Rags To Riches: Jobless Brothers From New York Became Millionaires After Investing In 'Dogecoin Killer' — Imagine If They Still Held On To SHIB Today?

On the morning of April 17, 2021, two brothers from Westchester, New York, woke up to the news that would change their lives forever. 

What Happened: Tommy, 38, and James, 42, (name changed for anonymity) told CNN in 2021 that they had become millionaires overnight, all thanks to a meme coin that was initially created as a joke.

The brothers had decided to invest a few hundred dollars into ‘Dogecoin DOGE/USD killer’ Shiba Inu SHIB/USD coin, which is a spinoff of Dogecoin. At the time, one Shiba Inu coin was worth just a fraction of a cent. Tommy was quoted as saying, “I trusted my friend and I thought, if it went to zero, that’s okay. I saw it as a lotto ticket that wouldn’t expire.”

Taking the plunge, James and Tommy initially invested $200 each. They also shared the idea with their immediate family members, including their parents and sister. Initially skeptical, their mother and sister still invested $100 each. As the value of the Shiba Inu coin began to rise, the family saw the potential and invested an additional $100 each when it had already gained 300%. In total, they put around $8000 in SHIB.

While filming a wedding in mid-April, they kept a close eye on their investment, which had quickly surged to $100,000. And the upward trend continued.

Tommy excitedly revealed to CNN, “We woke up the next morning and it doubled. We were like, ‘Oh my god!’ Then it went up to $700,000, and I told my brother it was going to hit a million. I kept refreshing my phone.” True to his prediction, the next day, their investment reached the million-dollar mark.

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Why It Matters: As of May 14, 2021, their original stake of $7,900 was worth nearly $9 million.

In case they held onto their SHIB today they would be facing a significant loss of $5.49 million, equivalent to a decrease of 61.05%. This sharp decline is due to SHIB’s trading value dropping from $0.000019 on May 14, 2021, to 0.000007400 presently.

Read Next: Here’s How Much You Should Invest In Shiba Inu Today For A $1M Payday If SHIB Hits 1 Cent?