“Risky” approach to property ownership pays off for 23-year-old Australian

It is often said that bricks and mortar make the best investments. But these days, having the wherewithal to buy is beyond many younger investors, especially in Australia.

Not so for 23-year-old Australian Loi Nguyen, who just bought a $314,000 apartment in Brisbane using the proceeds from crypto investment.

According to the Queensland resident, he started his investment journey almost five years ago.

After investing a few hundred dollars in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and traditional stocks in 2017, his interest in crypto increased during his university days. As a student of economics, he learned about inflation and saw that Bitcoin is deflationary. This focused his attention even more.

Dollar-cost average strategy led to property purchase

He adopted a dollar-cost average strategy investment and diversified his cryptocurrency portfolio, especially during the bear market of 2018.

As COVID-19 began to hit the traditional finance markets, he found his crypto portfolio grew. Within a few months, he had reached his goal of owning 1 BTC.

“I’ve always wanted to own my own property to be able live in it,” Mr. Nguyen told news.com.au. “Cryptocurrency allowed me to do that earlier. I recognize I took on a lot of risks,” he admitted.

He has always been interested in property, and when BTC reached its all-time high last Nov, he sold just under half of his portfolio to raise the $31,400 needed for a deposit.

The property he bought, a one-bedroom apartment in Brisbane, required $62,735 for the deposit, and he was able to raise about half of that money through crypto.

Australia sees greater crypto adoption

Nguyen is just one of over 800,000 Australians who have taken to crypto investment. While the government is yet to regulate the industry, its so-far light-touch approach has helped grow adoption. The tax authorities in Australia claimed that more than 100,000 citizens paid taxes on crypto in 2021.

The Australian Cyber Security Industry Advisory Committee recently released a study highlighting crypto-related opportunities in the country. 

And it’s expected that regulations will be necessary to ensure safe adoption in the future.