Contessoto didn’t exactly start out as the dogecoin millionaire he’s known as today. In fact, he claimed that he actually “grew up really poor” (via CNBC). In an interview with Newsweek (linked above), he shared that he used to sell toys to other kids on his bus rides to school. By the time he was working, he recalled having to ride a bicycle to work every day when his car broke down. However, this all changed when Contessoto first learned about dogecoin on Reddit. After days of research, Contessoto then poured all his savings into it, even resorting to borrowing money through margin investing.

On top of all that, he also went on to liquidate the rest of his owned stock shares as means to go all-out on dogecoin. For Contessoto, the belief in putting his whole life’s savings into a cryptocurrency that was born out of an internet meme was more than just diving in headfirst into a nascent trend, as he loved the community surrounding dogecoin, even appreciating the cryptocurrency’s meme origins. Of course, what further strengthened his decision was his belief in known dogecoin investor Elon Musk, who he thinks is “a genius.”