The hackers that were really rappers and job security

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If it is your first time here or you want to binge-read past letters, here are all of them.📰

These are the highlights of the past week!

1/ There is nothing better than starting your day with a hilarious conspiracy.

Here is the story of how two hackers stole 4 Billion in Bitcoin 💰 and got arrested by the FBI.

In 2016, a cryptocurrency exchange was hacked and 4.5 Billion dollars (in Bitcoin) went poof.

The authorities were watching in awe the masterminds that hacked the exchange and were using algorithmic trading programs, dark pools, chain hopping and all these extremely sophisticated technics in order to elude the tight grasp of justice.

But all of a sudden, these hackers started buying NFTs, $500 Wallmart cards and posting on Tik Tok hilarious videos. And of course the most epic video you can imagine.

Let us recap: a super highly technological group of hackers, posts cringe-worthy videos, goes to hide in New York, knows from November that are under investigation (but doesn't seem to care) and they get hacked by the FBI because they kept the keys to their 4 Billion dollars IN DROPBOX.

If you have watched the links above, you can see there is no chance that these people are even capable of using a pen so hacking crypto-exchanges and taunting FBI is out of their reach.

Lesson to learn:

Being wealthy and unknown is better than rich and famous

2/ Switching gears! In this week's video, I talk about five mistakes that every Entrepreneur does - and obviously I have done in the past. But that's how you learn! I am going to do a series with all the things I've learnt (talking to Silicon Valley VC, raising money, losing money etc) so make sure you subscribe to the channel!

💬 Please leave a comment on the video. I would love to know what you think.

3/ A lot of people tell me that they are not cut for Entrepreneurship. They want the financial security a company can provide. I can tell you that if I managed to build and run companies then anyone can do it. Seriously.

Financial security is a myth. You and only you can control your financial well-being.

Peloton decided to fire 2800 people in one go. But at least everyone got a free membership. Zoom fired 900 people over a ... Zoom call.

Lesson to learn:

Working for a company is trading your time for a 10% of your value.

4/ Guess who is going into the Metaverse? Apple! It seems a new VR headset will be released this or next year. Why you say?

Facebook knows that the days of web2 are numbered. People want more immersion, more connectivity. And 1 billion in revenue kind of proves that.

And Gucci just bought some land in the Metaverse.

Lesson to learn:

Most things seem silly until we fully understand them.

5/ On the other hand, it is always good to be aware that "what goes up, goes down". Tim O'Reilly who coined the term Web 2.0 talks about the crash that is going to inevitably come to the crypto space. Or he is just angry that we moved to web3 😀

Lesson to learn:

It's not about being right but being right at the right time.

See you next week.

-- Jon V (as in Victory) 🚀

- Thu 10 February 2022