Regan Gallagher’s investment in Dogecoin gave him “enough to do what he wanted” – without ever having to work for a boss again.
The dark web, privacy and security and Reddit piqued Melbourne’s Regan Gallagher’s curiosity about cryptocurrencies.
At the time, he was a graduate student in psychology and neuroscience and had discovered the dogecoin cryptocurrency, but there was no way to buy it in Australia.
Dogecoin was launched as a parody of Bitcoin and was based on a dog’s meme, yet people were willing to put their money in anyway.
In 2014, Dr. Gallagher opened an exchange on Reddit to sell the cryptocurrency directly to people, and estimates it could now be worth “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“I was basically flooded and set my own price and hundreds of people bought it,” he told news.com.au.
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While he said it was “an element of leap of faith” to buy the cryptocurrency from him on Reddit, he actually took the risk selling it over a year or two.
“As the holder of the cryptocurrency, I cannot get it back if I send it, and inherently this asymmetry is security for the person receiving the cryptocurrency. Once you get it, you have it and no one else can take it from you, ”he explained.
“While I ran the risk that someone could chargeback or go back and claim it was fraudulent. I took the risk that I would send it to someone and they couldn’t pay for it, but because these communities were so interested, I was happy to be a part of it.
“I certainly lost a little money sometimes when people tried to scam me, but money was secondary and technology was important.”
One of the posts from the Reddit forum from 2014 contains this: “5 transactions & over 10,000 AUD later … I’m a lucky doge illionaire,” a prediction that surprisingly came true.
But years later, Dr. Gallagher messages from people who have bought Dogecoin asking how to retrieve or track down their coins. He estimates that two-thirds have lost their crypto forever.
On a few occasions he was able to find people’s digital wallets that contain their Dogecoins, but the majority of people are missing out on millions because they lost the files and there is no way to get them back.
A man Dr. Gallagher, who had bought Dogecoin, now worth a quarter of a million dollars, was lucky enough to find his digital wallet in a folder titled “Delete.”
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While his own investment in Dogecoin has given him “enough to do to want what he wants,” without the need for a boss and the freedom not to keep his money in the bank, that is not his concern, he said.
“These things are volatile, so it’s easy to come and go, but the impression that I can sail around yachts and never have to lift a finger again is absurd.”
His goal is to improve the lives of those who want to “look at finances and participation in society differently”.
The 32-year-old has set up his own cryptocurrency consultancy and is also the director of a permaculture farm in the hinterland of Byron Bay.
“I feel like our financial system, as we currently have it, is creating enormous dependency, leaving people dependent on things like government incentives and, in many ways, dependent on a system that is increasingly authoritarian and hostile. “For people who thrive and have freedom,” he explained.
“So I am teaching people to have multiple options to get out of this system, or to join this system on their own terms. That includes the way they think about work, money, growing food, storing energy and all sorts of things. “
While it could mean going offline, how to distance yourself from banks and economies, it could also just mean understanding how food is grown and where it comes from, and thinking about doing valuable work for society helps, he added.
Dr. Gallagher is also not worried about the current price spikes and volatility of the cryptocurrency.
“It would have to go much further for it to be an economic problem, but volatility is part of it anyway – it’s fun,” he said.
“A lot of people came along, me included, with a history of gaming where volatility and those spikes are fun. You have to be a bit disciplined and not take it too seriously and, if possible, see through the hype and fear that arise from the volatility. ”
But he actually deals with the people arguing about the price of the cryptocurrency.
“I think people are way too focused on price and really concerned about treating crypto like a stock, and if they treat it and act that way, it’s going to cause a lot of pain too,” he said.
Instead, it is blockchain technology that everyone should be obsessed with, he added, as he predicts it will become the digital DNA of our economic system.
He describes blockchain technology as an offering of digital gold, as an invention of the internet and even as a shared Excel sheet that can only be changed with the consent of others.
However, this new system cannot necessarily eliminate the power imbalance, he noted.
“Individuals can benefit from a whole new technology and financial landscape, but ultimately fools will lose their money, and people who are savvy and think things through right will end up having the majority of leverage and capital,” he said.
Still, he encourages everyone to understand the technology behind cryptocurrency.
In the meantime, Dr. Gallagher that he cannot predict the future of Dogecoin as memes are currently powering the cryptocurrency, but he found that all memes will eventually die out.
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