炒老板鱿鱼：24岁年轻人靠炒比特币暴富

去年夏天，金斯利·阿德瓦尼卖掉了他的全部家当——也就是他的笔记本电脑和耳机，并且把银行账户里的几千美元积蓄也全取了出来。

阿德瓦尼说，在看到比特币带来的暴富机遇后，他也想孤注一掷地拼一把。最后他向比特币和从事数字加密货币相关技术的创业公司投资了一共34000美元。短短六个月时间里，他的资产就像吹气球似的涨到了七位数。

在他这个年纪，很多人还一门心思地顺着职场阶梯一步步往上爬，阿德瓦尼却拿着零薪水当上了几家数字加密货币创业公司的顾问。他表示，他经常往来伦敦、纽约和旧金山等地参加会议，物色或将带来下一代区域链技术的创业公司。

阿德瓦尼对《商业内幕》表示：“我认为，在人类历史的任何阶段，20多岁的年轻人都不曾有过投资如此高增长率的资产的机会。”

比特币是2008年诞生的一种支付系统，人们不需实名交易，便可利用比特币买卖商品或转账支付。比特币的交易会被记录在一个叫“区块链”的总账户上。

让阿德瓦尼对数字加密货币产生信心的，正是其背后的区块链技术。

2012年，一位朋友向阿德瓦尼介绍了比特币，当时的比特币主要用于非法药品的线上交易。阿德瓦尼却充分看到了这项技术的前景。

他表示：“它就像是对传统金融的一场革命。”比特币诞生的2008年恰恰是全球金融危机的最高峰时，阿德瓦尼认为这并非巧合。“你不需要集中化的银行替你转账，你可以利用这种优秀的技术通过加密方式转账，所以它比银行更快、更便宜，也更安全。”

阿德瓦尼从去年夏天开始研究数字加密货币的白皮书，并且对比特币市场进行仔细观察。最终他决定不能坐失良机。于是他将他在一家小软件公司当数据科学家挣来的所有收入都投到了这个领域。

阿德瓦尼表示：“每个月一等到发工资，我就把所有收入都投进去。”

阿德瓦尼称，他的大多数财富来自他对一些数字加密货币创业公司的早期投资，他的投资对象一般是斯坦福、康奈尔、麻省理工等知名大学孵化出来的创业公司，这些公司大都从事高速区块链的研发，这项技术也正是数字加密货币最核心的东西。阿德瓦尼的资产最高曾达到7位数，不过他的资产也会随着市场而波动。

他表示，去年10月他已经辞去了软件公司的工作，现在主要作为顾问和天使投资人穿梭在世界各地。

这位24岁的年轻投资人说，他有时会跟其他年轻的数字加密货币创业者挤在一间黑客公寓里，睡上下铺式的架子床。他也打算搬到旧金山全职工作。

阿德瓦尼表示，他既不喝酒，也不爱参加聚会，闲暇时间要么用来冥想，要么就是在网上看与数字加密货币有关的研究。在接受采访期间，他还拿出手机跟我们分享了一款冥想软件Headspace上的数据。最近这400多天里，他每天都在坚持冥想。

阿德瓦尼还表示：“我决定优化一下坐在电脑前面的时间，因为让人分心的事太多了。我的一日三餐都是从网上订的外卖，我也从来不出门买食杂和日用品，因为我觉得这是浪费时间。所以我尽量过‘宅男’的生活。”

他认为，自己成功的关键，是在于把注意力集中在了有限的事情上。他从来不看关于比特币价值的新闻，对币值的涨跌也不太在意。

然而他却十分关注关于比特币底层技术和数字加密货币的各种可能性的最新研究，从而推断数字加密货币技术会向何处发展。同时他认为数字加密货币投资并不适合每一个人——除非他们也愿意像他那样研 究白皮书。

阿德瓦尼还告诫道：“你赔得起多少，就投多少。”

披露：本文作者亦持有少量比特币和以太币。（财富中文网）

本文原载于BusinessInsider.com。

译者：朴成奎

Last summer Kingsley Advani said he sold his worldly possessions — namely his laptop and headphones — and emptied thousands of dollars from his bank account.

He said that after seeing the once-in-a-lifetime returns that bitcoin has brought, he wanted in. Advani said he invested $34,000 in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and startups working on related technologies, and he watched his net worth balloon to low seven figures in six months.

At an age when many people are trying to climb up the career ladder, Advani works as an adviser to cryptocurrency startups with a salary of zero. He said he travels between London, New York, and San Francisco, taking meetings and scouting startups working on what may be the next great blockchain technology.

“I think at no point in human history have people in their 20s had such an opportunity to invest in such high-growth assets,” Advani told Business Insider.

Created in 2008, bitcoin is a payment system that allows people to buy things and send money without attaching their names to transactions. There are no banks or middlemen. Transactions are recorded on a digital ledger called a blockchain.

It was the blockchain that first excited Advani about cryptocurrencies, he said.

In 2012 a friend introduced Advani to bitcoin, which at the time was largely used for buying and selling illegal drugs online. Advani saw the full potential of the technology.

“It’s like a rebellion to traditional finance,” Advani said. He believes its creation in 2008 — at the height of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression — was no coincidence. “You don’t need centralized banks to send money — you have these great pieces of tech send money for you through cryptography. So unlike banks, it’s faster, cheaper, and more secure.”

Advani said he started reading white papers on cryptocurrencies and watching the market more closely last summer. He decided he would not miss a second chance to take part. He invested all his savings and part of his income from his job as a data scientist at a small software company.

“Every month I was waiting for that paycheck and I put it straight in,” Advani said.

According to Advani, most of his wealth comes from his early-stage investments in startups spun out of top universities, like Stanford, Cornell, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are mostly working on high-speed blockchains, the technology at the heart of cryptocurrencies. At its peak, Advani’s net worth rose to low seven figures, though it fluctuates with the swing of the market, he said.

He said he quit his software job in October and now travels the world as an adviser and angel investor.

The 24-year-old said he is crashing on a bunk bed in a San Francisco hacker house for young cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and plans to move to the city full time.

Advani said he doesn’t drink or party; instead, he said he spends most of his free time meditating and reading cryptocurrency research online. During our interview, he whipped out his phone to share data from Headspace, a meditation app. He hasn’t missed a session in over 400 days, he added.

“I’ve decided to optimize time in front of the computer, because it’s so easy to get distracted. I order all my food online to the door. I don’t spend any time grocery shopping because I think it’s a waste of time,” Advani said. He added, “I try to live in a ‘bunker’ as much as possible.”

He said he believes the key to his success has been limiting the number of things he focuses on. He doesn’t read every news story on the value of bitcoin or pay close attention to its rise and fall.

Instead, Advani said he reads the latest research on the underlying technology and possibilities of cryptocurrencies and tries to map where they’re headed. He doesn’t recommend investing in cryptocurrencies for everyone — unless they’re willing to dig into the white papers like he has.

“Only put in what you can afford to lose,” Advani said.

Disclosure: The author owns small amounts of bitcoin and Ethereum.

This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com