A B.A. VIA BITCOIN
Students use crypto to pay tuition
College tuition can be a tough nut to crack.
Students in pursuit of their dreams often rely on hard work and student loans to get them through the lean years, when they have to pay for college and living expenses.
But some New York Unversity students are paying for their tuition while avoiding the drudgery of waiting on tables in Greenwich Village.
Take Konig Chen, for example. The 22-year-old, who was raised in Brazil and went to high school in Taiwan, says he has used the proceeds of his bitcoin investments to pay for a full four-year course of study at the school.
Like many cryptocurrency investors, Chen started out small, betting around $5,000 on the currency in February 2017, when it was fetching around $1,200. Adding $80,000 over the summer to his investment as the currency started to skyrocket, by the end of last year his wallet was worth enough for him to take out $200,000.
“I started out as an equity investor,” says Chen, recounting how he met up with Brandon, a fellow NYU student who had developed an algorithm that is supposed to be able to predict the performance of bitcoin and other cryp- tocurrencies. He credits Brandon and his algorithm with having made around $300,000 for him over the past year.
Leo Tulchin, a 21-year-old NYU junior, says h
e met up with Brandon when the two were rooming together in 2016. His friend, who keeps a low profile and insists on going by only his first name, was majoring in neuroscience at the time but has since dropped out to pursue high finance.
“I originally gave Brandon $400, but after it turned to $600 over the next few days, I gave him enough to buy a bitcoin for $1,400,” he recounts.
Tulchin and Brandon have since partnered on a venture called Trace Capital, which manages around $300,000 on behalf of some 15 fellow NYU students and friends and family. He says he and his friend have already received buyout offers for their Trace algorithm, but they are holding firm and spreading out their crypto investments among bitcoin, litecoin, etherium and other assets.
“We like to stay as diversified as possible,” Tulshin says.
“We really believe in this thing,” he adds. “Brandon and I are working together to incorporate into a cryptocurrency hedge fund. For now, we’re not taking a piece of things but just helping out friends and family.”
“There’s been a pretty good groundswell of enthusiasm, and not just from young people,” he adds.
Tulchin went to college at first to study media and writing, but admits that the heady financial experience of the past year may have changed all that. “I like trading,” he says. “But on the other hand, I’m 21 years old, and I really have no idea what I want to do.”
Chen, for his part, went to NYU to study hospitality and leisure management.
“The trend is that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will go up for now, but I don’t plan to be around when it goes down,” he says. “After making all this money I can’t see myself being the manager of a hotel. My plan is to cash out and buy a resort property.”