A bet with his parents that changed one teenager’s life

At just 25 years old, Erik Finman has already achieved what many can only dream of - becoming a Bitcoin millionaire by the age of 18. But Finman's journey into the world of cryptocurrency was anything but ordinary.

It all began at a protest in Washington, D.C, where a fellow demonstrator mentioned Bitcoin as a way to "end Wall Street," sparking the teenager’s interest. "Me and my older brother, we looked it up afterwards, and he got into it, and I got into it and, and I just spent kind of every day trying to get more and more money," Finman recalled.

With a $1,000 birthday gift from his grandmother, the 12-year-old Finman began investing in Bitcoin, scraping together funds from odd jobs like mowing lawns. Finman's early fascination with Bitcoin was fueled by his libertarian beliefs and passion for politics.

As Finman's Bitcoin investments grew, he made a bold move - dropping out of high school at 15 and moving to the San Francisco Bay Area to start an education technology company. By the time he turned 18, Finman had become the youngest Bitcoin millionaire, a feat that earned him national media attention.

"I had a million dollar bet with my parents that if I made a million dollars by the time I was 18, I wouldn't have to go back to school," Finman said. "And I won that bet just in the nick of time. I was about to turn 19, so I made it just under the wire."

Finman grew up in the northwestern state of Idaho, which he credits for getting him into crypto as lesiure activities were limited. “All I did was just hike and exercise and be at my computer and trade Bitcoin”. Now he has a team that does that for him, providing full 24/7 trading coverage.

Finding patterns

Finman's success in the world of Bitcoin was not just a matter of luck, but a carefully crafted strategy. "I had multiple strategies," he explained. This included recognizing patterns in the market, such as how Bitcoin would respond to certain government indicators or natural disasters. Those patterns don't work today, but at the time, they did.”

Finman's early success with Bitcoin also shaped his views on the evolution of the cryptocurrency. While he remains a strong proponent of Bitcoin, he acknowledges that the technology has become more mainstream and institutional, moving away from its libertarian roots.

"Bitcoin is old technology and that's not necessarily a popular thing to say in the crypto community. It's a decentralized currency. But the development and the upgrading has become very centralized in Silicon Valley.”

As a result, Finman has broadened his cryptocurrency portfolio, investing in other digital assets like Monero, which he believes offers a more decentralized and anonymous alternative to Bitcoin. "Monero is completely off the grid, an anonymous currency, and that can be used maybe for bad things but I think it could be used for good things.”

When the teenager moved to San Francisco, he started an ed tech company and eventually sold that company and put all the money back into Bitcoin. It seemed like he was destined for the big leagues.

“Maybe that was a dumb, egotistical thing but from a very young age I always felt I was going to do great things. I've always had a lot of self belief in myself.”

Moon shot

His next challenge seems to be one of an educator, and he is part of a technology incubator started by the Nobel family caled the Nobel DAO. “What I liked about them is that they believe that great ideas are downstream of great people and great minds and creative minds.”

In an interview for The Crypto Radio, during a recent trip to Dubai, you could easily describe Eric himself as one of these great minds. He applied for a NASA grant at the age of 17 and three years later he and a dedicated team were able to launch a satellite into space.

“We did a crypto space drop to this place with zero internet in Africa. The satellite went overhead and you had to point this antenna that I shipped to a UNICEF school that was falling apart. They didn't even have money for lunch tables.”

In what he describes as “a little bit of a science project” 1,000s of dollars worth of crypto were airdropped to the school to exchange for money to buy the wood needed to build lunch tables.

“So we did all these cool things,” Finman added.  It seems like many more cool things are still to come.

Listen to the whole interview on The Crypto Radio's live player or in our Community podcast.