As the price of bitcoin catapults past an astonishing $97,000, marking a new all-time high, a diverse generation of crypto retail investors – ordinary people buying digital currencies – are rejoicing. Many credit the “Trump pump,” a surge of confidence that the re-election of crypto-friendly former President Donald Trump will usher in a golden age of mainstream acceptance and eye-popping valuations for blockchain assets.
From doctors to teachers, IT professionals to nurses, a swath of middle-class Americans are revealing how their once-modest gambles on cryptos like bitcoin and Dogecoin have blossomed into life-changing wealth. Some report crypto portfolios now worth millions, granting them financial freedom to buy homes, start families, and pursue dreams – outcomes that seemed unattainable in a traditional economy marked by wage stagnation and rampant inflation.
The Crypto Faithful Cash In
“It’s set me up for life,” exults Miles, a 37-year-old NHS doctor in London whose £4,000 bitcoin investment in 2012 has swelled to £2.3 million. Miles used some profits to buy a house and says his remaining crypto stash “fluctuates by hundreds of thousands each day, but I’ve been through years of volatile periods.”
Claire, a 50-year-old New Zealand nurse, started investing in crypto a decade ago and now feels “a bit guilty, like it’s almost dirty money” as her wealth balloons in lockstep with Trump’s political resurgence. “It would be hard to make this kind of money in any other way today,” she notes, adding that “it’s surprising how many doctors and nurses are investing in crypto.”
If the US adopts bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, the sky is the limit.
a Dublin solicitor whose €40,000 bitcoin investment is now valued at €62,000
Hedging Against Inflation, Praying for Moon Shots
For some, like Julian, a 57-year-old draughtsman and father of four from Nottingham, crypto promised a hedge against troubling economic trends. “I was getting more and more alarmed that not only was there virtually zero interest paid on my savings, the value of every pound I owned was also reducing due to quantitative easing, as the government happily printed money to bail out the banks,” he recounts. After investing the bulk of his savings in bitcoin and riding out some stomach-churning dips, Julian’s crypto nest egg has hatched handsomely. He now views it as “inheritance for the kids” and is “pretty sure it’ll keep growing in value.”
Others are chasing the dream of meme-coin moon shots. Mitchell, a Minnesota tech worker in his 30s, threw $1,300 into Dogecoin on a lark in 2021, hoping the jokey token touted by Elon Musk as “the people’s crypto” might one day hit $100. “I figured if it ever reached $100 a coin, it was an easy million,” he admits. While less starry-eyed about Dogecoin’s potential these days, Mitchell remains on the crypto roller-coaster, “staying on this ride in hope” that bitcoin will soar to “$150,000 by the end of 2025” as some analysts predict. “If they’re right, maybe I can finally afford that house,” he muses.
The Looming Specter of a Crash
Yet even as crypto dreams come true for some, the specter of a devastating crypto crash haunts the community. “I’m pretty sure it’ll keep growing in value. How much bitcoin have I got? Not enough,” Julian confesses, only half-jokingly.
Claire is already planning an exit from her once-beloved crypto markets. “I’ve had my fun with it. I really need to be a bit more sensible now, and might buy real estate instead,” she shares.
And Mitchell, who only recently tasted the thrill of a 100% bitcoin return, now fears a “massive” crypto reckoning looms. But like many others, he’s holding on, hoping the analysts charting bitcoin’s course to the moon have it right this time. The pull of life-changing, obstacles-obliterating wealth is hard to resist, especially when it feels tantalizingly within reach in an era of pinched opportunities.
“If they’re right, though, maybe I can finally afford that house,” Mitchell muses, giving voice to a generation’s yearning to grab a piece of an American Dream that seems to be slipping away. In the topsy-turvy world of cryptocurrency investment, as in the casino, there are many losers. But the siren song of the big win is proving irresistible to a growing army of middle-class believers willing to roll the dice on a radically different future.
