Top suburbs for cryptocurrency purchasing in SA revealed, personal accounts from Adelaide’s big earners

A South Australian man has told how his $300 became more than $1m, as the state’s cryptocurrency hot spots are revealed. See the list.

The most popular suburbs for purchasing cryptocurrency in South Australia have been revealed, as one Adelaide man details his journey from $300 to becoming a millionaire.

From Flagstaff Hill to Northgate, SA locals have been taking a punt at crypto.

Data from Independent Reserve, one of the nation’s largest crypto exchanges, showed that for the second year in a row, Brooklyn Park, Lockleys and Underdale are SA’s biggest hotspots.

Woodville followed, and leapfrogged Angle Park, Ferryden Park and Regency Park to claim second spot on the list.

Fourth is Fulham Gardens, Fulham and West Beach, maintaining their position.

Paralowie, Salisbury and Adelaide are new additions to Independent Reserve’s list, while North Haven and Outer Harbour jumped up the list to claim fifth spot.

The exclusive data from Independent Reserve also claimed that 31.2 per cent of South Australians over 18 own crypto, compared with 12.9 per cent in 2019.

Across Australia last year, crypto purchases surged by 56 per cent, with 28.8 per cent of Australians currently owning or previously owned crypto, up from 18.4 per cent in 2020, the data showed.

Speaking under the alias of Eldrick, a Hallett Cove man, 45, said he turned an initial investment of $17,000 in Verge to $680,000 in six-months in 2017.

“My Bitcoin journey started when my old house mate, who was also a computer programmer and hacker, called me back in 2011 at work,” Eldrick said.

“He said there’s a possibility there’s going to be a new internet currency called Bitcoin and it could be nothing, but it could be something, and he knew we needed some.”

Bitcoin was established in 2008, with the first transaction being recorded in 2010, where a man paid 10,000BTC for two pizzas. Picture: File

He purchased about 19 Bitcoin on an exchanged named Mt. Gox, that was eventually hacked and closed in 2014 with total exchange losses of more than 850,000 Bitcoin.

The 19 Bitcoin today would be worth about $1.2m.

Not wasting time moping over losses, Eldrick’s friend then introduced him to another project called Verge.

Eldrick purchased $17,000 of Verge in June 2017, and by Christmas Eve of the same year it had pumped to $680,000.

“I went to my parents house and showed my dad that night and his eyes popped out of his head,” Eldrick said.

His father told him to sell, but Eldrick admittedly got greedy, and instead withdrew $120,000 to buy a Range Rover, travel, pay bills and tax.

“The rest of the $560,000 dwindled down to a pittance and lay dormant through the crypto winter of 2018 and 2019.” He said that $560,000 was now sitting at $300,000.

Eldrick’s former house mate who introduced him to crypto, “Ned”, 47, of Morphett Vale, said since an initial $300 investment in Bitcoin in 2011, various trading plays over the last 10 years has seen his portfolio grow to over $1m.

At its peak, Ned’s portfolio hit a total of $1.5m, but his journey was not all sunshine and lollipops.

He said various security hacks on multiple exchanges since he began investing cryptocurrency totalled losses at around $500,000.

“I’ve lost coins on Mt Gox, I lost coins on Cryptopia. I lost coins on Cryptsy,” he said.

“All up I probably lost half a million dollars, if they hadn’t of (sic) stolen it.”

Ned, a new father, was a big believer in the projects he has invested in, and had only withdrawn around $350,000 profit to pay off his mortgage and a car loan on a Ford Ranger, as well as adding to savings.

An exit strategy to avoid being greedy with profits was essential, Ned said.

“I’ve got an exit strategy along the way, so I sell at certain points,” he said.

He said even though he was financially secure and could stop working, he remained employed full-time in the IT sector to help his family bolster savings to buy an acreage at Nhill, Victoria.

“Having the money to be able to pay off bills has made me more financially stable, so I actually don’t need to sell it,” Ned said.

Independent Reserve chief executive and founder Adrian Przelozny. Source: Supplied

Ned currently holds Bitcoin, Cardano, Decentraland, Verge, Binance Coin, Loopring and Litecoin.

He established a Facebook group to help friends who were new to cryptocurrency explore the space in a safe and guided way.

Being educated, and not risking more than you can afford to lose, was a key pillar of crypto investing, Ned said.

“It’s good to be in, but don’t risk more than you can lose, that would be my takeaway,” he said.

“No-one knows what’s gonna happen.”

Independent Reserve chief executive and founder, Adrian Przelozny said while crypto opens up “amazing opportunities for investors”, there were risks involved.

“The decentralised and peer-to-peer nature of crypto – while it opens up amazing investment opportunities – also means it can be fertile ground for scammers too,” Mr Przelozny said.

“Like any investment, it pays to take the time to educate and protect yourself.

“It’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as free money – if an offer sounds too good to be true, it generally is.”