23-year-old Australian buys $314k property via planned crypto investments

Published at: March 13, 2022

A young resident from Queensland, Australia played the long game of accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) over several years to eventually overcome the soaring real estate prices during the 2020 bull run and own his dream home.

The 23-year-old Loi Nguyen started his journey as an investor back in 2017 by purchasing a few hundred dollars worth of BTC, ETH and traditional stocks. However, his interest in crypto reached new heights while pursuing an Economics degree:

“Crypto came back into my life when I did a course at the uni on inflation. I learned that Bitcoin can be disinflationary.”

Speaking to news.com.au, Nguyen revealed that the lower interest rates (less than 0.5%) offered by traditional banks could never help him break into the real estate market. By following a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) investment strategy, the young investor continued to diversify his portfolio into cryptocurrencies amid the temporary bear market of 2018:

“I recognize I took on a lot of risks. I wanted to protect my purchasing power, protect my current savings, make sure my money didn’t dwindle away.”

As traditional markets collapsed during the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Nguyen’s crypto investments outgrew the value of his stock portfolio. This was when his investment focus moved away from traditional markets further into cryptocurrencies — eventually accumulating 1 BTC over several months.

With the intent to purchase real estate, Nguyen cashed out his crypto investments during November-December 2021, a timeline when BTC reached an all-time high of $69,000. In total, the young Aussie sold less than half of his crypto portfolio, leaving him around $31,400 (43,000 Australian dollars) to show the bank as a part of the downpayment.

Nguyen purchased a one-bedroom apartment in Brisbane, which was priced at $314,000 ($430,000 Australian dollars) and required approximately $62,735 ($86,000 Australian dollars) as a downpayment. “About half of that was made up of crypto,” Nguyen added.

After finishing high school, Nguyen worked full-time for a year as a bank teller but was on a low salary of roughly $20,400. “I’m doing a lot better now,” he concluded.

Australian cybersecurity advisor, the Cyber Security Industry Advisory Committee, recently highlighted numerous crypto-specific opportunities.

As Cointelegraph reported, the study titled Exploring Cryptocurrencies underpins the need for a regulatory setting for attaining greater clarity and confidence regarding cryptocurrencies for the Australian market.

The federal advisory recommends the exploration of four key areas that can “help ensure the safe adoption of cryptocurrencies in Australia” — minimum cyber security standards, capability (awareness through specialized training), the follow-the-lead approach and operator transparency.