So what’s it like being one of the bitcoin millionaires?
A New York Times article published over the weekend aims to give a sense of what it’s like for the long-time believers in cryptocurrencies who have become the “crypto-wealthy.”
The article tells of houses in San Francisco called the “Crypto Castle” and “Crypto Crackhouse,” as it also highlights hedge funds established using profits from virtual-currency investments.
Grant Hummer — who runs the San Francisco Ethereum Meetup and the new hedge fund Chromatic Capital — described his state of mind to the newspaper as follows:
Bitcoin BTCUSD, -15.95% and its rivals skyrocketed in 2017, but they also have suffered sizable selloffs. While the No. 1 virtual currency is showing a 12-month gain of more than 1,500%, it stands well below its December all-time high above $19,000.
Read more: A glimpse at Silicon Valley’s cryptocurrency craze — a melding of reality, fantasy and hype
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Jeremy Gardner — another hedge fund manager who ranks among the crypto-wealthy — sounded shaken last month as bitcoin soared, the NY Times reported.
“Nothing feels real, it doesn’t feel real,” he told the paper. “I’m ready for crypto assets to go down 90%. I’ll feel better then, I think. This has been too insane.”
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Meanwhile, a Quartz report earlier this month said the “real sign of our times” is a new all-girl pop group in Japan — the Virtual Currency Girls — in which group members represent different cryptos.