Efe Kelemci — better known on YouTube as Crypto Kid — is facing a pretty wild decision for an 18-year-old. Should he blow almost a million dollars on a sports car, or hodl?
“I’m thinking, if this bull market is coming to an end, then maybe taking profit into a nice Ferrari could make sense just for passion,” the Dubai-based crypto content creator and entrepreneur tells Magazine.
Before you roll your eyes, the teenage crypto millionaire swears it’s about admiring the sports car’s beauty, not flexing like a stereotypical flashy crypto bro.
“I feel as though I’m a little more of an old soul,” he says, explaining he usually prefers to spend on experiences with family. “I’ve understood quickly that materialism isn’t what gives you happiness,” he adds.
Whether Kelemci caves and buys the Ferrari or not, the fact he even has the option is a testament to how far he’s come. Kelemci has pulled in millions of views on YouTube since launching his own YouTube channel as a 14-year-old in December 2021, and millions more as a co-host on The Moon Show with Carl Runefelt, aka Carl Moon, who’s also a co-founder of the Crypto Kid brand.
Efe Kelemci had a tough time in high school
But it hasn’t all been a smooth ride for the 18-year-old, who only graduated high school in June. He says he used to get teased for being a crypto geek.
“I got bullied a lot, and I was spending a lot of time in class, just in the corner,” Kelemci says, explaining that it only got worse when one of his classmates discovered his YouTube channel in the early days and word spread fast.
“I was never the cool kid in school, like I was never that guy. I was just sort of the geek, the dork, you know, in the library, researching crypto,” he says.
But things have started to change. “When the content got better, and then when you become, quote, unquote, more successful, then people start appreciating you, respecting you,” he says.
“People started showing you attention, and you became the cool kid involuntarily,” he adds.
Will the Ferrari make it onto Kelemci’s social media?
Magazine asks whether Kelemci will show off the Ferrari on social media, maybe as a big middle finger to the bullies? He says he might, but not for that reason.
“I’ll make content about it just because I enjoy the car, not for any other purpose,” he says.
It might sting a little to hear that an 18-year-old can afford a better car than you, but you can’t fault Kelemci’s work ethic.
He says he gets to the office around 9 am and stays there until midnight, six days a week.
“Saturday is the only day that I try not to do anything crypto. And then starting Sunday afternoon, I start working again,” he explains.
Who is Efe Kelemci?
Kelemci has been making crypto content since December 2021, when he was just 14 years old. He first discovered cryptocurrency at the age of 12, after saving up $1,000 from voice acting gigs.
“I wanted to learn how I could take this $1,000 that I made from voice acting, and, you know, invest and grow that money,” he says.
He stumbled across Real Vision founder Raoul Pal’s videos online.
“He was talking about Ethereum. Ethereum was like, $400 I think, when I first saw that video, and he was talking about how it goes to many, many thousands of dollars,” he says.
At first, Kelemci thought the numbers were coming out of thin air, but then learned about technical analysis and went down the rabbit hole.
He got his dad to open a crypto exchange account with him, and the rest is history. However, he wasn’t content with just watching YouTube videos; he wanted to be an actual part of the crypto industry.
Davinci Jeremie never replied to Kelemci’s Instagram DM
When he saw popular Dubai-based crypto influencers like Davinci Jeremie and Tone Vays posting about meetups in Dubai, he figured, Why not attend one. At 13, Kelemci asked his parents to take him along so he could see what the crypto world looked like in real life.
“I remember texting Davinci on Instagram. Was like, ‘Hey, man, and I’m 13. I know it is your event? Are you guys gonna allow me?’ He didn’t reply, but I went, and it was cool,” he laughs.
It turned out to be a great decision. Being the youngest actually worked in his favor:
“Because I was the youngest, you know, out of the crowd, there were a lot of people who wanted to meet these guys, but because I was younger, they gave me extra care.”
He recalls two crypto influencers specifically, James Crypto Guru and Tones Vays, who provided him with loads of their content to review and revise and a few months later, encouraged him to start his own channel.
“They just said, Hey, dude, you like acting, you like theater. You like being on screen. Why don’t you start your own YouTube channel?” he explains.
So he did. At first, he tried to figure out everything on his own, experimenting and learning by doing. But things really took off when he met Carl Runefelt.
“He [Runefelt] said, Hey, you know, I’ve done this. I’ve been doing this since 2017. You’re very young. Why don’t I help you build your brand, and why don’t we do this together? So he essentially became a co-founder,” he recalls.
Runefelt helped coach him and grow the brand, and now the two are closer than ever, even co-hosting a show.
Kelemci credits a lot of his success to Runefelt, describing him as the most inspiring person he has ever met.
Will The Crypto Kid’s name last forever?
But the obvious question stands…what happens when The Crypto Kid isn’t exactly a kid anymore?
Turns out, Kelemci’s already got that part figured out, too.
“My vision for the brand is to sort of make it evolve into almost a Coin Bureau for the younger generation,” he says.
“I want Crypto Kid to be the platform they go to to learn everything, A to Z. So that’s what I want the brand to evolve toward,” he explains. Whether he’ll still be front and center down the track, he’s not so sure.
“I would probably just take a little bit of a step back, maybe,” he says.
“I am Crypto Kid, but maybe in the future, it will just evolve into a bigger media company,” he says.
And who knows, Kelemci might not even stay in crypto. He still has dreams of chasing his childhood passion of becoming a successful actor.
Ciaran Lyons
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