Dogecoin ‘Millionaire’ Who Risked Life Savings Didn’t Cash Out Before Price Crash

A Dogecoin investor who claims to have gambled his entire life savings on the token, becoming an overnight millionaire when its price suddenly rocketed, chose not to cash out at its peak—and is now back down to six figures after the market plunged.

But 33-year-old Los Angeles resident Jaysn Prolifiq—legally known as Glauber Contessoto—told Newsweek he does not regret hanging on to his tokens, even as their value drops again.

Financial experts warned others against taking a high-stakes risk like Prolifiq’s.

Citing screenshots and video of his investment that Newsweek could not independently verify, the music video producer and artist manager said his $188,000 holding had turned into nearly $2 million of Dogecoin last week. Newsweek attempted to verify Prolifiq’s claims by accessing screen recordings and external footage with his consent.

Prolifiq says he invested his life savings into Dogecoin back in February when it was priced at below $0.05 after doing several days of research, feeling it was undervalued. In mid-April, Dogecoin spiked to a record high of $0.45.

However, Dogecoin is currently worth around $0.23, down sharply from its peak. It also fell between Tuesday and Wednesday despite the community’s efforts to pump the coin’s price on 4/20, dubbed ‘Doge Day.’

The cryptocurrency market is widely down amid reports U.S. President Joe Biden is planning a capital gains tax increase.

Prolifiq told Newsweek his investment had dropped below $1 million on Friday morning.

“A serious correction was needed after that rally so this was expected. Looking back I wouldn’t have done anything different, because the worst thing you can ever do is try to time the market,” he said.

“This exact same thing happened at the end of January into February when Doge went from $0.01 cent to $0.08 and then back down to $0.02 and then slowly started climbing up from there.

“I share my losses on our Doge Reddit page just like I share my gains. It would be very disingenuous of me to pretend like Doge only goes up, up, up, up—and never dips down.”

Prolifiq’s decision to put such a large amount of capital into one asset is a huge personal financial risk that goes against generally accepted investing advice.

Andreas Park, associate professor of finance at the University of Toronto, told Newsweek Dogecoin’s volatility is “staggering” and said risk should always be kept under control.

“Investing in many assets ensures that people are diversified so that they don’t suffer disproportionately from losses in individual investments,” Park said.

“The volatility of many crypto-assets is staggering: it is not uncommon that prices fluctuate by plus or minus 10 percent or more over just a few hours.

“There is no use case for [Dogecoin], there is little support for it from the technology community. The price rise is not unlike that of GameStop which also saw price rise bar any fundamental value justification.”

On Prolifiq’s investment, Park said: “This is simply insane—I hope he has liquidated his position and accounted for capital gains taxes.”

Dogecoin was started in 2013 as a joke cryptocurrency born from the Doge meme that its fans ended up taking seriously.

Its popularity has been boosted by the support of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has tweeted about it on a number of occasions in the past few months. His comments tend to be followed by the token’s price soaring.

On April 15, Prolifiq anonymously announced his investment had surpassed $1,000,000 in a Reddit post under his iUsedToCallDogeDodge account.

Prolifiq told Newsweek the return on his investment could eventually change his lifestyle when he cashes in—depending on the token’s price.

He said: “I have a 2004 Toyota Corolla. I have paint chipping off the entire car because it was broken down for a whole year and I had to ride my bicycle to work every day. I have a side-view mirror that’s completely broken off the car.

“And, obviously I had $188,000 to put into Dogecoin right? I’ve been saving up money. I’ve made great choices and great picks on stocks. Could I have taken some of that and bought a brand new car? Yes. For whatever reason, I waited.”

Cryptocurrency is widely acknowledged to be subject to price volatility based on speculation.

Even with traditional investing, such as on the stock market, analysts say a responsible approach requires a broad and diverse portfolio of assets, and have warned against making large, speculative investments in Dogecoin.

Glen Goodman, a cryptocurrency expert and author of The Crypto Trader, has made money off of trading Dogecoin. He told Newsweek the coin is risky and could drop to zero value one day.

Goodman said: “Sensible cryptocurrency investing is about making profits while keeping your risk level strictly under control.

“Buying Dogecoin is closer to gambling than to investing. There is no way to work out a fair valuation for Doge, particularly as very few people actually use it for real-world transactions.

“Doge has come a long way, but there’s nothing to stop it one day crashing to almost zero. Probably when Elon Musk gets tired of tweeting about it.

“I saw many traders who’d enjoyed overnight success destroy their accounts when Bitcoin crashed in 2018. No doubt the same thing will happen again to all those who don’t take care.”

Despite his significant life savings, Prolifiq stresses he didn’t come from money.

“I used to pile a bunch of toys in my backpack. And then I would go into the school bus on the way to school, I would sell the toys to kids in the bus,” he said.

“I have a whole plan. Like the first thing I want to do is make sure my mom never has to work another day in her life. She’s an angel.

“I’m gonna take care of all my immediate family first, then I’m gonna make sure I’m straight after that, and then I’m gonna start making sure my friends are good. That’s kind of my plan.”

Looking ahead, he’s still bullish about the future of the token and wants to use his investment to fund a music promotion career and a rap record label, inspired by one rapper he met in Maryland.

“I’m gonna start my own record label and I’m gonna have him be the first artist that I sign to this record label. You need money to make it happen. So I have money to fund it.”