BitInstant Founder Charlie Shrem Earns Millions Promoting Bitcoin
May 8th, 2013
23-year-old Charlie Shrem has a passion for creative-yet-disruptive ideas and alternative currencies. Motivated by these ambitions, he became one of the earliest adopters of a new digital crypto-currency system called Bitcoin. Being among the first to jump on board with a new peer-to-peer online currency and payment system was certainly a risky choice, but time has proven that Shrem’s decision was the right one. In a recent interview with London Loves Business, the young entrepreneur indicated that he has become a bitcoin millionaire.
Now that more and more businesses are accepting bitcoins, mainstream investors are looking to get in on the action. This would not be possible without the tireless efforts of Bitcoin’s early promoters like Charlie Shrem. Through the promotion of this esoteric, technically-complex peer-to-peer crypto-currency, users have been given an alternative, anonymous way to store and transfer wealth. In an era when fiat currencies teeter on the brink of total collapse, the world needs as many alternative currency options as possible.
Shrem’s Rise to Bitcoin Wealth
Charlie Shrem’s bitcoin quest began with a bumpy start. “I stumbled upon Bitcoin and thought it was pretty interesting and decided to buy some. It took me two weeks to get bitcoins, it was the worst process ever. I lost money on it and it was a whole failure,” said Shrem in the above-linked interview.
However, he stuck with it, trudging past the complications of early adoption, and later founded his own bitcoin transfer service called BitInstant with a partner in the UK. BitInstant has been used by customers to transfer over $14 million so far. The company is considered one of the first successful bitcoin-based startups.
Riding the Bitcoin Boom
In early 2013, investors realized that there really was a demand for an anonymous, untraceable digital currency and online payment system, resulting in a massive boom in the price of a bitcoin. The initial price surge exploded to unsustainable levels, but has since corrected to a price that is still exponentially higher than the previous year.
This mainstreaming of Bitcoin thrust Shrem into a position of serious wealth. He opened his own New York night spot called EVR in which clientele can purchase mixed drinks from their bitcoin wallets. He wears custom-made bling with his bitcoin wallet password carved in it. However, beyond the riches, Charlie Shrem has worked hard to make the marketplace more efficient during a time of unprecedented economic stagnation.
As the world struggles under a game of fiscal hot potato in which central banks are monetizing debt at unprecedented levels, investors need a way to diversify themselves against a fiat currency collapse. Furthermore, as governments around the world continue to criminalize voluntary business transactions between free people, those subjected to tyranny need an anonymous, untraceable currency system. For embracing creative destruction, promoting an important alternative currency system, getting rich off the whole process, and using his wealth to create even more bitcoin-accepting businesses, Charlie Shrem is our Rebel of the Week. Zoe Taylor would be proud.
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