A family-of-four who relied on Centrelink to get by claim they have turned their lives around and are now completely debt-free – all thanks to Bitcoin.
Ryan Tate had been forced to jump between jobs across Western Australia to ensure his daughter could attend school and partner stay at home with their youngest child.
The 39-year-old admits that for a long time he struggled as bills piled up and he had to rely heavily on Centrelink payments to supplement his income.
That was until September last year when Mr Tate began investing in Bitcoin.
Now just five months on, he has told Daily Mail Australia how his life has changed as he regularly makes up to $2000 a day – with hopes of being a millionaire by the end of 2018.
Ryan Tate (left) has gone from relying on Centrelink to support his family (pictured) to making as much as $9,000 a day by investing in Bitcoin
Mr Tate (pictured with fiance Anna) said he has almost completely cleared his debts in under six months through his Bitcoin profits
‘It’s been incredible really. Just seven weeks after I started I was able to go part-time in my salesman job with a fitness company,’ Mr Tate said.
‘I’ve got a young daughter and an older step-daughter and we were struggling big time financially surviving on just my wage plus Centrelink.
‘So I decided to put some money into Bitcoin, it was just a bit over $900, and now I have close to four bitcoin.
‘I’m making a minimum $2,500 a week and have even had days where it’s been up to $9,150.’
Mr Tate, who is engaged to his partner Anna, said while some who invested in crypto currency wanted to ‘get rich quick’, his goal is completely different.
Having been so poor that at times he was unable to afford a coffee, he fitness lover claims his past has brought a sense of perspective to his new found wealth.
‘We’ve struggled so bad… I was jumping from job to job every few months, from cray fishing to manual labour in the mines and fixing air conditioners in in the Pilbarra,’ Mr Tate said.
‘It has changed our life. I no longer need to work but I still do so two days a week in the same job I was doing before.
Mr Tate said he was so poor that at times he was unable to afford to buy a coffee, something he said was incredibly embarrassing
While some have invested in Bitcoin in an effort to ‘get rich quick’, Mr Tate (far left) said his goal was to be wealthy enough to be able to take his family and parents (pictured) on stress-free holidays
‘It makes turning up a lot easier when I have often made thousands in my sleep.
‘For us it’s not about Ferraris and yachts, it’s about being able to say to ‘my mum and dad: “Let’s go to Hamilton Island for the week and I’ll pay”.’
Having worked as a cleaner prior to her fiance’s Bitcoin success, Mr Tate said Anna is now able to work as an author from home.
But he said by far his proudest day was when she was able to walk into Centrelink to ask them to stop sending their weekly payments.
‘After we started doing well Anna was quite conscious of not wanting Centrelink and so she walked into their office and said: “Stop paying me please”,’ Mr Tate said.
The price of Bitcoin has fluctuated over the recent months, peaking at more than AUD$20,000 before dropping recently to AUD$14,000
The father-of-two said by far his proudest day was when Anna was able to walk into Centrelink and ask them to stop sending their weekly payments
‘I think they nearly fell off their chairs, no one has ever walked in there and said that.
‘We’d literally gone through times where I couldn’t afford to have a coffee and we had budgeted down to the last dollar.
‘So it’s a major change for us but we’re not really celebrating yet, we’re paying off our credit cards and school debts and we’ve just put new tyres on the car.
‘It’s a big goal but I’d like to be making $1million a year. It’s a bit embarrassing to say that considering where we’ve come from, but I guess it’s also pretty amazing.’