As a young man, becoming successful played an important part of Ray’s get-up-and-go, his motivational plan to conquer the world and make money. Yes, he was obsessed with being rich!
As a teenager, he got into drug peddling i.e., vending amphetamines to make a quick buck. He got so good at it that regularly he would rake in $5,000 a day. His grandfather, always supported his endeavors, and even secured Ray a quarter of a million-dollar loan using his home as collateral.
Bitconned is a new documentary that goes inside the cryptocurrency craze of the late 2010s and unravels the story of Centra Tech, a crypto company dreamt up by a couple of South Florida hustlers with a knack for Photoshop and a penchant for living large.
It’s a must watch, especially for those heavily into crypto like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, or more importantly for any other IPO. In the case of Centra Tech it wasn’t traded on the Stock Exchange, but its offer secured cryptocurrency believers into parting with millions of dollars of what could be considered early seed capital, in the belief that they would become richer.
The bottom line is Centra Tech was a way for crypto holders to spend their money with a smart credit card anywhere they went. This opportunity was too good to miss. Many fell for the scam which promoted Visa as the credit company substantiating the payment method. Incidentally, Visa denied any knowledge of Centra Tech.
The co-founder of Centra Tech Sohrab Sharma, aka "Sam Sharma, an ICO that raised more than $25 million in 2017, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison. The Centra Tech ICO was one of the most high-profile ICOs of that year and was promoted by boxer Floyd Mayweather and musician DJ Khaled.
You couldn’t make it up if you wanted. This was cash in the bag for young Ray who actually got away with it from being convicted based on his FBI informant strategy. The real-life documentary is a worthwhile watch!
Have a great day!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Amphetamines (n) = a synthetic, addictive, mood-altering drug, used illegally as a stimulant and legally as a prescription drug to treat children with ADD and adults with narcolepsy. "The amphetamine put him on a high for an hour."
Collateral (n) = security, surety, warranty, guarantee, insurance, indemnity, deposit
Rake in (phrasal verb) = something. (informal) to earn a lot of money, especially when it is done easily. The movie raked in more than $300 million. She's been raking it in since she started her new job.
Dreamt (v) = fantasized, visualized, imagined, fancied, daydreamt, envisaged, hallucinated, thought, day dream
IPO (abb) Initial Public Offering. When a private company first sells shares of stock to the public, this process is known as an initial public offering (IPO). In essence, an IPO means that a company's ownership is transitioning from private ownership to public ownership.
ICO (abb) = An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a crowdfunding event to raise money for a new cryptocurrency asset, company, or venture. You've heard about Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), which is when a company's stock goes public.