Headline, June 11 2021/ ''' '' DOGECOIN -STUDENTS- DOGMATIC '' '''

''' '' DOGECOIN -STUDENTS-

 DOGMATIC '' '''

'' RECORD STUDENTS LOAN DEBT ! '' : And Dogecoin looks like : ''Hey guys, what's up?'' WHAT explains Dogecoins durability then? Last February, when Gauber Contessoto decided to invest his life savings in Dogecoin his friends had deep concerns.

Their skepticism was warranted. After all, Dogecoin is a joke - a digital currency started in 2013 by a pair of programmers who decided to spoof the cryptocurrency craze by creating their own virtual currency based on a meme about a Doge, a talking Shiba Inu puppy.

And investing money in obscure cryptocurrencies has, historically, been akin to tossing it onto a bonfire.

In February, after reading a Reddit thread about Dogecoins potential, Mr. Contessoto decided to go all in. He maxed out his credit cards, borrowed money using Robinhood's margin trading feature and spent everything he had on the digital currency - investing about $250,000 in all.

Then, he watched his phone obsessively as Dogecoin became an Internet phenomenon whose value eclipsed that of blue-chip companies like Twitter and General Motors.

But he is also emblematic of a new kind of hyper-online investor who is winning by applying the skills of the digital attention economy - sharing memes, cultivating buzz, producing endless streams of content for social media - to the financial markets.

''Memes are the language of the millennials,'' Mr. Contessoto said. ''Now we're going to have a meme matched with a currency.''

There's no doubt that Dogecoin mania, like GameStop mania before it, is at least partly attributable to some combination of pandemic era boredom and the eternal appeal to get-rich quick schemes.

But there may be more structural forces at work. Over the past few years, soaring housing costs, record student loan debt and historically low interest rates have made it harder for some young people / students to imagine achieving financial stability by slowly working their way up the career ladder and saving money paycheck by paycheck, the way their parents did.

Instead of ladders, these people are looking for trampolines - risky, volatile investments that could either result in a life-changing windfall or send them right back to where they started.

Mr. Contessoto is a prime case study. He makes $60,000 a year at his job now - a decent living, but nowhere near enough to afford a home in Los Angeles, where the median home costs nearly $1 million.

Strange as his investment thesis might seem, it's hard to argue with the results. Even after a current crash following Mr. Musk's appearance on ''Saturday Night Live'', a dollar invested in Dogecoin on Jan 1 would be worth $203 today, much more than a comparable investment in Bitcoin, Ethereum or any stock in S&P 500.

Dogecoin's stratospheric rise has also fueled plenty of grumbling among cryptocurrency buffs, who see it as a tacky shadow that overshadows more serious uses of cryptocurrency.

He imagines that newbies investing cryptocurrency for the first time might gravitate toward something fun and recognizable and that Dogecoin might eventually become a kind of on-ramp to the larger world of virtual money.

''I feel like eventually we're all going to be buying and selling things with memes, and Dogecoin is going to lead the way,'' he said.

''I feel like those experts on TV, the older generation of old money and wealth, they try to scare people into staying safe so nobody gets too rich,'' he told me.

His new motto, he said, is ''scared money don't make money.''

Many things about Mr. Contessoto's investing philosophy would turn a traditional financial adviser's stomach.

But the wildest of all is that despite his spectacular gains, he has not yet cashed out his Dogecoin wealth. He thinks the currency price will continue to rise, and he doesn't want to miss out on future profits by selling too soon.

"He does plan to sell 10 percent of his stake next year, once his earnings will be classified as long-term capital gains and taxed at a lower rate.''

Instead, he is branding himself as a Dogecoin expert, adopting nicknames Ike ''the Dogefather'' and  ''Slamdoge Millionaire'' and making YouTube videos promoting Dogecoin to others.

Of course, as with any volatile investment, there is a real chance that Mr. Contessoto's Dogecoin holdings could lose most or all of their value., and that his dream of homeownership could again be out of reach.

Already, the price of Dogecoin has fallen nearly 50 percent from its all time high, shaving hundreds of thousands off Mr. Contessoto's portfolio.

But gamblers rarely leave the table the first time they lose, and Mr. Contessoto's commitment to ''HODLing'' an acronym by cryptocurrency traders that stands for ''hold on for dear life'' - is buoying him through the recent market turbulence. 

Last week, he posted a screenshot of his cryptocurrency trading app, showing that he'd bought more. And then, on Thursday, when the value of his Dogecoin holding fell to $1.5 million, roughly half of what it was at the peak, he posted another screenshot of his account on Reddit.

''If I can hodl, you can HODL!'' the caption said. Dogecoin is a joke. His riches are not.

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Students, Mavericks, Cryptocurrencies and the Market, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Kevin Roose.

With respectful dedication to the Students of America, leading in total support on Sam Daily Times : ''The Voice Of The Voiceless'' and Global Founder Framers, and then Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

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