A 33-year-old Dogecoin investor shares how he became a millionaire in 2 months after Elon Musk inspired him to pile into the meme currency | Currency News | Financial and Business News

A 33-year-old Los Angeles resident, Glauber Contessoto, claims to have become a Dogecoin millionaire on April 15.

He said he invested over $180,000 into Dogecoin, when its price was around 4.5 cents, on February 5. He detailed reasons for buying the meme currency in a YouTube video, and posted on the Dogecoin subreddit two months later about his newly-acquired millionaire status.

“Hey guys I just became a Dogecoin millionaire,” he wrote under the username “iUsedToCallDogeDodge,” and attached a screenshot of his holdings on Robinhood.

Insider could not independently verify Contessoto’s Dogecoin holdings.

Contessoto – who works in the music business – said billionaire Elon Musk was a key inspiration to his decision, claiming in his YouTube video that the Tesla boss owns about a third of the Dogecoins currently in circulation.

Retail investors have pumped up Dogecoin’s price this year, taking their cue from Musk’s tweets about it being “the people’s crypto.” It remains unclear whether his tweets were made in jest, or if he’s being serious.

“I think the guy is a genius,” Contessoto said of Musk in a CNBC interview. He said he strongly believes in Dogecoin’s potential and that it could help him build wealth to pass on to his family in the future.

Contessoto told CNBC he grew up poor, and that his exponential gain from the meme currency is a “huge deal” for him. He took a huge risk to buy Dogecoin by transferring all of his savings, including stocks like Tesla and Uber, and invested on margins borrowed from Robinhood.

He stuck to his plans despite warnings from friends, and decided he would take out 10% of his holdings once he hits $10 million.

Dogecoin saw an 8,000% surge last week, leading it to trade near $0.42. It was last trading at $0.28 on Monday, with a market cap of about $36 billion. Experts told Insider why the meme asset has been surging in popularity, with one saying: “Bitcoin is for the wealthy, Ethereum for the middle class, and Dogecoin is for the people.”

Despite the slide in its value, Contessoto said his investment is still worthy just over $1 million.