In the age of smartphones and social media, there are many ways to keep secrets from your partner. But deciding to start an entire TikTok channel promoting what you do is probably a good way to get caught.
This is what happened to Aaron, better known as ‘CryptoNoobUK’ on the video sharing platform. “One day I caught her wife talking about cryptocurrencies on TikTok. She was completely shocked. She asked me, ‘Is this you? and i owned it.
Despite his background in finance, Aaron hadn’t invested much in crypto until 2021, when he invested around £500. It was a difficult time for him and his wife as his autistic son had just been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It progressed rapidly and required six rounds of chemotherapy.
“At the time, my wife and I were having a lot of sleepless nights. “I also started browsing just to distract myself. Her ‘For You’ page was full of people singing and dancing, but mine was a little different and full of more factual content.” was. ”
After seeing some content on “side jobs” and earning some cash on the side, he discovered that traders are making thousands of dollars through buying and selling cryptocurrencies and things like Bitcoin. In the past, Aaron has tried dropshipping (selling cheap goods in bulk from abroad) and he has tried to make money from eBay deals, but he doesn’t have time to make much money or focus on his family. I noticed However, as far as research is concerned, cryptocurrencies appeared to offer much better returns.
“I didn’t really know anything about it,” he says. “But when I started learning about it, I thought it was going to be a big deal, and I went deeper and deeper into it. It felt like an adventure.”
Aaron has mild OCD, he says, which makes him easily obsessed with new things. I’ve come to investigate. “I jumped into the deep end of cryptocurrency. I joined a lot of groups on TikTok and Discord and started putting money there,” he says.
Aaron’s family was a typical working family, with little savings and most of his and his wife’s salary going straight to monthly expenses. Without telling her, he started investing £50 to £100 of her in crypto every month. “All the while, her wife just thinks I spend a lot of time on apps,” he says. “We had separate bank accounts and the bills were paid so it was fine.”
As the weeks passed, Aaron found that his investments were performing very well, even though some cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, were performing very poorly.
Without telling his wife, he started making his own TikTok videos in June 2021. In it, he talked about what he discovered during his trading and was invited to several closed groups that run so-called “pre-sales”, early releases of new crypto coins and other products.
“My wife had no idea what I was doing, nor was she interested,” he explains. “Not that I was hiding what I did, but we are very independent about what we do with our money. But I never really mentioned it to her. is not.
One night in the spring of 2021, Aaron’s wife was browsing TikTok every night when she suddenly saw a video of Aaron talking to his followers about cryptocurrencies. By this time, he had invested in it and had been making videos for five months.
“She was completely taken aback,” he explains. “She didn’t understand it, she didn’t understand cryptography at all. Her first comment was, ‘We can’t afford this.’ I was quite upset, worried that I was being used for ringing and fraud. ”
Luckily for the couple, Aaron was able to reassure her that he knew what he was doing and hadn’t spent a lot of money yet. If I didn’t, I would be wasting my money on other things,” he says. “And I told her I could get good returns. I’m an investor, not a gambler.”
Aaron was right after all. He invested $400 (£329) in a particular cryptocurrency product called Onino, and when he sold his three-quarters of his holdings, he incurred a payout of £8,000. “Everyone was happy and her wife was very understanding after that,” he jokes.
It devoted half of its earnings to family vacations, and invested the other half in “more solid investments,” including more well-known and established products like Ripple, ICP and Polkadot. His aim was to build a nest egg for his family and secure a savings buffer for the future.
Today, Aaron’s wife is involved in all his cryptocurrency activities and supports his endeavours. The couple are currently holding around £4,000 in crypto after a “substantial withdrawal” and some bumps given the current bear market for many products.
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“She participated in an educational cycle about what cryptocurrency is and now moderates and discusses it on a Discord channel I run,” he explains. But she was also keen that I wouldn’t invest any more money because I’m addicted to the project because of her OCD. She has been a firm supporter of me. ”
After the adventure, Aaron realizes that he took risks with what little money his family had. “For most people, my investment may not seem like a lot, but for a working family with three children, it’s a lot,” he adds. Given what we were going through at the time, my wife wants our lives to be as stress free as possible. ”
With his financial situation stable and his son in remission for over a year, the future looks a little more secure for Aaron and his family.
Stories like Aaron’s are becoming increasingly common, experts warn.
Mike LaCorte is the CEO of Conflict International. Conflict International is a specialized intelligence and security agency that helps people and businesses track their assets.
The company said it “has seen an increase in inquiries regarding individuals fearing that partners may have invested co-funds in risky crypto assets without buy-ins or authorization.”
LaCorte adds that there has been a significant increase in clients going through a divorce who suspect their ex is hiding assets in digital wallets and want to know if this is the case.
“Ultimately, the growth of cryptocurrencies is a game changer for complex and expensive divorce litigation, and some individuals avoid full financial disclosure, these types of assets are fair game. I believe,” he explains.
Boodle Hatfield family attorney Harriet Errington also confirmed a “dramatic increase” in the number of hidden crypto cases she has worked on, with about 25-30% of the company’s cases. has been implicated in some cases. road.
“The very nature of cryptocurrencies attracts investors who seek anonymity and are ready to accept some degree of risk in their approach to investing,” she adds. “The increasing use of such assets by parties embarking on divorce proceedings is not a big surprise.”
“The two main hurdles in these cases are, first, proving that the asset actually exists, and second, the value of the asset, which can fluctuate wildly in the market.
“It is because of this rapid growth and volatility that spouses who hide their assets often claim that they are not worth disclosing when investing.”
