A Queenslander who started off working at his local service station for just A$15 ($15.72) per hour is now worth at least A$100 million if he cashed out on all his assets right now.
Daniel Maegaard, 31, from the Sunshine Coast, used to work the weekend shift at his petrol station while studying psychology at university.
But a combination of luck and skill saw him stumble upon new technology crazes such as cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) years before they became mainstream, allowing him to become a multi-millionaire in less than a decade.
In fact, one lucky purchase for a CryptoPunk NFT in May 2020 cost Maegaard just A$18,000 at the time – and its value has since soared to more than A$50 million for the digital artwork.
The jetsetter, who has travelled to more than 50 countries, says it all started for him when he first heard about Bitcoin in 2013.
“Me being me, I was procrastinating on my assignment – I never really wanted to be a psychologist anyway,” Maegaard recalled, speaking to news.com.au.
“I came across this BBC article talking about the parabolic rise of Bitcoin, it had gone from A$20 to A$50.
“I really did see the power in being your own bank, total control over your money.”
Using his A$4000 in savings – the only money he had to his name – he poured it into cryptocurrency.
Maegaard had finished his psychology degree and was following in his father’s footsteps by studying law when cryptocurrency suddenly boomed in 2017.
“During 2017 I made enough money to be comfortable enough to walk away from everything,” he said.
He had invested in blockchains including Bitcoin, PP coin, Lite coin and Ripple XRP.
For an idea of his return on investment, Bitcoin’s worth jumped by 1000 per cent while Ripple was the best performing coin of that year, up by a whopping 36,000 per cent in 12 months.
“Crypto has a bad rap, especially among the older generation,” he said.
He felt the need to “prove” to…
