去年夏天，金斯利·阿德瓦尼賣掉了他的全部家當——也就是他的筆記本電腦和耳機，并且把銀行賬戶里的幾千美元積蓄也全取了出來。

阿德瓦尼說，在看到比特幣帶來的暴富機遇后，他也想孤注一擲地拼一把。最后他向比特幣和從事數(shù)字加密貨幣相關技術的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司投資了一共34000美元。短短六個月時間里，他的資產(chǎn)就像吹氣球似的漲到了七位數(shù)。

在他這個年紀，很多人還一門心思地順著職場階梯一步步往上爬，阿德瓦尼卻拿著零薪水當上了幾家數(shù)字加密貨幣創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的顧問。他表示，他經(jīng)常往來倫敦、紐約和舊金山等地參加會議，物色或將帶來下一代區(qū)域鏈技術的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。

阿德瓦尼對《商業(yè)內(nèi)幕》表示：“我認為，在人類歷史的任何階段，20多歲的年輕人都不曾有過投資如此高增長率的資產(chǎn)的機會。”

比特幣是2008年誕生的一種支付系統(tǒng)，人們不需實名交易，便可利用比特幣買賣商品或轉賬支付。比特幣的交易會被記錄在一個叫“區(qū)塊鏈”的總賬戶上。

讓阿德瓦尼對數(shù)字加密貨幣產(chǎn)生信心的，正是其背后的區(qū)塊鏈技術。

2012年，一位朋友向阿德瓦尼介紹了比特幣，當時的比特幣主要用于非法藥品的線上交易。阿德瓦尼卻充分看到了這項技術的前景。

他表示：“它就像是對傳統(tǒng)金融的一場革命?！北忍貛耪Q生的2008年恰恰是全球金融危機的最高峰時，阿德瓦尼認為這并非巧合。“你不需要集中化的銀行替你轉賬，你可以利用這種優(yōu)秀的技術通過加密方式轉賬，所以它比銀行更快、更便宜，也更安全。”

阿德瓦尼從去年夏天開始研究數(shù)字加密貨幣的白皮書，并且對比特幣市場進行仔細觀察。最終他決定不能坐失良機。于是他將他在一家小軟件公司當數(shù)據(jù)科學家掙來的所有收入都投到了這個領域。

阿德瓦尼表示：“每個月一等到發(fā)工資，我就把所有收入都投進去。”

阿德瓦尼稱，他的大多數(shù)財富來自他對一些數(shù)字加密貨幣創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的早期投資，他的投資對象一般是斯坦福、康奈爾、麻省理工等知名大學孵化出來的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，這些公司大都從事高速區(qū)塊鏈的研發(fā)，這項技術也正是數(shù)字加密貨幣最核心的東西。阿德瓦尼的資產(chǎn)最高曾達到7位數(shù)，不過他的資產(chǎn)也會隨著市場而波動。

他表示，去年10月他已經(jīng)辭去了軟件公司的工作，現(xiàn)在主要作為顧問和天使投資人穿梭在世界各地。

這位24歲的年輕投資人說，他有時會跟其他年輕的數(shù)字加密貨幣創(chuàng)業(yè)者擠在一間黑客公寓里，睡上下鋪式的架子床。他也打算搬到舊金山全職工作。

阿德瓦尼表示，他既不喝酒，也不愛參加聚會，閑暇時間要么用來冥想，要么就是在網(wǎng)上看與數(shù)字加密貨幣有關的研究。在接受采訪期間，他還拿出手機跟我們分享了一款冥想軟件Headspace上的數(shù)據(jù)。最近這400多天里，他每天都在堅持冥想。

阿德瓦尼還表示：“我決定優(yōu)化一下坐在電腦前面的時間，因為讓人分心的事太多了。我的一日三餐都是從網(wǎng)上訂的外賣，我也從來不出門買食雜和日用品，因為我覺得這是浪費時間。所以我盡量過‘宅男’的生活。”

他認為，自己成功的關鍵，是在于把注意力集中在了有限的事情上。他從來不看關于比特幣價值的新聞，對幣值的漲跌也不太在意。

然而他卻十分關注關于比特幣底層技術和數(shù)字加密貨幣的各種可能性的最新研究，從而推斷數(shù)字加密貨幣技術會向何處發(fā)展。同時他認為數(shù)字加密貨幣投資并不適合每一個人——除非他們也愿意像他那樣研 究白皮書。

阿德瓦尼還告誡道：“你賠得起多少，就投多少?！?

披露：本文作者亦持有少量比特幣和以太幣。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

本文原載于BusinessInsider.com。

譯者：樸成奎

Last summer Kingsley Advani said he sold his worldly possessions — namely his laptop and headphones — and emptied thousands of dollars from his bank account.

He said that after seeing the once-in-a-lifetime returns that bitcoin has brought, he wanted in. Advani said he invested $34,000 in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and startups working on related technologies, and he watched his net worth balloon to low seven figures in six months.

At an age when many people are trying to climb up the career ladder, Advani works as an adviser to cryptocurrency startups with a salary of zero. He said he travels between London, New York, and San Francisco, taking meetings and scouting startups working on what may be the next great blockchain technology.

“I think at no point in human history have people in their 20s had such an opportunity to invest in such high-growth assets,” Advani told Business Insider.

Created in 2008, bitcoin is a payment system that allows people to buy things and send money without attaching their names to transactions. There are no banks or middlemen. Transactions are recorded on a digital ledger called a blockchain.

It was the blockchain that first excited Advani about cryptocurrencies, he said.

In 2012 a friend introduced Advani to bitcoin, which at the time was largely used for buying and selling illegal drugs online. Advani saw the full potential of the technology.

“It’s like a rebellion to traditional finance,” Advani said. He believes its creation in 2008 — at the height of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression — was no coincidence. “You don’t need centralized banks to send money — you have these great pieces of tech send money for you through cryptography. So unlike banks, it’s faster, cheaper, and more secure.”

Advani said he started reading white papers on cryptocurrencies and watching the market more closely last summer. He decided he would not miss a second chance to take part. He invested all his savings and part of his income from his job as a data scientist at a small software company.

“Every month I was waiting for that paycheck and I put it straight in,” Advani said.

According to Advani, most of his wealth comes from his early-stage investments in startups spun out of top universities, like Stanford, Cornell, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are mostly working on high-speed blockchains, the technology at the heart of cryptocurrencies. At its peak, Advani’s net worth rose to low seven figures, though it fluctuates with the swing of the market, he said.

He said he quit his software job in October and now travels the world as an adviser and angel investor.

The 24-year-old said he is crashing on a bunk bed in a San Francisco hacker house for young cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and plans to move to the city full time.

Advani said he doesn’t drink or party; instead, he said he spends most of his free time meditating and reading cryptocurrency research online. During our interview, he whipped out his phone to share data from Headspace, a meditation app. He hasn’t missed a session in over 400 days, he added.

“I’ve decided to optimize time in front of the computer, because it’s so easy to get distracted. I order all my food online to the door. I don’t spend any time grocery shopping because I think it’s a waste of time,” Advani said. He added, “I try to live in a ‘bunker’ as much as possible.”

He said he believes the key to his success has been limiting the number of things he focuses on. He doesn’t read every news story on the value of bitcoin or pay close attention to its rise and fall.

Instead, Advani said he reads the latest research on the underlying technology and possibilities of cryptocurrencies and tries to map where they’re headed. He doesn’t recommend investing in cryptocurrencies for everyone — unless they’re willing to dig into the white papers like he has.

“Only put in what you can afford to lose,” Advani said.

Disclosure: The author owns small amounts of bitcoin and Ethereum.

This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com