Brothers become millionaires overnight after investing $257 in cryptocurrency

Two brothers from New York have become multi-millionaires overnight after investing $257 in a “joke” cryptocurrency.

Imagine waking up one morning to discover that you’ve become a millionaire overnight? Granted, it doesn’t happen to everybody – unless you’ve invested in cryptocurrency.

Brothers Tommy, 38, and James, 42, found themselves in that very situation after investing money into the digital asset which they initially set up as a joke.

The siblings from New York originally invested $200 ($A257) into shiba inu coin, a spin-off of dogecoin. Both cryptocurrencies were created as jokes.

A friend who was a crypto expert recommended the pair invest in the digital currency. At the time of their friend’s suggestion, one coin was worth a fraction of a cent.

“I kind of thought about bitcoin — that was once a fraction of a penny and now it’s tens of thousands of dollars, and this happens to people, it’s possible,” Tommy told CNN.

“I trusted my friend and I figured if it went to zero, that’s OK. I thought of it as a lotto ticket that wouldn’t expire.”

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Shiba inu coin is a parody spin-off of dogecoin. Picture: iStock

The duo later brought the idea of the investment to their family.

“My mother and sister were sceptical but they each put in $100 ($A128), too,” Tommy said.

“After a few weeks when it was up about 300 per cent they put another $100 ($A128) in each, and then it kept going up.”

The family chipped in a total of $8000 ($A10,200).

Before coronavirus, Tommy and James used to make a living filming weddings. Their business almost fell apart as couples cancelled their ceremonies during the pandemic.

According to James, the two had videoed no more than eight instead of 30-40 that year.

“We kind of fell through the cracks,” Tommy said.

“The government stimulus checks weren’t enough to sustain us. I’m a positive person but it was really tough, and not knowing the future was kind of scary.”

But while shooting a wedding video one day, the brothers noticed their investment skyrocketed to $100,000 ($A128,000) and kept increasing.

“We woke up the next morning and it doubled. We were like, ‘Oh my god,’” Tommy said.

“Then it went up to $700,000 ($A902,000) and I told my brother it’s going to hit a million. I kept refreshing my phone.

“The day it hit a million — my mum and sister, they didn’t think it was real.”

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The brothers and their family invested $US8000 in cryptocurrency. Picture: Karen Bleier/ AFP

According toCNN Business, the family’s investment is now worth close to $9 million ($11.5 million).

Tommy and James are yet to cash out their money and are now holding out for the launch of ShibaSwap, a decentralised exchange platform.

“This has happened so quickly it’s hard to even comprehend the things you can do with this money,” Tommy said.

“My parents’ house needs a new roof, so I’ll take care of that.”

James advises anyone trying to copy the brothers’ success that cryptocurrency is a high-risk gamble.

“Don’t put in any money that you aren’t willing to lose,” he said.

“The meme tokens are very high-risk and you really don’t know what is going to happen with them. We know this is not what typically happens, although shiba has changed our lives. When you see it fluctuate so much, it does keep you up at night.”