Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian reportedly bought 50,000 Ether (ETH) for just $15,000 during a 2014 cryptocurrency presale, costing just 30 cents a coin.
Ohanian, who left the social media giant in 2020, told Forbes Feb. 21 article that he found the concept of a decentralized store of value very attractive, partly resulting from its Armenian origins, which prompted him to take up early gambling in Ethereum.
“Any group of those who has of their consciousness or of their collective history some idea of persecution, especially by the state, makes the concept of a store of value that just isn’t controlled by any state very attractive. So in a way it was ingrained in me and made me open to the concept of a decentralized currency in a way.”
At current prices, this investment is value as much as $82.5 million According to to CoinMarketCap, a rise of 549.589%.
He went on to clarify how heirloom carpets inherited from his family were seized by Turkish soldiers in the course of the Armenian Genocide of World War I, resulting in his interest in “unforeseeable property.”
Due to his aversion to property subject to seizure, Ohanian is an enormous proponent of self-care and manages the private keys to a few of his most dear cryptocurrency investments to make sure they’re avoided exchanges, that are more vulnerable to the prying arms of governments.
When he heard about Ethereum at a gathering with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Ohanian stated that he sees the potential for developers to construct a wide selection of doubtless untradeable assets, equivalent to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
As a result, he made an initial investment in Ether, but noted in an interview that “on reflection, I didn’t invest nearly as much as I must have.”
Related: Ethereum derivatives data suggests $1,700 may not remain a resistance level for long
Ohanian founded enterprise capital firm 776 in 2020 using proceeds from his early investments in Ether and Coinbase, which has invested in 29 cryptocurrency start-ups and raised $500 million in February 2022 to fund similar investments.
Consistent with Ohanian’s views that bear markets offer investors the chance to purchase assets at discounted prices, the corporate saw the recent downturn as the right time to put long-term bets within the crypto industry.
Currently, the corporate boasts assets value over USD 750 million.
Ohanian noted that while cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile, “there are a variety of individuals who have this generational awareness that they see massive inflation,” which makes cryptocurrency volatility far more enjoyable for these people.
