How Shibtoshi gambled 37 ETH and became a Shiba Inu billionaire

Shiba Inu whale Shibtoshi usually works all night, before crashing and sleeping during the day. Little is known about this enigmatic character, who wears a gold-themed mask and is surrounded by a security detail when he appears in public.

When not trading or building, Shibtoshi enjoys hunting and shooting. He posted various videos on X of him shooting machine guns and shooting from tanks. That's what he likes to do to kill the rot.

At Shiba Inu, he amassed a position north of $5 billion sometimes for only 37 ETH – not bad for someone who doesn't call himself a trader and has never played with stocks and shares. It's pure crypto to him, and he's learned to approach memecoin casino with a gambler's mindset and a lot of trial and error.

Profits can be better in crypto, even if they are more volatile. I have a gambling background, so I lean towards crypto, especially when it comes to sustainability. It scratched my itch for gambling, while at the same time providing me with passive income. Having said that, I have passed my ass on many occasions.

Perpetual futures are contracts that have no expiration date, allowing traders to speculate on the price of an asset indefinitely.

SquidGrow's CEO has now ventured from gambling to crypto utility platforms on meme tokens. He's focused on building, specifically a product called SilentSwap.

“I will continue to seek out like-minded individuals in the crypto space to further develop applications that are useful to the masses,” he told the magazine. “If there's a gap in a certain area, how do you fill that gap? You build it that way.

Shibtoshi, Secret Network and SilentSwap

Shibtoshi participates in many conferences and is the main sponsor of several DeCC days around the world this year. DeCC stands for “Decentralized Confidential Computing” and was created in February by a group of privacy-watching companies, ETDenver.

DCC includes a number of cryptographic technologies and solutions focused on enhanced data protection, secure and confidential computing, and verifiable computing. They include the use of trusted execution environments, zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and fully asynchronous encryption.

Shibtoshi is building SilentSwap, a privacy-focused, proof-of-stake crypto network that offers programmable privacy and encrypted transactions. He is kind in his interviews but he is reserved in his answers when it comes to personal details, because he does not want to be known in real life.

Who is Shibtoshi? What is the background story?

However, Shibtoshi Speaking to a magazine about his first encounter with Bitcoin in 2011, he shares some background with Little Trigger.

He had already heard about crypto in 2010 but was not very interested. It took a poker game in Las Vegas the following year to jumpstart his interest after a poker friend arranged a $30,000 OTC deal on Bitcoin to get into the game.

“I was swept up in that game, but I was also hooked. I went home and read the Bitcoin white paper and loved it. I was amazed that no one could come and block my assets like a bank.

Shibtoshi started buying and selling Bitcoin using LocalBitcoins and Paxful. He meets people in cafes, sometimes receiving magazines filled with hundred-dollar bills or bank deposits. Finally, he found a regular OTC Bitcoin guy who bought and sold huge amounts at a discount. At that time, he had to rely on the risks of dealing with strangers and cash.

Shibtoshi says he missed the whole ICO craze. However, in Shiba Inu memecoin was introduced much earlier. In the year Within five hours of starting August 1, 2020, he received a message from a friend and began spending 37 ETH on average dollars. Historical data show that this price was $345 each at the time, or about $12,765 in total. In just two days, it accumulated 104 trillion tokens, worth more than $5.7 billion. In theory.

“Of course, this is not real money because there is no shortage of money. I couldn't download all of that at once without destroying the entire ecosystem.

Shibtoshi still managed to cash in big by playing well and taking chances. As he explained, if there is an amount of 100 million dollars in one day and a trader sells for that, the price is not particularly affected.

“Just like other big memecoins, you need patience to price out. Traders find that if they sell in volume, they can cash out. Basically, you make a small amount, and don't crash the chart by making a big sale.”

He has other tips for selling billions of memecoin to non-traders.

For example, he suggests trading Ethereum Classic, which tracks ETH prices but allows traders to benefit from up and down movements due to the lag. Or to follow the Chinese markets and use their influence to make better business decisions.

“Traders are always trying to catch the bottom and flip to the top, but it can do a lot of ping-pong. Or roll the dice for you.”

From play market to market creation

Shibtoshi is now focused on being an entrepreneur. In the year By 2021, his friends suggested branching out of trading coins.

“They jokingly suggested that I start my own project this time. Initially disinterested, I eventually warmed to the idea. I took a six-week Solidity course to familiarize myself with coding smart contracts. Encouraged by my friends, I decided to start a project that would provide a safe environment for my friends and family and eventually expand into my community.

Self-education is clearly a challenge that Shibtoshi enjoys. In June 2022, he started with a token project called SquidGrow, which was secretly launched on the BNB Smart Chain with a market cap of $25,000.

“We grew rapidly, achieving a 2,000x increase in a few months to a market cap of nearly $52 million, and eventually moved to multichain to Ethereum. Although we started as a meme token, fueled by revenue generated on our service platforms, we evolved into a meme utility token to build a self-sustaining ecosystem.” Throughout the bear market, we focused on building facilities to prepare for the next bull market.

The utilities are at pains to point out that 18 separate security audits were conducted by Certike and two by Hacken.

“As an active supporter of the cryptocurrency cryptocurrency, my goal is to provide valuable resources that benefit the space. In the past two years of existence, we have made many achievements. The community is my proudest achievement, as I believe that a strong foundation is crucial for the success of any project.

Building the community has required a lot of hand-holding, and Shibtoshi is a big believer in anyone in the community being able to contact him or other team members directly.

“Trust must be earned and never given.”

Squid Grow's name is derived from Squid Games, a popular Korean fantasy game show on Netflix, EverGrow, along with the boosters he is known for.

Shibtoshi admits that he is not very good at coding

At this stage of the interview, Shibtoshi admits to being a terrible coder. It took six months to code the first smart contract, which was timed on the launch date. But a bug in the code means that tokens can be bought but not sold.

“It was a sudden honeypot. So, we told our community of 88 people that we had to stop and restart, which we did the next day.

When asked if he codes anymore, Shibtoshi admits that he does small jobs but has learned to hire more experienced people to do most of the critical coding.

“I come from an investment background, but learning how to code, even if it's bad, gives me an appreciation for the team and the work they do.”

Shibtoshi wants SquidGrow to be a self-sustaining ecosystem while capitalizing on the memecoin craze.

To date, there are several facilities including Incubate, an NFT marketplace; SGS Trade, a DEX; and Knox Locker, Liquid Locker and Dressing Platform. The much-anticipated SilentSwap is a decentralized and non-custodial, privacy-neutral aggregator that enables private asset transfers.

Shibtoshi has been bankrolling the project. Payments for in-app transactions go directly to liquidity, allowing it to maintain a cash-to-market-cap ratio. He still hasn't seen much success, he points out.

“In my opinion, most startups are not profitable for the first two years. We are building our backbone for a long time.

Shibtoshi wouldn't budge on the amount he invested, but said the security audit alone cost him $600,000.

The financial advisors may not be so excited when they say that 72 percent of crypto projects are dead during the bull run of 2000–2001, but the fact that they are still alive is encouraging. Of the more than 12,000 projects investigated, 8,854 were found to be discontinued.

Shibtoshi has attracted some bigwigs to the project, including Wendy Oh, a consultant who works closely with the team.

He says he's paid his fair share over the years, and has a unique approach to taxes. Currently, he uses collateralized loans to cover debts because borrowing against your own stack is not taxed, selling coins is.

He found a bank that accepts Ether and Bitcoin. They give them a million dollars in crypto, and they give him a loan. After making the payment, it will hold $750,000. Basically, he is losing 25%, but the tax bracket that falls, the savings are much wider. That's how it avoids the biggest capital gains tax – and, incidentally, why governments come up with unpopular proposals to tax unrealized profits on the super-rich.

Intimidation on US policy after the election in general

In the wake of Donald Trump's election as president, Shibtoshi is bullish on American politics. He sees the US regaining its position as a leader in the global crypto landscape.

It welcomes clear, consistent, fair regulatory guidelines for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology startups. This includes defining what constitutes a security, commodity and utility token, and establishing rules that protect consumers without stifling innovation.

To encourage innovation, Shibtoshi said, the US should implement policies that support blockchain development, such as providing tax incentives for crypto-related startups and creating a sandbox to test new technologies.

“This approach will help attract talent and investment, making the US a center of blockchain innovation. By promoting a competitive environment, the US can regain its leadership position in the digital asset space.”

Jillian Godsil

Jillian Gosil is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author. In the year