A warehouse worker has quit their job and retired at the age of 35 after investing £6,000 in the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Shiba Inu.
The risky bet turned the husband and father into a millionaire in less than a year, according to Fortune, after the meme coin sky rocketed in price by more than 700,000 per cent in 2021.
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The former supermarket warehouse manager, who gave his name as Rob to preserve his anonymity, told the publication he became interested in Shiba Inu after reading the coin’s “woofpaper” white paper.
The woofpaper, which was written by Shiba Inu’s pseudonymous creator Ryoshi in August 2020, describes how the cryptocurrency builds of the Ethereum network in order to serve as both a currency and a decentralised platform for technologies like smart contracts.
It also claims to be an “experiment in decentralised spontaneous community building,” adding that “Shiba Inus are incredible dogs” – the same dog breed that inspired the dogecoin cryptocurrency.
“After reading that, I was hooked. I just believed the words,” he said.
“I come from quite a poor background. I could never have even fantasized about having this much money.”
The volatility of the crypto market means Shiba Inu coin has since dipped in price considerably from its record high, losing more than 40 per cent of its value.
This means anyone who made the same £6,000 investment at its peak last month would now have less than £3,500 today.
A market report from the cryptocurrency platform Luno recently noted: “Shiba Inu was among the highest gainers, but it looks like some of the meme coin’s holders have started cashing out.”
