Buying Ethereum in 2014 brought the Reddit co-founder 548,000% profit
Alexis Ohanian spent $15,000 to buy 50,000 ETH at $0.3 per coin and now wishes he had bought more
Reddit social networking co-founder Alexis Ohanian's investment in Ethereum has grown 548,566% since he invested in the altcoin in 2014. In an interview with Forbes, he said he spent $15,000 to buy 50,000 ETH at $0.3 per coin. At the Feb. 22 exchange rate of $1,646,000, his investment is valued at $82.3 million.
The idea of cryptocurrencies, specifically decentralized storage of value, seemed very appealing to Ohanian, in part because of the history of his Armenian family, which was persecuted by Turkish authorities and confiscated in the early 20th century.
"If people have in their minds or in their collective history the idea of persecution, especially by the state, they find the idea of storing valuables that are not controlled by any state very attractive," Ohanian said.
He has since invested in altcoin and now notes: "Looking back, I didn't invest as much as I should have."
After leaving Reddit in 2020, Ohanian turned his interest in cryptocurrencies into a business. He founded venture capital firm 776, which has since invested in 29 blockchain startups and raised $500 million in February 2022, mostly to fund crypto projects. Ohanian calls himself a "cryptopragmatist," and he supports U.S. regulation but keeps the private keys of his most valuable assets out of the reach of authorities.
Ohanian's favorite type of digital assets have been NFTs, the publication notes. He personally owns at least 700 non-interchangeable tokens. In August 2021, he spent $550,000 in ETH on seven NFTs that he thought looked like his famous wife, tennis player Serena Williams.
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