When Carson Case, a computer science major, dropped out of the University of Nevada, Reno to pursue a crypto career in 2020, he didn’t have much of a plan. The then-sophomore just knew he didn’t want to waste any more time in college.
He found success as a freelancer using Solidity, a programming language for creating “smart” blockchain contracts, and made about $300,000 in two years.
“Crypto was often my go-to idea for anything — I liked it, and I understood it,” Case, 23, said. “I was high on bull-run optimism.”
In May 2022, he started his own decentralized finance, or DeFi, project. But it “fell flat on its face” a few months later, Case said, the same week that now-bankrupt lender Celsius Network collapsed. He recently quit his job at a Tesla Inc. factory in Nevada, and — despite it all — says he’s still optimistic about crypto.
“I’m looking to go back whenever I can,” Case said.
The opportunity may present itself soon with crypto on the rebound after almost two years of tumult.
Shortly after Case left college, the industry was savoring a big hurrah. Bitcoin reached an all-time high of almost $69,000 in November 2021, jumping more than 7,000% since the end of 2016 and thrusting the original cryptocurrency into the mainstream consciousness.
Then, one by one, crypto businesses fell like dominoes, from the collapse of stablecoin Terra in May 2022 to the crumbling of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX that November. Bitcoin ended 2022 at roughly $16,540. Many who lost, lost big, while others narrowly escaped unscathed.
Before the unraveling, Andrew Wang dropped out of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2021 after his second week of orientation to jump into nonfungible tokens. He discovered digital art during the pandemic, a lonely time for him, and was drawn to the technology’s robust online community.
Good Days, Bad Days
“There’s always going to be good days and bad days,” Wang, 25, said. “I’ve seen both, but what other industry in the world can open me up to everything life has to offer?”