Lamborghini sales have indeed been boosted by the cryptocurrency community’s obsession with the Italian supercar — but is that really all investors should aspire to achieve?
When Lambo?
As noted by Business Insider, rich individuals in Silicon Valley don’t generally flaunt their wealth — instead favoring a more casual, humble, and work-focused approach. That’s not the case with the newfound ‘crypto-rich,’ however.
In a young industry full of newfound bag-holders looking who bought high and sold low during the epic bull-run and subsequent collapse over the last five months, the words “When Lambo?” have been sarcastically (and seriously) asked on virtually every cryptocurrency-related social media thread one can possibly find.
Though most users asking that question will never get behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, plenty of cryptocurrency investors have struck it rich by getting involved with the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and others early on — which has, in turn, helped boost sales of the much sought after Italian supercar.
Now Lambo!
As reported by Lamborghini, 2017 proved to be another record year for the luxury automobile maker. The company delivered 3,815 vehicles last year, marking seven straight years of positive sales growth.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than a few of those automobiles have been purchased with cryptocurrency.
Pietro Frigerio, the dealer principal and general manager at Lamborghini Newport Beach in Costa Mesa, California, told CNBC’s Make It that Lamborghini sales spiked when Bitcoin reached all-time highs in December 2017, saying:
We went from one, maybe two transactions a month from 2013 until 2016, and in [December 2017] alone we had over 10 transactions.
One particularly famous Lamborghini buyer is Peter Saddington, a 35-year-old coder living in Atlanta, who became internet famous after purchasing a 2015 Lamborghini Huracan, worth $200,000, with 45 bitcoins — which he purchased for less than $3 per bitcoin in 2011. Saddington remarked to Yahoo Finance:
Buying the Lambo with bitcoin is proof it can be used for real transactions, buying really cool stuff. It’s not only used by criminals.
Really? Lambo?
Not everyone in the cryptocurrency space is so keen on Lamborghini purchases as a means of flaunting one’s newfound wealth.
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin — who recently contributed to a $1 million donation in OmiseGO (OMG) tokens to refugees living in poverty — once lambasted ‘#WhenLambo’ cryptocurrency investors on Twitter.
If all that we accomplish is lambo memes and immature puns about "sharting", then I WILL leave.
Though I still have a lot of hope that the community can steer in the right direction.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 27, 2017
In a statement regarding Buterin’s and OmiseGO’s donation to impoverished refugees, the collective wrote:
The crypto economy has grown immensely over the last year, bringing a great deal of wealth to many people and organizations within the ecosystem. In part we simply see an exciting opportunity to share that wealth. We hope the fortunes made in the crypto space will lead not to extravagant lifestyles but to extravagant generosity.
Though we’re not one to tell people how to spend their money, don’t expect to find ‘When charity?’ questions to be asked by eager Redditors on the Verge subreddit anytime soon.
What do you think about the cryptocurrency community’s desire to buy, above all things, Lamborghinis? Do you think cryptocurrency-generated wealth could be better served? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, Pixabay, and Twitter/@VitalikButerin.