently.

Here’s how one of crypto’s early pioneers ended up in a digital nightmare that could cost him hundreds of millions.

The early crypto genius who helped bring Bitcoin to the masses

Stefan Thomas isn’t just another name in the crypto crowd. He’s one of the earliest developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem, helping to shape the digital currency from its infancy, per GulfNews.

His influence goes far beyond just buying and selling - Thomas has held major leadership roles, including Chief Technology Officer at Ripple and CEO and co-founder of the financial services startup Coil.

Back in 2011, Thomas created the animated explainer “What is Bitcoin?”, which quickly became the go-to video for anyone trying to understand the new digital currency.

He also launched WeUseCoins.com, which at the time was the largest online resource for Bitcoin newbies.

With over 15 years of experience as an open-source developer, he didn’t stop there. Thomas co-invented the Interledger Protocol - a revolutionary open payments standard that connects different payment networks around the world.

From a tech prodigy in Germany to crypto heavyweight in the US

Born in 1986 near Munich, Germany, Thomas was writing code as a teenager.

After graduating with top honors in computer science from the Technical University of Munich, he dove into the tech world and discovered Bitcoin around 2011.

By 2012, he had moved to the United States to seize bigger opportunities in blockchain development. At Ripple, he wasn’t just a team member - he became the CTO and eventually served as Chair of the Interledger Foundation.

While there, he played a key role in creating Codius (a smart contracts platform) and Mojaloop, a project aimed at improving financial access for underserved communities.

Thomas has long been an advocate for using digital currencies to break down barriers in global finance.

He sees crypto as a tool for financial inclusion, allowing people who are typically shut out of traditional systems to finally take part in the global economy.

How $2,000 in Bitcoin turned into $609 million

Back in 2011, Thomas was paid 7,002 Bitcoins for his now-famous Bitcoin explainer video. At the time, those coins were worth just $2,000. He stored them on an IronKey - a highly secure USB wallet - and wrote the password on paper.

But then, he lost the paper.

Today, with Bitcoin valued at about $87,000 each, those 7,002 coins are worth a jaw-dropping $609 million. But there's a catch: IronKey allows only 10 password attempts before it wipes itself clean. Thomas has already used eight of those tries.

“It’s a high-stakes situation with no easy solution”

According to bit2me crypto news, Thomas has just two more chances to guess the correct password before the wallet erases all of its contents forever. That’s a risk he’s not willing to take lightly.

Over the years, he’s tried everything - even enlisting friends and hackers who specialize in password recovery, as reported by Coinpaper. But none have been able to crack the IronKey’s intense security.

There may be hope. Cybersecurity company Unciphered claims it has found a way to bypass the IronKey’s restrictions using a method that simulates 200 trillion password attempts - all without triggering the device’s self-destruct function.

The firm reportedly contacted Thomas, offering their help to retrieve the fortune. But Thomas declined, citing a previous verbal deal with two other teams who he promised a share of the Bitcoin if they succeeded in unlocking the wallet.

So far, there's no official word that the IronKey has been successfully opened. If it has been, any information is likely being kept under wraps due to security or legal concerns.

Featured image credit: Olemedia / Getty

When the worth of a single bitcoin hit the milestone of $10,000 at the end of last month, the world started freaking out a bit about how fast the digital currency had grown since its first introduction to the world in January 2009. A lot of people felt stupid for not having invested all those years ago upon first hearing about it, though no-one felt more stupid than the guy who spent $130 million worth of bitcoin on 2 pizzas back in 2010. (My heart goes out to you dude.) The thing about bitcoin is that no-one really knows what it is or where it'll go, but that there are a lot of people getting super-duper rich from the decentralised cyber coins. And now, researchers have calculated that the most super-duper rich of them all is likely to be the very founder of bitcoin, who is set to become the world's first trillionaire. That's someone who has a 13-digit worth – $1,000,000,000,000 – behind their name. Until now, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was always estimated to become the world's first trillionaire, with Oxfam proposing that it could happen in the next 25 years. But now that bitcoin has officially gone "mainstream", people are doing all sorts of new calculations and projections (which are still just total guesses, might I add) about where the currency will go. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/asibiza1/status/940538015428022272]] They're saying that if it keeps climbing at the same unprecedented rate that it has, it will be the mysterious bitcoin founder – who has the biggest share of the coins of all – who will become the first person to have a trillion bucks. So who is he? Well, no-one really knows, bar a name: Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto is commonly known as a masculine Japanese name, but he could just as well be a woman or even a group of people. Really, they could be dead for all we know – no-one's heard from the founder since his last email to former bitcoin developer Mike Hearn in 2011. But what people do know, is that Nakamoto has never spent a single one of the monumental amount of bitcoins he holds, which is estimated to be around 1 million. At the current price of bitcoin (hovering above $17,000), those 1 million he holds mean Nakamoto would have a tidy $17 billion in his pocket. [[instagramwidget||https://twitter.com/LazAlberto/status/940332776380755968]] That would make him the 52nd richest person in the world right now if you compare it to Forbes' latest list of billionaires. So, yep. He's already extremely wealthy, all because he started this odd little coin-mining phenomenon nine years ago. But according to Mashable, this is just the beginning. For Nakamoto to become the richest man in the world, bitcoin would have to hit $88,000. It sounds crazy, but given the fact that the digital currency only reached $800 per coin one year ago, and now it's at $17,000 – well, that sounds crazy too. And to become the world's first trillionaire, the price of bitcoin would have to reach $1 million per coin. Pwoah, just imagine. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/binarybits/status/938784176198901760]] But there's a bit of a problem for Nakamoto. A lot of analysts agree that if he moves his mammoth fortune, selling just a fraction of one of his many bitcoins, it could cause some serious waves in the currency that might make the whole thing crash. So even if he does become the first trillionaire, looks like it'll be incredibly risky for him to cash in. Just imagine – having so much to spend, but spending even just the tiniest amount could mean chaos. Guess he's just going to have to sit back and watch it grow like the rest of us.