Posting on a throwaway for obvious reasons.
In dollar terms, I’m almost a bitcoin millionaire. It feels good, but not because I can brag about the accumulated wealth, it’s more that the people who I told to invest whatever money they could afford to lose, back in early 2013, all told me I was an idiot. Those same people have now been humbled.
The story starts back in late 2012. A guy I was on head-nodding terms with at the gym, got talking to me in the changing room about one of the podcasts he was listening to. He was talking about how he loved his weed and had heard about the Silk Road and how the only way to buy drugs on it was using this new “virtual” currency called bitcoin. It was in November 2012 and the price was hovering around $10-$11. I thought to myself, I love my weed - and I remember from years and years ago, a company in Canada called bud mail, used to operate an online weed store. That’s where my thinking stopped - and I didn’t bother looking into it any further.
Acquiring my first coins In early Jan 2013 my mate had mentioned bitcoin to me, again - a big weed smoker and thought it’d be a good idea to grab a few coins and try it out for ourselves. We’re in the UK, and Coinbase wasn’t open for UK residents yet. The only way we could purchase bitcoins were on localbitcoins.com or bitstamp. We chose the latter, but had no idea what a SEPA transfer was. To be frank, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome in order to acquire bitcoin back then.
We had to use TransferWise to send our money to some bank in Estonia (I think?). The money arrived a few days later, and bam - we were able to purchase our first coins in March 2013 at $57 a pop. The next few days, the price continued to rise - until it got to about $230. This was heavily fuelled by the Cyprus Haircut. The other two mates who I’d bought these coins with, and who I shared the bitstamp account with wanted to sell. I didn’t. We decided that I would take my coins off the exchange, and they’d keep theirs together at bitstamp. It was at this stage that I was looking into bitcoin security.
Paper Wallets Trusty bitcoinpaperwallet.com taught me all I needed to know. I ran a few tests first with very small amounts. Sending some to paper wallets, and then sweeping those paper wallets so that I could trust that it all worked. It did.
Acquiring more knowledge, then more coins By now, I was deep into the rabbit hole, but I always felt it was important to invest as much (if not more) of my time into learning how bitcoin worked, and how to skill up on my bitcoin opsec. I should state, with bitcoin - you never stop learning. The beauty of this thing is it constantly evolves. As I got more comfortable with my knowledge, I bought more coins, still only ploughing in what I could afford to lose and not care about.
2013 High It was December 2013, and the price had reached ~$1200. The friends and family I’d told about it were all screaming at me to sell - “you’ve made more than 20x your investment”.
I told them the same thing then as I tell them now - that they didn’t understand that this was a new paradigm. This thing is going to change the world, and yes the price is volatile, but if you understand the fundamentals of bitcoin, and have even a tiny grasp of macro economics and how messed up the system was, it was obvious that bitcoin was born to absorb all of the endless money printing etc. Back then, money printing was nowhere near the scale we’ve seen in the past 12 months.
Bear market until late 2017 I had everyone telling me how stupid I was for not selling. After the 2013 high, we wouldn’t see the price exceed it’s previous ATH for another 4 years. Whilst everyone was telling me how stupid I was, I was continuing to buy. I was continuing to extol the fantastic qualities of bitcoin, and how it had previously had bull and bear cycles that was heavily influenced by the halved supply of coins every 4 years. They looked at me like I was talking a different language. They didn’t want to invest their time understanding how things worked. All they knew was that every single news outlet was saying that Bitcoin was for terrorists and criminals. I continued going to as many bitcoin meetups as I could. Listening to some of the bitcoin veterans live on stage. It was still very fringe back then, but I was lucky to speak to people such as Andreas Antonopolous, Gavin Andresen, Mike Hearn, Jeremy Allaire, Jameson Lopp, and others. Some of these people will be remembered for the wrong reasons, but at the time - it seemed all of them had good intentions for bitcoin. I still follow Andreas and Jameson, and genuinely think they're some of the most intelligent and visionary minds out there.
Christmas 2017 I remember it well. I was with my family out for dinner and the price was close to $20k. “I can’t believe you still haven’t sold”, they said. I blurted out the same mantra that I did back in 2013. I didn't sell.
2018 We all know how this year went. It wasn’t pretty, the few people who knew I had bitcoin thought I was silly for not selling. I knew in my heart of hearts I wasn’t. I stuck to the plan, and continued accumulating.
2019 - IVF Me and my wife had struggled trying to conceive. I won’t go into all the details but suffice to say, I don’t come from a particularly wealthy background. That’s not to say that I was a deprived kid - I wasn’t, but I certainly didn’t come from a wealthy background. In order for me and my wife to have our first child, it was becoming obvious that the only option left to us at this point was IVF. IVF was going to cost the best part of £30-£40k.
I’m a true hodler, but I felt that I had been extremely lucky to find bitcoin at the time I did, and so I’d sold a decent amount of coins to fund the IVF. Yes, I could have sold some in late 2017, and liquidated fewer coins to get to the amount I needed - but I didn’t know back then that we’d go down the IVF route.
2020 - No regrets In January 2020, our little baby boy was born. Our bitcoin baby. A baby, that I honestly don’t think we would have been able to have, had it not been for me stumbling across bitcoin and disregarding all of the naysayers along the way. He’s the light of our lives, and if bitcoin went to zero, I’d still be an absolute winner! At this point, I've cashed out about 3x of all the money I've put into bitcoin, and still have a sizeable portion of my coins left.
2021 It’s the first day of 2021, and whilst I’m not quite at $1m in terms of my btc holdings, I’m not far off, but better than that, the friends and family that told me to sell are no longer saying "why don’t you sell?", but asking how they can buy. I could be an arsehole about it, but that’s just not me. I continue to help anyone and everyone that shows any kind of interest in this.
The Future I think the next 24 months are going to be extremely exciting. I’m hoping to get to a point whereby me, my wife and my son can move into our forever home. I have plans for a 50% equity payment, leaving the rest of my coins to hopefully accumulate more value so that at a later stage, I can pay the rest of the mortgage off, and live a debt free life.
To conclude I never thought I’d accumulate the wealth I currently have. It’s still peanuts in terms of what some people in this world have gained (looking at you Bezos), but if it means that I can quit my job, to spend more time with my family, and putting my precious time into learning new things, being more charitable with my time and generally living life to the max - then I’ll be a very happy man.
Peace, love and good luck to all of you in the future.

Alright. Hear me out autists. We all know bears are gay. But with TSLA shares reaching an ATH of $816.99, it sure seems like its fundamentals are completely divorced from reality. And the media analysts have been pounding on TSLA for seemingly years now. So is this a good company to be a gay bear on? Or Nah? (edit: TSLA ATH now @ $884 lol)
 
On 7 Jan 2020, Royal Bank of Canada admitted that "There is no graceful way to put this other than to say we got TSLA's stock completely wrong" and upgraded TSLA from $339 to $700. And on 6 Jan 2020, Morgan Stanley upgraded their TSLA price target to $810 when just 18 months ago they announced their comically low price target of $10 (that's $2 post split) resulting in a massive rally. Did Morgan Stanley dive head first into WSB level 3 autism territory, or is there something that the uninitiated could be missing? Let's do a deep dive into Tesla the company and see if their stock really is in a bubble, or if there could be some substance behind the current insane rally.
 
 
The common FUD narrative among TSLAQ is that TSLA's $800+ billion market cap is now larger than the 10 largest auto manufacturers combined. (edit: Apparantly this is a common FUD talking point that is/was false. TSLA is/was nowhere near that level when it was touted around as so. Although it is undeniable that Tesla's market cap became more and more absurd throughout 2020)
 
Indeed, this is quite insane. Even without us autists doing complex calculations, a simple google search shows that they would have to sell around 65 million vehicles a year to be priced at that level. So how many vehicles did Tesla produce? Tesla announced on 2 January 2020 that they've sold a little shy of 500K vehicles for CY 2020 with plans to increase production by 50% YoY. This would ultimately bring them to 20 million vehicles produced by 2030.
 
20 mil by 2030. Although we all know the term "Elon Time", which refers to CEO Elon Musk casually announcing an estimate of a product and missing projected timelines by large margins, there seems to be some credibility to this statement. Back in 2014, Elon Musk gave an interview (2:28) where he stated "I feel comfortable that we'll be able to achieve at least half a million cars a year by 2020".
 
OK. So let's give him the benefit of the doubt. As a matter of fact, Tesla is actually building factories at breakneck speeds with construction literally running 24/7 and each of their large factories (Austin and Berlin) is said to be capable of producing up to 2 million vehicles a year. Giga Berlin which was an empty field 9 months ago is already close to finishing its outer construction layer. Obviously they plan to announce more factory constructions in the future as well. So they do seem to be on track to grow on average 50% YoY for now. But 20 million cars produced by 2030 is still massively shy of 65 million vehicles. Even with growth factored in, TSLA's stock valuation still seems insanely high. So what gives? The common explanation among the Tesla fanboys is that TSLA is a tech company, not an automotive company, so it should be valued just so.
 
So what is this mystical technology the fanboys speak of, and how is it being deployed in terms of profitability for Tesla? Well, it turns out that Tesla has three main technological advantages and two main revenue streams that might put them leaps and bounds ahead of competitors.
 

1. Autonomous Driving - Tesla is the current market leader in vehicle autonomy. It has over 3 billion miles logged as of April 2020. The next industry leader Waymo (owned by google) has approximately 20 million miles logged. One thing for sure is that no company will be able to catch Tesla in terms of pure data advantage within the next 4-5 years. And when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, data is king. This could be the bread and butter of Tesla. Tesla already charges customers $10k per vehicle to enable full self driving in which 25% of their customers choose the option. However, Tesla hasn't taken full profits on their books yet due to it still being in beta mode. Once they solve autonomy, an over-the-air (OTA) software update will be sent out just like how your iPhone updates and bam! now you have a self driving vehicle. Let's say Tesla charges $2k a year for a self driving vehicle that can also function as an autonomous uber driver which will help you pay down your vehicle or self driving subscription service. That's like selling two iPhone pros per every customer every year. And customers on their robotaxi network will also have to share 20% profits with Tesla. Think about this. The highest cost of ride hailing are for hourly wages. If no human is required to drive that vehicle, the cost of the ride hailing service will become insanely cheap. So cheap to the point that many people who live in cities will feel like they no longer need to own a vehicle and just call a robo taxi. People already do this in large cities! As this process accelerates, vehicles that don't have autonomy solved will lose market share dramatically every year. People who want cars will mainly want to buy a vehicle with an autonomous option, and people who don't care about owning a car will use robo taxis. If Tesla solves autonomy 4-5 years ahead of competitors, the entire auto industry will be disrupted by Tesla just like how the iPhone ended Blackberry and Nokia's dominance.
   
2. Vehicle Manufacturing - Tesla is an innovator when it comes to vehicle manufacturing technology, specifically robotics. Along with their insane factory automation process, they also have giga casters that mold car pieces quickly and efficiently that no other manufacturers have, and giant automated paint shops. This cuts down massively on labor and allows for quicker production while keeping margins high. Due to innovative technologies like these, it is estimated that Tesla's Shanghai Model 3 vehicles net around 30% profit margins, even after they've recently slashed their prices by 8%. Tesla recently slashed their Model Y price by 30% but still boast an astonishing 29% profit margin which is approximately 3 times the industry average. So even if robotaxi doesn't work out, they are still an industry leader by a large stretch in terms of profit margins. These margins will only increase after Giga Berlin is operational due to no longer having to ship vehicles across the Pacific to European customers.
   
3. Vertical Integration - Tesla is well known for its vertical integration. This is mainly due to having supply chain issues in the early days, but what this has enabled is agile production capability and larger profit margins. Due to this capability, Tesla improves components of their vehicles on the fly instead of the annual model release the traditional industry uses. Also, they don't have to share profits with suppliers or worry about constraints, delivery delays, or slow progress on contracts.
   
4. No Advertising & Dealerships - Elon Musk is a walking billboard. The media literally gives Tesla free advertisement every day. As production increases, Tesla might have to start advertising in the future. But for now it seems like Teslas are selling themselves. Tesla has literally sold 100% of the vehicles they've ever produced, and they have never advertised any of their vehicles. Also, they do not have to share profits with dealerships with direct-to-consumer sales. If their market dominance and technology superiority continues, it is bound to stay the industry leader just like apple did with its iPhones. And if they solve autonomy first which they seem on track to do so, what's more to say?
   
5. Regulatory Credits AKA Carbon Credits - This is one that TSLAQs love to bring up when it comes to Tesla profits. You see, a handful of US States enacted a law that requires manufacturers to sell a certain percentage of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) in their state which will earn them ZEV credits. If not, they will either have to pay a massive penalty fine, or buy ZEV credits from vehicle manufacturers who have plenty to spare. And Tesla has an overflow of ZEV credits laying around. So Tesla is literally getting paid by other vehicle manufacturers to build their vehicles. TSLAQs (incorrectly) state that the only reason Tesla makes a profit is because of regulatory credits. However, Tesla's ZEV credits only make up around 5% of their revenue (page 4, row 3) and it is slowly falling. No serious vehicle manufacturer will likely produce ICE vehicles in the year 2030 so ZEV credits fazing out is to be expected. Tesla vehicles are massively profitable as mentioned in bullet #2 even without the ZEV credits.
   

 
So we went over the main revenue streams of Tesla. And if all works out well, it seems likely that Tesla has a good chance of 'winning' if they maintain their market leadership. However, the competition is coming, right? We have our favorite EV players such as Nio, XPeng, Li, Rivian, BYD etc. Also the traditional ICE manufacturers VolksWagen has their ID.4, Ford has thier Mustang Mach-E, Audi has thier etron, Porche has their Tycan, and GM has the Chevy Bolt and 30 EVs planned for the future. It seems inevitable that these industry giants with their massive resources will overtake Tesla. Or will they?
 
 

Why the Competition is NOT Coming (Tesla's Moats):

 

1. Difficulties of creating an EV vs. Mass Production: Creating a shell of an EV or a prototype is extremely easy. If anything, Nikola has showed this to be true. Rivian seems to be having the same issue Tesla had when starting up where they had to constantly push back release dates due to how difficult it is to engineer and manufacture an EV. So designing a prototype is easy. Manufacturing an EV is another thing. But mass production is a whole different beast. It took Tesla well over 16 years to perfect their technology and mass produce their model 3 despite having the best engineers in the world working for them. Ever wonder why every single vehicle manufacturer has constantly been pushing back their EV production timelines? It's because EVs are difficult. Also to note is that no vehicle manufacturer other than Tesla has been able to achieve mass production in EVs. And until then, Tesla has no competition in the near horizon.
   
2. Supercharger network: Tesla has the largest charging network in the world by orders of magnitude and they will continue to grow. VW is a low trailing second in the market due to penalties in their dieselgate scandel and as a lucky maneuver, decided to build their electrify-america charging network. BTW, due to sunk costs, VW will likely be the only traditional ICE manufacturer that stands a chance of survival in the long run. Tesla owners barely get range anxiety like they used to back in the day. This is because it is easy to find a charging station even if they are going on a long trip with their map integration. However, you cannot say the same for the other EVs.
   
3. Lidar vs. Camera: Tesla's vehicles notoriously does not use lidar technology. Instead, they almost only rely on vision (cameras). There are three main reasons for this. (I.) Cameras are extremely cheap. Lidar is not. One of Waymo's vehicles are estimated to have cost over $250k back in a 2017 estimate. Although in recent years Waymo seems to have developed lidar hardware that costs 90% less at $7.5k, it is still ridiculously expensive compared to cameras without adding much value. Here is Elon Musk's explanation, massively paraphrased: "Cameras augmented with AI can do almost all the things that lidar does chiefly depth sensing. Human vision does not require a separate depth sensor, and the entire driving infrastructure is built with human vision in mind. Lidar is a fools errand." Instead, Tesla augments its self driving technology with radar and maps. (II.) Lidar technology is usually augmented with something called HD maps. This is extreme detailed mapping (to the centimeter level) that helps lidar depth sensors with navigation. However, the issue with HD maps is that the file sizes are obviously large. And when detailed maps need to be updated due to construction or whatever which happens everywhere, every day, an OTA update needs to be sent out. And how do you update a fleet of all your vehicles when nationwide full coverage of 5G isn't a thing? So vehicles like Waymos are extremely good at driving within their geo-fenced locations, until they leave the area. And then they are absolute crap at it. OTOH, vision-based self driving vehicles are initially bad at the task until they have sufficient data and then they can drive well in almost every situation even without it being connected to the network. (III.) Vision-focused self driving AI can be augmented with additional sensors such as radalidar afterwards, but the inverse does not work. To put it short, if your lidar sensors disagree on the information they see at the moment, its entire system cannot function.
   
4. Technological Dominance: Tesla's vertical integration and engineering produced innovative solutions such as the octovalve, heat pump, leadership in battery and vehicle efficiency, custom designed AI chips and an AI supercomputer server (Tesla Dojo) specifically made for autonomous driving advancement. No other company can come close to what Tesla is currently doing.
   
5. Misdirected Competition: Remember how we talked about ZEV credits? Well most ICE vehicle manufacturers only sell their vehicles in ZEV mandated states and nowhere else. They literally lose money when they sell their vehicles, or have to massively hike up their prices to make a profit even with tax credits, unlike Teslas. For this reason, they only make enough vehicles to make up for their ZEV credits. Naturally, one can assume the limits of effort gone into such vehicles. Now, let's talk about the EV start ups. I've already mentioned the massive growing pains they will have to reach mass production. However, the Chinese EV startups have one thing to their advantage - massive 5G infrastructure within China which will undoubtedly benefit automation, especially in the case of HD maps. However, this doesn't apply outside of China. To add to this, they do not produce in-house custom AI chipsets which is a massive hinderance in processing data. Tesla did this with Nvidia for a while and ultimately decided that they had to design their own chips because of the lackluster performance.
   
6. OTA Software Updates - A minor point, but Tesla has been designing their own software for years now. Well known to the public, Teslas update very frequently and with each update gets slightly better UI and performance. Yes - a software update allows Teslas to get better efficiency out of their vehicles. One can argue that any auto manufacturer can implement OTA software updates, but Tesla is leagues ahead at the moment with top notch software developers.
   
7. Talent Pool: Guess what the #1 company engineers want to work for is? That's right. Tesla. #2 is SpaceX. Try all they want, but the best engineers aren't going to want to work with Ford or GM.
   
8. "The Competition": I already mentioned the half-assedness of traditional ICE vehicle manufacturers but I wanted to bring up another point. One thing that traditional ICE manufacturers have weighing them down are their employees. Their ICE engineers don't translate well into a totally different EV drivetrain. There are sunk costs (equipment etc) that deal with ICE manufacturing processes. Also, Ford, GM, and VW all have unions, pension funds, and stockholders. What do you think their reaction will be when they decide to ditch the currently-profitable-but-soon-to-be-shrinking ICE vehicle component and transition into resource intensive EVs? That's right. They won't like it. The only solution is to half-ass it and slowly transition into EVs while trying to keep afloat their ICE vehicle component. With massive product line diversification and lack of focus, this is not going to be an easy transition. VW CEO Herbert Diess famously stated that "My goal for the future is clear: leading the Group into a sustainable and successful future. The global transformation in the industry will take roughly ten years, with or without Volkswagen." and tried to convince board members basically stating that VW will need to transition into EVs within 10 years or go bankrupt. Ultimately, Diess wasn't successful in achieving full cooperation of the board and had to compromise in his goals to a more gradual transition. The competition is NOT coming. Oh, and as for Waymo and Uber? Well Uber recently sold off their self-driving startup, and Waymo sunk a jaw dropping $3.5 billion for their operation. LOL. They are paying drivers to monitor their expensive "autonomous vehicles" while Tesla gets this done while making a profit. As of 2020, Waymo still only has 600 vehicles and has never left the bounds of Pheonix, AZ.
   

 
OK. So I'm sure I've missed some points but I think this paints a decent picture on why Tesla is considered the one and only market leader at the moment. Now let's go into...
 
 

Tesla's Disruptive Potentials:

 

1. The $25,000 EV: In Tesla's battery day announcement, Tesla projected that their battery technology will enable them to build a $25k vehicle in the future. According to projections using Wright's law, this seems to be plausible. Most think this will happen around 2023-4. Think of the disruption this will bring. EVs are well known for having lower maintenance cost vs. ICE vehicles due to not having as many moving parts. The true cost of ownership for a $25k vehicle will be vastly superior to a $20k ICE vehicle. Once this happens, ICE vehicle demand will fall through the roof. The only ICE vehicles being sold at high volume will be used vehicles. What happens to the traditional ICE manufacturers then? Tesla vehicles are already perceived to hold their value much better than other brands because of the overall feature it comes with.
   
2. Tesla Auto Insurance: Tesla collects massive amounts of data. They can easily profile their customers' driving patterns, check if they have self driving enabled, the route they drive etc. Currently Tesla vehicles are insured at a much higher premium vs. economic ICE vehicles. Once Tesla goes fully into the insurance business, traditional insurance companies will not be able to compete with them on price or margins. This is because the insurance business is based upon data on the customer and projections.
   
3. Solar City - Tesla's other business deals with solar panels, Tesla power walls, and their Autobidder software which sells the electricity that you generated back to the grid. Tesla currently offers the lowest solar panel price in the U.S. and moreover, takes 20% of the revenue generated from their autobidder software. Renewable energy is poised to grow. More than 50% annually is the current projection. And Tesla seems to be one of the industry leaders in this market as well.
   

 
 

Risks:

1. Failing autonomous driving: definitely a major risk as the current stock price is largely betting on this single technology to materialize. However, their current progress and the rate of improvement after rewriting their autopilot code seems promising.
   
2. Failing mass battery production (battery supply issues): Although Tesla is the largest producer of batteries in the world, they will need to produce more if they want to keep up with the current pace of expansion. This will be a major bottleneck for Tesla if they cannot solve this issue. As a solution, Tesla has reduced their reliance on copper and are said to be producing batteries with little to no copper. We shall see how this pans out.
   
3. Tesla is infamous for its poor Quality Control on their vehicles and slow/poor Customer Service. We shall see if time solves this issue.
   
4. Lack of Tax Incentives: Tesla's vehicles no longer provide Federal tax incentives to U.S. customers. However, they seem to be doing fine with over 80% EV marketshare in the U.S. alone. They're stealing market share from BMW, VW, Acura... you name it.
   
5. Elon Musk Death: Elon Musk has been able to achieve amazing engineering feats. If he dies, I'm sure a lot of the company's potential will go with it.
   

 
 

Alternative Battery Technology:

 

1. Solid State Battery - Quantumscape which is currently the leader in this sector has plans to enter mass production by 2024. We shall see if their battery technology turns out to be as efficient as Tesla's. If QS's SS batteries turn out to be superior to Tesla's, they might have to start purchasing from them.
   
2. Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) Battery - Likely not a good use for vehicles. Very low efficiency and wasteful vs lithium-ion batteries. Currently no infrastructure for HFC in place. Might be useful for freight shipping. Elon Musk famously stated that HFC's are "Fool Cells"
   

 
 

Tesla Future Products Lines:

1. Cybertruck: Insane profit margins, amazing performance. estimated production end of 2021 or 2022
   
2. Semi Truck: estimated production 2022 or later
   
3. Model S Refresh: Insane specs. Likely release is 2021
   
4. 2020 Roadster: Insane specs but surprise! The "2020 Roadster" renewal never happened and most are projecting 2022 or later
   
5. $25k EV: 'nuff said
   

 

TSLA Analysis:

 
TSLA Institutional Ownership: 62.85%
TSLA Insider Ownership: 5.21%
TSLA Fanboy Ownership: estimated 5%+
So there is a stable 70%+ of ownership that will not/cannot sell this stock, unlike PLTR which has only 12% institutional ownership and 63% insider ownership. This is the reason why I think the stock won't drop tremendously even when it tanks. There are plenty of people who are willing to snatch up more shares at a discount.
 
 
Why did TSLA shoot up so quickly in 2020: This is my personal opinion, but TSLA fans are known for doing deep research into the company. In the early days this was in forums such as the Tesla Motors Club where they shared their own research on revenue, projections, and potentials. Now we have YouTube and information dissemination has gotten easier. Interest in investing has skyrocketed in 2020. Stock market trading GLOBALLY has gotten easier via smartphone with apps such as Robinhood and the prosperity of the American stock market has no doubt attracted global retail investors. For years, Tesla's stock has been pushed down by FUD analysts. Paid by big oil and traditional ICE manufacturers? Or really that dumb not to do any DD and spread completely false information on a company that you are massively shorting. We might never find out. Retailers have caught onto Tesla's potential ahead of analysts this time. And as in Morgan Stanley and RBC's case, analysts have just been catching up on the future potential of Tesla to not make a further fool of themselves.
 
 
Future scenarios and Personal Opinion: Currently, Tesla holds over 18% of the global EV marketshare. As more EV players come into space, it might seem like Tesla is in danger of losing marketshare. Not everyone wants a Tesla and that is understandable. But as the overall pie is growing, Tesla, with their 50% YoY production increase plans (which is exponential growth), will likely remain a market leader sustaining their current 18% market share even in 2030 just like how the iPhone did. This is, of course, if they can keep up their growth.
 
Even if TSLA fails to develop their robo-taxi network technology, their full self driving subscription seems highly likely to materialize at the current pace albeit a lower revenue model.
 
Ultimately, do I think the current stock price is a bubble? Fuck yes I do, maybe by up to 20%. I'm not buying any more TSLA shares anywhere near this price. My FOMO was back when the stock price was $415 after doing my DD and this was with the intention to buy more shares even if the stock bottomed out. Well, it never bottomed because the S&P inclusion was announced shortly after I purchased it.
 
But if you ask my personal opinion, you gotta be a "buy high sell low" type top level autist if you're looking for short term gains and purchasing at this level. I'm looking at long term, slow moving, dead ass boring, Bitcoin HODLing, Warren Buffet style "time in market beats timing the market" boomer gains here. My next purchase will be whenever the stock price, if ever, bottoms out. However, just because I think TSLA is overpriced doesn't mean that I'm shorting this stock either.
 
Amazon was notoriously non-profitable or barely profitable until 2015 because they were reinvesting their profits into expansion. That is what Tesla is doing right now. Remember all the analysts who continuously warned investors for over a decade to stay away from AMZN because they are unprofitable? Well, I don't see any sane analysts parroting that narrative anymore. And then its stock price shot to the moon after they enabled profit mode. It's stock price nearly doubled due to the pandemic and I'm still not planning on shorting this stock even though the pandemic will likely go away in less than a year.
 
I don't know how TSLA will do in the short term. Nonetheless, I do believe that Tesla has the best chance among any auto maker out there to reach a $2-10+ trillion valuation within 10 years. So I'm just going to lean back and enjoy the show.
 
 
TL;DR: Tesla HAS NO COMPETITION. This is as if android wasn't developed until 4 years after the iPhone was released. Do NOT short or buy puts on TSLA. Although the current run seems absolutely insane, there is some substance to hold it up and possibly keep shooting up higher
 
 
Positions: TSLA shares @ $415 and a bunch more with an average price of $518. No calls because my wife's boyfriend did not permit.
 
 

Back of the Napkin Calculations

Warning: These are literally back of the napkin, pure crack fantasy calculations based on four factors:

1. Tesla will be able to increase production by 50% YoY until 2030 without fall in demand or issues scaling. As a side note, Toyota sells 10.5 million vehicles in a year so only time will tell if Tesla is able to sell 20 million vehicles a year.
   
2. ZEV credits will gradually diminish due to manufacturers switching to EVs.
   
3. Tesla will solve level 3 autonomy by 2022 and will charge customers $1k/yr. Tesla will have level 5 autonomy by 2026 and launch its robotaxi network by 2027 which it will then charge customers $2k/yr.
   
4. The robotaxi revenue is from the 20% profit sharing Tesla plans to do, but as far as the numbers go, I straight up pulled it out of my ass while referencing Uber's revenue and fudging numbers.
   

 

Year	Vehicles Produced	Vehicle Sales Revenue	ZEV Credits	Full Self Driving Revenue	Robotaxi Revenue	Total Revenue (Vehicle Related)	Notes
2019	367k	20.2 B	0.6 B	0.36 B (est)		21.6 B (est)	FSD early access (cost $8k, 1 time fee)
2020	500k	23.9 B (est)	1.5 B (est)	0.6 B (est)		26 B (est)	FSD early access (cost $10k, 1 time fee)
2021	750k	35.8 B	1.3 B	0.9 B (est)		38 B (est)	FSD at Level 2.5
2022	1.1 mil	53.7 B	1 B	1 B+		55.7 B	FSD at Level 3 (FSD subscription service - lower pricing model @ $1k/y)
2023	1.7 mil	80.6 B	0.7 B	2.7 B+		84 B
2024	2.5 mil	120 B	0.4 B	5.2 B+		125.6 B	FSD at Level 4
2025	3.8 mil	181 B	0.1 B	9 B+		190.1 B
2026	5.7 mil	272 B	-	13.7 B+		285.7 B	FSD at Level 5
2027	8.5 mil	408 B	-	30 B+	1 B	439 B	Robotaxi Launch (FSD subscription service @ 2k/y)
2028	12.8 mil	612 B	-	55 B+	5 B	672 B
2029	19 mil	918 B	-	93 B+	13 B	1 T
2030	20 mil	1 T	-	130 B+	20 B+	1.1 T

 
As you can see, I omitted R&D expenses, operating expenses etc., and haven't even attempted to calculate their net profit or factor in that Tesla's revenue might drop due to introducing cheaper variants. But this back of the napkin, crack infused revenue model shows that Tesla's potential can be gigantic. This is even without its other businesses like Solar City or Tesla insurance etc. Please... don't reference this anywhere because it is dumb math and I likely made some huge errors lol.
 
 
See also:

• ARK Invest's TSLA 2024 Price Target of $7,000 ($1500 post split) written back in Jan 2020.
  
• Ark Invest was widely mocked when they stated that their 2022 price target was $700-$4,000 ($140-$800 post split) back in 2018 after Elon Musk sent out his now infamous "funding secured" tweet. Tesla's stock was around $60 ($300 pre split) at the time.
  

I hope this post is allowed. I work for one of the Big 5. I have 3 years of experience in a specialized e-transfer team. I've spoken to thousands of victims and perpetrators of fraud and scams. I'm so sick and sad of seeing my customers become victim to various different scams. If I can help at least one person with this, I'd be so happy. Interac e-transfer is an amazing service when used right and there are ways to protect yourself.
I will tell you about scams I see, the red flags, how to protect yourself and I will score the resolution to the issue on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being "You're screwed" and 10 being "It's like nothing happened."
Types of Scams
I. Job Scams
Usually a victim will get reached out to on a job site (indeed, LinkedIn, or even through their e-mail). The scammers will pose as an employer offering a clean yearly salary with benefits for sitting on your butt and accepting e-transfers and then sending them out to someone else or withdrawing the funds at an atm to be deposited at a bitcoin machine.
The e-transfers they send you will be fraudulently sent from another victims account and you will now be flagged with your bank for accepting fraudulent money. You will be blocked with e-transfers.
Red Flags:

• You didn't apply for this job
• Little to no information about the company online
• A too good to be true salary
• They ask if you can accept e-transfers
• They ask how much money you can withdraw at an ATM
• The etransfer they send is from a different name or company
• They tell you your task is to deposit money to a bitcoin machine in a sketchy corner store

How to protect yourself:

• Proof. SAVE EVERYTHING. Job offers, Emails, bitcoin receipts, text messages. If you have sufficient proof, your bank should be able to protect you and allow you to continue with the Interac service.
• Be skeptical and call your bank if you're unsure about a deposit to your account.

General Resolution Score:
7/10. Assuming you have enough proof for me to show Interac that you were a victim, we should be okay in about an afternoon. If you don't, expect to be blocked from Interac for at LEAST 12 months.
II. Puppy Scams
You're thinking of getting a puppy and you think you've found a reputable seller on Kijiji. They have a website and certificates. They collect a deposit from you for the puppy. Later they ask you for payment for shipping the puppy to you. Then you can't call them, they aren't responding to their messages. You start to feel like there never was a puppy... and you're right. (You can also replace puppy for whatever service or product you're buying)
Red Flags:

• They're shipping the puppy from far away and won't meet with you
• They ask for a deposit of a large amount
• They are weirdly unenthusiastic about the dog (I mean, its a puppy, cmon..)
• Super rare or popular breeds
• They ask you to send the etransfers to two different recipients
• They stop responding

How to protect yourself:

• Proof again is important here, but for a different reason. We want that proof to show interac that this was a Scam transfer.
• Call your bank and ask them to flag the transfer and block the recipient from the Interac service. Once it is sent from the account it is VERY difficult to recover and is not guaranteed.

General Resolution Score:
2/10. We might get your money back... maybe... might.... again its difficult. And because you sent the money out of your account willingly, its not covered as fraud. So no money and no puppy. So shitty.
III. Shitty Friends lmao
Some of you people just have really bad friends, for real. If your friend asks you to accept an etransfer for them, tell them to go fuck themselves. If they can't accept etransfers, there's a really good reason for that usually. You don't know how many conversations I've had about these that start with "Well, they're in jail now but...". Fuck being nice. Do NOT accept etransfers for anyone else. Consider this the 21st century bad cheque scam.
Red Flags:

• Your friend can't accept etransfers with their bank or they don't have a bank
• You don't know who is sending them that transfer
• The transfer isn't even made out to their name

How to protect yourself:

• IF you accept a transfer for someone else, get them to send you an email or text message requesting you accept it. Even then, that might not be enough proof.
• Be prepared to be blocked from Interac for at least 12 months and forced to pay back any loss to the bank.

General Resolution Score:
2/10. You'll be blocked with Interac for at least 12 months.
IV. Intercepted Transfers
By far the most common scam right now. You send an etransfer with a security question to your landlord, friend, or even your wife. You've done it hundreds of times before and there's never been an issue. You get the notification that its been deposited, but the intended recipient doesn't have it. Wait... what? Your bank says it was deposited to someone who neither you or the recipient know.
Before I get into the red flags, I want to explain what happened. Youre getting lazy with your security questions. And the person you were sending the etransfer to? Either their email is compromised or they have spyware or malware on their devices. The compromise in the devices leaves a nice opportunity for someone to take advantage of your landlords/friends/whomevers email and take their money. Its impossible to have this intercepted from the sending end. This is really unfortunate for the recipient and the sender, but I find the recipients are taking NO responsibility for their compromised emails.
Red Flags:

• The recipient says they have the notification but can't accept the transfer as it says its already deposited.
• Your security question is too easy. It genuinely needs to be something only you and they know
• If the recipient emails you to ask the answer to the security question, DO NOT EMAIL BACK. Call them.

How to protect yourself:

• Better security questions
• Better yet, Auto-Deposit for EVERYONE
• Call your bank to flag the transfer as intercepted

General Resolution Score: 1.25/10
Again. Its hard to get your money back once its deposited. We will try our level best but the onus is kinda on the recipient here. They need urgent help for their devices and e-mail.
V. Bad Deposit Transfers
A fraudster could deposit a bad cheque and with the funds not put on hold, they can send an e-transfer. Once that cheque bounces, its now called a Bad Deposit Transfer. It gets flagged with the sender AND the recipient if you'd believe it! Interac can't be sure whether you two are in on it together. This is the equivalent of kiting cheques but with etransfers.
How to protect yourself:

• If your card stops working after accepting a transfer, call them. It may be because of a bad deposit e-transfer.
• The sender, whether it was you from another bank or another person has to contact the bank where the etransfer originated from and work out the bad deposit.

General Resolution Score:
5/10. Depends on how quickly the sender can pay back the bad deposit. Once that is done, the bank will consider the whole bank relationship before reinstating with Interac.
VI. Kijiji/Product and Service Scams
Friends, I'm sure this is surprising but Kijiji does not want you using etransfers. You have no idea how much grief it causes them. Accepting an etransfer for a product or service on kijiji or otherwise can be a risky thing. Again, I bring up that Interac e-transfers should be used with people we know and trust.
You're selling an item online, you agree to meet up with someone, they agree to buy and they send you an etransfer. Amazing. A couple days later your bank card is blocked, and your bank is MAD. They said you scammed someone? What the heck? They took the item didn't they? They didn't tell you the product was broken or defective...
Red Flags: - I wish I could tell you what these would be. A lot of the customers I talk to are like they were totally fine and didn't talk to me after I sold it - People are weird and shitty
How to protect yourself:

• Proof! Show me the texts, the emails, the conversations of you agreeing to meet and the email they're sending the transfer to. Take a picture of them with the item!

General Resolution Score: 7/10 these are easy. Give me the proof and we're good.
In the case of people who send the money before getting the item, and go to pick it up with nothing, see puppy scam. Same thing.
My General Tips

• Autodeposit always
• Set up auto deposit with a new email, and only give that email to people you know and trust to avoid unwanted autodeposits.
• If we can't do autodeposit, give a VERY DIFFICULT SECURITY QUESTION
• Only send and receive from people you know and trust
• Do NOT accept etransfers that were sent to your friend
• Do NOT accept any etransfers you don't recognize.
• Change your passwords and security questions regularly, and don't give them to your partner, parent, kid, friend, no matter how much you trust and love them
• Trust your instincts. A lot of my customers say, "I felt like it was weird but I still did it.."

And that's about what I've got right now. If anyone has any questions I'm here and happy to answer.
Thanks for reading! Keep safe!
(E: formatting, spelling added more scenarios etc)
(E: never thought I'd be the girl to do this BUT THANK YALL FOR THE AWARDS AND THE GOLD)
(E: I appreciate your guys' healthy skepticism towards the e-transfer service but I won't be responding to any messages or comments that criticize it too heavily. I didnt invent etransfers so it doesn't bug me but I can really only speak on this service because its what I know. I am wary of being identified by coworkers or my employer and you won't catch me slippin.
The least you can admit about e-transfers is that it fills a need that the banks otherwise weren't meeting and its convenient in that sense.)

Long article, but I'm pretty confident a lot of this sketchy behaviour is occurring right on this very sub:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-the-covid-19-pandemic-fuelled-a-boom-in-canadian-stock-promotion/
Cromwell Coulson, the CEO of New York-based stock trading platform OTC Markets Group, is getting sick and tired of trying to stomp out Canadian stock promotion scams.
OTC plays host to more than 10,000 early-stage speculative stocks and every day it publishes a list of companies it has identified as running misleading stock promotions. In 2019, 30 per cent of troubling campaigns were by Canadian companies.
But since the global outbreak of COVID-19 last winter, there has been a boom in pump and dump scams, in which shady promoters use any means necessary to push up the price of a company’s shares, then sell their stakes at huge profits just before the stock collapses. Those promoters often focus on a hot sector, be it mining, bitcoin, cannabis – and now, bogus coronavirus therapies.
This year, 44 per cent of problematic promos on the OTC were spearheaded by Canadians. One day in September, they made up all 10 of the stocks the platform flags daily as the most suspect.
Mr. Coulson says vulnerabilities in Canadian securities laws, the country’s patchwork system of provincial securities regulation and the lack of teeth to go after scam artists allow promotion schemes to flourish.
“Our goal is not to run a dating site where everybody is beautiful, and smart and rich. Our goal is that the market price of securities represents the value,” he said. “There is this industry of promotion [in Canada] that is very opaque. I would like to see much more transparency.”
In the United States, national regulatory oversight by Washington’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is much tougher than in Canada. As a result, Canadians – operating here or in other countries – have been behind many penny stock promotion scams for decades. Among the worst offenders in recent years, John Babikian, a.k.a. “The Wolf of Montreal,” who reportedly earned US$100-million manipulating penny stocks.
“This is not a new phenomenon,” said Steven Peikin, co-director of enforcement with the SEC until August. “There has been outsize involvement of Canadian nationals and Canadian issuers in microcap schemes.”
While greater powers and technological advances have enhanced the ability of Canadian regulators to pursue aggressive investigations, their track record in enforcement remains abysmal. The few offenders who are sanctioned are generally subject to temporary provincial bans from capital markets and non-enforceable fines.
In the most recent fiscal year ended March 31, Canadian regulators concluded just two pump and dump cases, levying $105,000 in fines. Only a handful of cases are currently open.
In the United States, since the beginning of the pandemic, the SEC has brought charges in six COVID-19 cases, in which companies or individuals allegedly made misleading statements about various treatments, tests and protective equipment, and issued 37 trading suspensions. Just this past summer, five Canadians were charged by the SEC in a US$160-million pump and dump swindle involving deceptive claims of therapies.
Canada’s four biggest regulatory bodies, by comparison, have brought only one enforcement case and issued two trading suspensions related to COVID-19. This despite a warning issued by regulators in April that they were seeing an uptick in pandemic-related investment scams. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), an umbrella group that represents Canada’s 13 securities regulators, declined repeated requests for an interview.
“I have not seen much regulatory action in Canada,” said Joseph Groia, a former director of enforcement of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and now one of Canada’s best-known securities litigators. “There’s a huge amount going on in the U.S.”
Why isn’t more happening here?
Over the past six months, The Globe and Mail interviewed more than 60 senior figures in regulation, litigation and law enforcement in North America, companies targeted by pump and dumps, a prolific white-collar whistle-blower, CEOs of stock exchanges, recipients of pump and dump materials, and stock promoters. As part of its investigation, The Globe also reviewed thousands of pages of disclosures and regulatory actions going back to 1987.
The results are frustrating in many respects. While the breakneck pace of technological advancement means many fraudsters will likely stay one step ahead of regulators, plenty can be done to break the chain. The big question: Does Canada have the will to do it?
Canada’s status as a haven for shady stock promotion is a function of market structure, history and culture. Our country has long had a heavy concentration of small resource companies that need to raise money early by going public – developing mines and oil reserves is capital intensive.
But a small public float and a cheap stock price also make these stocks vulnerable to manipulation. By the 1930s, Canada was already notorious for telephone boiler rooms that targeted investors across North America. The advent of the electronic information age in the 1990s made disseminating fraudulent information infinitely easier. The ease of remaining anonymous online also made it much harder to catch offenders.
And while misleading stock promotions used to be perpetrated mainly by company insiders, a growing number are now carried out by third-party shareholders.
This past June, the RCMP and two provincial securities regulators confirmed they were investigating a cross-country stock promotion scheme touting tiny B.C. mining company Crestview Exploration. Among the recipients of a nationally distributed pump and dump letter about Crestview was Cynthia Campbell, head of enforcement at the Alberta Securities Commission, as well as the author of this article and retired RCMP white-collar crime investigator Henry Tso.
“I have dealt with many of these files,” Mr. Tso said. “There’s tons of them. Stocks are being manipulated. There’s also lots of insider trading that never gets caught.”
Crestview executives were frustrated, too. “We had no part of it. We want no part of it. It is a disgusting form of promotion,” CEO Glen Watson said.
One of the biggest structural weaknesses in Canadian enforcement identified by many sources is the lack of a single Canadian securities regulator. The U.S., with a population of 328 million, has one federal securities act and one federal regulator. Canada, a country of 37.6 million, has 13 provincial and territorial regulators, and 13 disparate securities acts. Budgets, staffing and powers of enforcement also vary.
British Columbia has tougher laws around stock promotion than other provinces, in part because the Vancouver Stock Exchange, which was merged into the Canadian Venture Exchange in 1999, was long known as grand central for penny stock scams. Alberta can lay quasi-criminal charges directly on offenders, but many other provinces can’t. Whistle-blower rewards offered by regulators also vary, with Ontario offering up to $5-million, but some other provinces offering nothing. Enforcement bans in one province aren’t recognized in others.
The different rules across Canada and the lack of co-ordination mean that “wrongdoers can triage where they’re committing their wrongdoing based on the enforcement of various provincial regulators,” said Stephen Cohen, former associate director of enforcement for the SEC.
Maureen Jensen, chair of the Ontario Securities Commission until this past April, said Canada is a mess of bureaucracy, infighting between commissions and provincial politics. “The problem is you have 13 acts, 13 legislatures that decide whether what their securities commission is asking for is worth their effort and 13 different groups of advisers who have a different view on how easy it should be to prosecute people in the financial market,” she said.
“We should have a single securities regulator for Canada. It’s ludicrous that we don’t.”
But repeated pushes for a national regulator have stalled when all provinces failed to agree, the most recent under then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s majority government, elected in 2011.
Basic laws are also looser in Canada. In the U.S., paid stock promotion and amounts must be disclosed. In Canada, apart from B.C., paid promotion only has to be disclosed if it’s for “investor relations” services. There are many loopholes where payments don’t have to be disclosed – incredibly including campaigns that can be characterized as just “raising awareness” about a company.
Even if paid promotion is disclosed, the amount doesn’t have to be specified. “No one knows who’s being paid for what,” Ms. Jensen said. “People can promote and not be visible.”
The loose laws are one reason criminals still turn to Canadians for shifty stock promotion. In 2017, an individual indicted for securities fraud around a planned pump and dump of cannabis company BioCube Inc. told the FBI he intended on using Canadians to promote the U.S.-listed stock because regulation was much lighter here. U.S. authorities stopped the scheme before it occurred, and the CEO of the company was sentenced to three years in prison.
Even if pump and dump offenders are caught in Canada, prison time is extremely rare. Fines and temporary provincial bans from running companies are much more common, but many offenders simply don’t comply with them.
“These are people who don’t care about regulatory orders. There’s a good chance they’re not in that jurisdiction. If an order is made, they probably wouldn’t comply with it, " Mr. Groia said. “The only way you can deal with [a pump and dump] is find out who did it, track them down, prosecute them and send them to jail. Nothing else makes any sense.”
But that is much easier said than done.
Set up in 2003 to be the equivalent of the FBI’s white-collar crime unit, the RCMP’s Integrated Market Enforcement Team (IMET) was supposed to send more offenders to jail. Just two years later, the team staged a dramatic raid on Scotiabank’s headquarters on Bay Street, with a trailer-length van emblazoned with IMET’s logo and about a dozen police cars pulling up, and agents hauling out documents in connection with an investigation into one of the bank’s client companies.
The idea was to turn RCMP officers into specialized financial market cops by bringing in Bay Street experts, such as forensic accountants, to help IMET. Yet when The Globe asked the RCMP for examples of notable pump and dumps that resulted in convictions, the force only cited one in the past 17 years.
“The expectations and the hope that we would have a meaningful criminal enforcement program at the federal level have not come to pass,” Mr. Groia said. “IMET’s been a huge disappointment.”
Seattle-based whistle-blower Yolanda Holtzee has spent almost two decades reporting pump and dumps to U.S. and Canadian regulators. In her dealings with IMET, she has been frustrated by the turnover in staff. “Junior members are never there long enough to be proficient,” she said.
Vance Morgan, head of the biggest IMET team in Canada, says officers usually stay a minimum of three years, but many move afterward – some because they are promoted. One reason IMET’s record isn’t great, he says, is the lack of some extraordinary powers U.S. authorities have, including their ability to tap the federal terrorist act to obtain documents.
Other experts say Canadian exchanges could also do a lot more to cut down on shady stock promotion and could look to the U.S. for guidance.
If OTC Markets believes a company may be complicit in a promotion, or isn’t co-operating in disclosing additional information, it routinely slaps a “Caveat Emptor” label on the company and places a skull and crossbones icon beside its stock symbol on OTC’s website.
“We don’t want to fix things in the back room, " Mr. Coulson said. “We want to put it out for investors to see. All the positives and negatives. That’s an approach which, short term, is painful and others will knock, but over the long term [it] builds more efficient markets.”
Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange and Canadian Securities Exchange list many companies that also trade on OTC. But neither exchange comes anywhere close to shining such a harsh public spotlight on companies.
Senior figures in North American regulation also point to basic structural holes at Canada’s junior stock exchanges: low fees and lax rules that make it easy for promoters to game the system and virtually guarantee huge returns from taking tiny untested companies public.
The formula was established decades ago: Promoters identify a hot sector, acquire a dormant publicly traded shell company, change its name, issue “seed stock” to founders, do a few financing rounds at increasingly higher share prices, come up with a great “story” to sell to retail investors and, finally, take the company public. That gives the promoters the liquidity they need to sell at an enormous profit.
“[For] the people who kind of run these things as scams, it’s all about getting it listed, getting the share price up and getting off your stock,” said Jamie Keech, a mining engineer and resources financier.
Then there’s the matter – all perfectly legal – of testing the limits on how low companies can go when issuing seed stock. Founder shares have been issued at a cent a share, a tenth of a cent or even much less. Vancouver-based junior mining exploration company Fosterville South Exploration Ltd. issued 12.75 million shares for a total capital raise of $9. The cost for the founders was $0.00000705882 a share. When the company went public earlier this year, it closed its first day of trading on the TSX Venture Exchange at $1.08 a share, giving founders a paper return of 15,299,908 per cent.
“They’re using legal means to hoodwink the public” Ms. Jensen said of the ease of going public in Canada. “Is it wrong? Absolutely it’s wrong.” Yet, like too many weaknesses of Canadian markets, it endures.
So what can be done to stop the rot?
Ms. Jensen says, even under existing provincial laws, it needs to be easier for regulators to move on suspected fraudsters. That includes speeding up the timeline for obtaining court dates, the power to compel people to testify like the U.S. Department of Justice does, and possibly banning the use of shell companies to go public.
“It can’t be so difficult to prosecute people who are intentionally abusing the market, " Ms. Jensen said.
The whistle-blower, Ms. Holtzee, says that many pump and dumps are now perpetrated by computer geeks in their 20s who are proficient in spreading fraudulent information over the web, and then disappearing by using encryption. Canadian regulators, she says, need to hire young STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates – “dot connectors” – who can track scams as they’re being perpetrated and stop them right away.
Mr. Groia also believes much more money should be spent on detection rather than prosecution. He says by investing as little as $1-million a year in computer-savvy investigators, Canada could cut pump and dumps by 60 per cent to 70 per cent.
Some observers claim that stupid or ignorant investors are as much to blame as fraudsters for pump and dumps. If only they would vet an outlandish claim in a newsletter or on a stock promotion website against public filings, it would be obvious that a miracle COVID-19 cure is a con.
But that’s not easy. SEDAR, the website that houses public flings by Canadian companies, is terribly designed. Only sophisticated investors are likely to know where to find critical information and then make sense of it. Canadian regulators need to push companies to make it far easier for average citizens to find what they’re looking for, and for filings to be written in language that can be easily understood.
The past decade has seen pump and dump campaigns move from junior gold stocks, to marijuana, to bitcoin and back to gold recently with bullion prices soaring. And now there’s COVID-19.
Ms. Jensen said the latest trend involves crooks manipulating the share prices of illiquid companies by “hijacking” the trading accounts of investors, allowing scammers to use other people’s money directly to commit crimes.
The technology for those thefts exists. So does the technology to stop them. Unfortunately, it appears scammers and proponents of reform don’t think that will happen any time soon.

Happy Monday, Barkada --

The PSE closed up 170 points (!!) to 7290 ▲2.4%.

Hard not to get distracted by what's happening in crypto right now, and by what's happening in the US. I'll admit that I was rubbernecking on Twitter for the back half of last week, but I'm back now; I'm better. (Checks Twitter again.) Maybe I'm not completely cured yet.

Daily meme | Join MB | Today's email

COVID Update

WW: 90063482 PH: 485784 

Top 3 MB indices:

 Telco ▲4.23% #COVID-19 ▲2.98% POGO Prop. ▲2.70% 

Bottom 3 MB indices:

 Media ▼1.27% Logistics ▼0.43% MiddleClass ▼0.44% 

Main stories covered:

• [NEWS] SquidPay [PHA 1.65 ▲17.02%] to add crypto buy and sell on its platform next month... SquidPay’s Twitter post said that it would allow users to buy and sell “major cryptocurrencies” with “reasonable fees and instant settlement”, starting this February 14th.
  
  • MB: “Happy Valentine’s Day, babe! I got you ₱2000 worth of Bitcoin through SquidPay as an enduring token of our love... yeah, SquidPay... you know, SquidPay, it’s like this payment platform... how am I supposed to know when they’ll actually complete their backdoor listing? BABE, WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DIFFICULT?!”"
• [NEWS] Jollibee [JFC 192.50 ▼0.05%] grows its footprint in the US and Canada... JFC plans to build 19 new stores in the US and 9 in Canada. JFC said that its stores in North America actually experienced “double-digit sales growth”, despite the pandemic, in stark contrast to how JFC stores performed domestically amid our lengthy lockdown and confusing soup of movement restrictions.
  
  • MB: If your thesis includes the assumptions that pandemics are going to be a problem for 2021 and maybe for the foreseeable future, it makes sense to diversify jurisdictions. The PH locked down hard and that crushed fast food, but the US and Canada did not lock down in the same manner, and where lockdowns did occur, delivery/drive-through/pick-up infra was already in-place to support continued sales. If anyone has ever seen the lines that foreign-based JFC locations can generate, they’d see why these stores are (usually) no-brainers.
• [NEWS] Globe [GLO 2020.00 ▲1.00%] takes investment in GCash operator at $1bn valuation for GCash... Mynt, GLO’s fintech subsidiary that owns and operates GCash, took $175m from a fund managed by Bow Wave, a New York-based venture capital firm that invests in “early-stage companies that provide online and mobile payment processing, banking and complementary financial services”. The investment values GCash at $1 billion USD (₱46bn), which would give the fintech startup “unicorn status".
  
  • MB: While this is great for GCash and great for GLO, and it’s also a great sign that GLO will eventually contemplate the listing/spin-off of GCash through an IPO or similar event. Investors like Bow Wave usually give great sums of money with the understanding that, at some point, they’ll be able to cash-out at a good return. Usually, the best way for a company offload a significant minority stake is through an IPO. Think of Pincus with Converge [CNVRG 15.70 ▲2.08%] earlier this year. I’m not sure of this deal’s contemplated time-frame. Could be one year, could be three. Usually depends on the market itself. Companies don’t want to feed the ducks (us) unless we’re quacking (buying).
• [NEWS] SpaceX in talks with PH Gov’t to provide Starlink internet service by Q3 of this year... the space exploration company, owned by Elon Musk, has been beta testing its satellite-based internet broadband service and is interested in expanding its offering to a fairly wide selection of countries, including the Philippines. Senator Koko Pimentel met with representatives from SpaceX, to discuss “constitutional and other legal requirements in terms of protection and the ability of the Philippine government to engage with SpaceX”.
  
  • MB: The nitty gritty details are not there yet, but CNBC has info to say that the service may be priced at US$99/mo, plus a US$500 up-front charge for the Starlink connectivity kit. SpaceX set low performance expectations for its beta test, saying to potential testers: “Expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mb/s to 150Mb/s and latency from 20ms to 40ms over the next several months as we enhance the Starlink system”. No word yet on the post-beta speeds and latency, but I know many non-NCR businesses that are currently playing PLDT [TEL 1424.00 ▲5.48%] about the same amount per month for about the same service. A satellite-based solution like this might be an important part of the country’s connectivity plan considering the vast (and expensive) challenge of wiring and connecting our nearly eight thousand islands. Perhaps this is not a solution for dense population centers like the NCR or Cebu, where TEL, Converge [CNVRG 15.70 ▲2.08%], and Globe [GLO 2020.00 ▲1.00%] should be positioned to provide better service at a more efficient price-point, but it is definitely a “Player 2 has entered the game” moment for the provincial areas that have been begging for proper connectivity for years. It also provides companies and individuals with a realistic backup for connectivity in disaster and business continuity situations.

MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.

Join our Barkada here

Read today's full email here

There are a lot of awesome referral opportunities out there, these are my personal favorites! Gemini, Crypto.com, and N26 are global offers, the rest are US only.

Stocks

• Webull: BONUS IMPROVED!! 4 free stocks (2 worth $2.50-$250 just for opening an account, and 2 worth $8-$1600 each for depositing $100). Expires January 15th at midnight est.
  • https://act.webull.com/kol-us/share.html?hl=en&inviteCode=PUnH4ruayL3j
• Public: 1 free stock worth up to $50 just for opening an account, no deposit required.
  • Open this link from your phone: http://share.public.com/rayruiu
• Dough: 1 free stock worth $2 - $200 simply for opening an account. No deposit required ($25 deposit required before first withdrawal, but you can then withdraw that too).
  • Open this link from your smart phone:
  • https://dough.com/referrals?referral=XPSSX6DFNF&referredby=Mila
• TradeUP: 1 free stock worth $2.50-250 just for opening an account, and an optional second stock worth $8-$1000 for making a $100 deposit from any source.
  • https://tradeup.marsco.com/activity/market/us-open-price/#/share?invite=6NDX1U
• Robinhood: 1 free stock worth $2.50- $200 for opening an account. No deposit required.
  • https://invite.robinhood.com/amadeor3/
• Acorns: $5 for $5 deposit from any source (additional steps required, please see below details).
  • https://www.acorns.com/invite/TLBCPD/
• Moomoo: 1 free stock worth $10-$1000 for making a $500 deposit.
  • https://j.moomoo.com/000LR3
• M1 Finance: $10 for opening a brokerage account and making a $100 deposit.
  • https://m1.finance/J6aLCt6SRGdW
• Round: $20 for opening a brokerage account and making a $500 deposit. Alternatively, you can make $100 for doing a $10,000 deposit (iOS only)
  • https://app.investround.com/inviteCode/amadeo-r360s0
• SoFi Invest: $50 for $1000 deposit from any source, and $25 worth of bitcoin for buying $10 worth of bitcoin on SoFi Crypto.
  • https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2498539
• Personal Capital: $20 for opening a new account and linking a qualified investment account (e.g. taxable brokerage, 401k, IRA, 529, etc) worth at least $1000. No deposit required!
  • https://share.personalcapital.com/x/oGFEyl

Banks

• Porte: $50 for depositing $500 from any source.
  • https://portebanking.app.link/es7KK8Fb69
• SoFi Money: $50 for depositing $500 from any source.
  • https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749
• Chime: $75 for $200 direct deposit (can easily get around direct deposit requirement, please see details below). Ends January 7th at midnight!
  • https://chime.com/milazadrozny
• SoFi Money: $50 for depositing $500 from any source.
  • https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749
• First Tech Federal Credit Union: $100 for depositing $250 from any source.
  • https://refer.firsttechfed.com/s/AMADEO
• Red Stone Federal Credit Union: $100 for using their debit card 4 times in 30 days.
  • https://www.redfcu.org/specials/refer-a-friend/redeem.html?first=AMADEO&last=RUIU&referralCode=RUI855220
• Radius: $50 for opening a Rewards Checking account and depositing $500 for 90 days. You must use my referral code when prompted during account signup to get the bonus. - TLAM9428D4
  • https://open.radiusbank.com/?utm_source=referafriend&utm_medium=narmi&promocode=9umylb
• Wings Financial Credit Union: $50 for opening a checking account, setting up eDocuments, and doing 5 debit card transactions of $5 or more (anything counts, including Amazon GC reloads), OR a direct deposit of $300+ in 60 days. No fees, can withdraw and close account any time.
  • https://www.referlive.com/wingsfinancial/newcustform/109cb9ea5300f9a4bb2a6884eac831077a4/4/11101268SY4BYUZ
• Aspiration: $50 for spending $250 with their debit card within 3 months, and extra $100 for $1000 spend in 3 months.
  • https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/232Y47KAE4OG8Y8W/
• Stash: $20 for $5 deposit from any source.
  • https://get.stashinvest.com/amadeowpr10
• SkyOne: $25 for opening an account and keeping the account open for 30 days. (additional steps required, please see below details).
  • https://refer.skyone.org/amadeoruiu3
• Premier Members Credit Union: $50 for opening a money market account and making a $5 deposit + $5 donation.
  • https://www.pmcu.org/referred-by-a-friend/VFVJEVQQQ/
• Oxygen: $25 for opening an account, depositing $200, and doing 5 debit card transactions within 60 days (can just buy 5 $1 Amazon GC's reloads, they don't care what the purchase is). PM me for a link.
• N26: $10 for opening an account and making a purchase of $10 or more using their de bit card.
  • https://app.n26.com/referral/amadeor4364

Cryptocurrency

• Voyager: Free $25 worth of Bitcoin for trading $100 on the app. Use referral code "AMA60T” in the “Reward Code” field when you create your Voyager account". Open these link from mobile:
  • IOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voyager-buy-bitcoin-crypto/id1396178579
  • Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.investvoyager
• Celsius: Free $20 for depositing $200 worth of cryptocurrency.
  • https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/101697ce8c
• Crypto.com: Free $25 for "staking" (buying and holding) 1000 CRO (approximately $170) for 6 months. (enter referral code 66v69rwt76 if not pre-filled)
  • https://platinum.crypto.com/66v69rwt76
• Gemini: Free $10 worth of Bitcoin for trading $100.
  • Account Signup: https://gemini.com/share/rllzke26
• Constant: Free $10 for opening an account, verifying your identity, and depositing $10.
  • https://www.myconstant.com?r=annoyedproduct
• Coinbase: Free $10 worth of Bitcoin for trading $100. They will also give you $12 of the "Orchid" cryptocurrency (which can be re-sold for cash) if you watch 3 1-2 minute videos and answer 3 easy questions about that cryptocurrency. (might get waitlisted, I had to wait a month before getting off it)
  • Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/join/ruiu_8
  • Orchid: https://coinbase.com/earn/oxt/invite/t0wvs4k2

Credit Cards

• Chase Freedom: Free $200 for signing up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card and spending $500 within 3 months.
  • https://www.referyourchasecard.com/2f/ONLMEFPEFJ
• Discover IT: Free $50 for signing up for a Discover IT credit card and making ANY purchase within 3 months (even $1).
  • https://refer.discover.com/s/hhti4m

Other

• Root: Free $25 for downloading the app, and allowing it to track your driving for 3-4 weeks. (Need to keep your phone on while driving so it can give you a quote. You can simply reject the offer and take the $25 bonus anyway).
  • https://rootbonus.com/AmadeoRuiu
• Worthy Bonds: Free $10 for opening an account, no deposit required.
  • https://worthybonds.com/?r=etyji
• SoFi Loans: Free $300 for refinancing a student loan or taking a personal loan.
  • www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy
• Fetch Rewards: Receipt scanner app, rewards you 5 cents each for receipts from most major chain stores. Fetch has a $2 bonus for using a referral link and scanning your first receipt (open this link from your phone).
  • https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=JU1GW
• Raise: Free $5 credit towards your first gift card if you sign up using a referral code, you can get an extra $5 off your first gift card purchase. I used it to buy a $10 Uber gift card, combined with their 2% discount, I only paid $4.80 for a $10 gift card!
  • https://www.raise.com/raise-rewards/AMADEO0427

--Details on each offer below--

Stocks-

Webull

Webull is a commission free stock trading platform/app which is giving out 4 free stocks (2 worth $2.50-$250 for opening an account, and 2 worth $8-$1600 each for depositing $100). That's a MINIMUM of $21 in free stock! Expires January 15th at midnight est.
Webull is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
Referral link- https://act.webull.com/kol-us/share.html?hl=en&inviteCode=PUnH4ruayL3j

Public

Public is another commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued up to $50) when you create an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required.
Available on iOS or Android only.
http://share.public.com/rayruiu

Dough

Dough is a commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued $2- $200) when you open an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required, though you need to deposit $25 in order to make your first withdrawal (you can also withdraw your initial $25 too).
Available for iOS or Android only.
Open this link from your smart phone-
https://dough.com/referrals?referral=XPSSX6DFNF&referredby=Mila

TradeUp

TradeUP is a commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued $2.50-250) for opening an account via a referral link. No deposit required.
Additionally, they will give you a second stock (valued $8-$1000) for making a $100 deposit.
Available for iOS or Android only.
https://tradeup.marsco.com/activity/market/us-open-price/#/share?invite=6NDX1U

Robinhood

Robinhood is a stock trading platform/app which gives you a free stock (valued $2.50 - $200) when you open an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required.
Available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://invite.robinhood.com/amadeor3/

Acorns

Acorns is an online investing app (iOS or Android) which is offering a free $5 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link, depositing $5, and keeping the money in the account until the 15th of the following month. You can then withdraw the money and close the account, fee free!
If you keep the account longer, they may charge you a $3 fee, so be sure to close it after the 15th on the following month from when you signed up.
Acorns is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://www.acorns.com/invite/TLBCPD/

Moomoo

Moomoo is a commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued $10-$1000) for opening an account via a referral link and making a $500 deposit.
Moomoo is available on iOS or Android only.
https://j.moomoo.com/000LR3

M1 Finance

M1 Finance is an investing account, like Robinhood or Webull. If you open an account using a referral link, deposit $100 to a brokerage account, and keep that initial deposit in your account for 30 days, you will get a free $20 bonus that posts within 14 days.
M1 Finance is available on iOS or Android only.
https://m1.finance/J6aLCt6SRGdW

Round

Round is an online auto-investing app (iOS only) which is offering a free $20 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link and depositing $500. Alternatively, you can get $100 if you deposit $10,000.
Round is available on iOS only.
https://app.investround.com/inviteCode/amadeo-r360s0

SoFi Invest

SoFi gives $50 for anyone who signs up for a SoFi Invest account via a referral link and deposits $1000. This offer stacks with the SoFi Money $25 offer (see details above), so you can do both!
Plus, you can get another $25 cash bonus when you buy $10 or more of crypto like Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum. That's a total of $75 cash bonuses with SoFi Invest!
https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2498539

Personal Capital

Personal Capital is a finance tracking website similar to Mint but tailored for investment accounts. If you open an account and link a qualified investment account for tracking (e.g. taxable brokerage, 401k, IRA, 529, etc) with more than $1000 in it, they will give you a free $20 amazon gift card within a couple weeks.
Accounts that do not qualify as valid investment accounts include bank, credit or debit card, Paypal, Stash, Acorns, Kapitall, Groundfloor, WageWorks HSA, Coinbase, digital currency exchanges, and manual investment accounts. Robinhood works!
https://share.personalcapital.com/x/oGFEyl

Banks-

Porte

Porte is a bank/app which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code, and making a $500 direct deposit. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free as soon as you register their debit card (gotta wait a few days to get it in the mail).
A "direct deposit" technically means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment, but you can actually meet this requirement simply by transferring in $500 from virtually any source including bank accounts, cashapp, etc.
Referral link- https://portebanking.app.link/es7KK8Fb69

SoFi Money

SoFi is a bank/app that give out $50 for anyone who signs up for a SoFi Money (bank) account using a referral code and deposits $500 from any source. So all you have to do is open an account with a referral link, deposit $500, and then instantly collect the bonus and then take it all back.
You can close the account at any time with no fees-
https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749

First Tech Federal Credit Union

First Tech FCU is a bank that gives you a free $100 bonus for opening an account and depositing $250 for 30 days. There are no fees, and you can close your account any time fee free. The $100 posts 30 days after you do the $250 deposit and you can then immediately withdraw all the money + the bonus and keep the bonus.
During account signup, say you want to meet eligibility by joining the "Financial Fitness Association", they pay for your $8 membership for you so that anyone nationwide can open an account
https://refer.firsttechfed.com/s/AMADEO

Red Stone Federal Credit Union

Red Stone Federal Credit Union is a bank that gives you a free $100 bonus for opening an account and doing 4 debit card transactions with their card in 30 days. There are no fees, and you can close your account any time fee free. The $100 posts 30 days after you do the $250 deposit and you can then immediately withdraw all the money + the bonus and keep the bonus.
You will get your $100 bonus within 90 days of meeting the above requirements. Keep your account open until you get the bonus.
During account signup, say you want to meet eligibility by joining the "Financial Fitness Association", they pay for your $8 membership for you so that anyone nationwide can open an account. This deal combo's well with the First Tech FCU offer listed above for this reason, you can get FFA membership from one and then easily just use it for both offers.
https://www.redfcu.org/specials/refer-a-friend/redeem.html?first=AMADEO&last=RUIU&referralCode=RUI855220

Chime

Chime is a bank/app which pays you a $75 bonus for opening an account via a referral code and making a $200 direct deposit. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free as soon as you register their debit card (gotta wait a few days to get it in the mail). Offer ends January 7th at midnight!
A "direct deposit" technically means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment, but you can actually meet this requirement simply by transferring in $200 from virtually any source i.e. bank accounts, cashapp, etc.
https://chime.com/milazadrozny

Radius

Radius is a bank which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code and making a $500 deposit from any source. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free. You need to keep your account open for at least 90 days after depositing the $500, and keep the $500 in there for at least 60 days to be eligible to keep the bonus. So in other words, you can open the account, deposit $500, leave it in there for 60 days, then withdraw the $500 if you wish, and keep the account open for at least another 30 days to get the $50 bonus.
You need to enter my referral code when prompted during account signup top get the bonus, its TLAM9428D4
https://open.radiusbank.com/?utm_source=referafriend&utm_medium=narmi&promocode=9umylb

Wings

Wings Financial Credit Union is a bank offering $50 for opening a checking account, setting up eDocuments, and either doing 5 debit card transactions of $5 or more (anything counts, including Amazon GC reloads), OR a direct deposit of $300+ in 60 days.
No fees, can withdraw and close account any time.
https://www.wingsfinancial/newcustform/109cb9ea

Aspiration

Aspiration is an online bank which is offering a free $50 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link and spending $250, and an extra $100 for $1000 spend in 3 months.
So all you have to do is open a “Spend & Save” account using a referral link, spend $250/1000 using their debit card within 3 months, and then you will get $50/150 posted to your account! There are no fees to worry about! You can close the account fee free whenever you want!
https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/232Y47KAE4OG8Y8W/

Stash

Stash is a finance app that gives out $20 for anyone who signs up for the Stash (bank) or Stash Invest account via my referral link and deposits at least $5 from any source (payroll, another bank account, PayPal, etc.) So all you have to do is open an account with a referral link, deposit $5, and then the bonus will post to your account!
The app will ask you to open a paid account, but you can simply open a "beginner" account for $1 a month, and then close your account after 1 month after you get your $20 bonus.
https://get.stashinvest.com/amadeowpr10

SkyOne

SkyOne is a credit union which will pay you a $25 bonus for opening a checking account with a referral link, making a $5 opening deposit, and keeping your account open for at least 30 days.
This credit union services the SoCal area, but anyone nationwide can sign up if you follow the steps detailed below. People are normally required to make a donation to a local charity to qualify for a local credit union bank account when they don't live in the area, but SkyOne will actually pay for a donation to the "Surfrider Foundation" themselves because they want everyone on the US to be eligible! In other words, you don't have to spend a dime! Simply click ("None of the above? We've got you! SkyOne will make a one-time donation to one of the following non-profits") on the eligibility page when signing up.
https://refer.skyone.org/amadeoruiu3

Premier Members Credit Union

Premier Members Credit Union is a credit union which will pay you a $50 bonus for opening a money market account with a referral link, and making a $5 opening deposit. They will also require you to open a savings account alongside the money market account, which also requires a $5 opening deposit.
They are located in Boulder Colorado, but will allow anyone to create an account with them as long as you make a $5 donation to one of their local charities (they walk you through it during account signup). That's a total profit of $45!
And you can close the account at any time, fee free!
referral link (please remember to use my referral code during the account setup too)- https://www.pmcu.org/referred-by-a-friend/VFVJEVQQQ/

Oxygen

Oxygen is a mobile banking app that will pay you $25 for opening an account, depositing $200, and doing 5 debit card transaction within 60 days (You can just buy 5 $1 Amazon GC's reloads, they don't care what the purchase is. Lots of different ways to easily getr this). PM me for a link.

N26

N26 is a banking app (iOS/Android) which will pay you $10 for opening an account and spending $10 or more on a single purchase using their debit card.
The account has absolutely no fees and can be closed at any time. Account signup only takes a few minutes. You need to fund your N26 account from another bank with enough money to make the $10+ purchase. The debit card is shipped to you immediately after account signup. You receive the $10 bonus in the form of a statement credit.
N26 is available on iOS or Android only.
https://n26.com/amadeor4364

Cryptocurrency-

Voyager

Voyager is a crypocurrency trading app (iOS/Android only) which will pay you $25 in free bitcoin for trading $100 on the app! Make sure to use the referral code "AMA60T" in the “Reward Code” field when you create your account. The bonus posts within a couple of days, from my experience.
Referral link-
iOS- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voyager-buy-bitcoin-crypto/id1396178579
Android- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.investvoyager

Constant

Constant is a cryptocurrency P2P investing platform which will give you $10 for signing up using a referral link, verifying your ID (pass KYC), and depositing $10.
So all you have to do is open an account using a referral link, verify your ID, deposit $10 via any means, and then you will get a $10 bonus that posts instantly and you can withdraw to your bank immediately. No deposit required.
https://www.myconstant.com?r=annoyedproduct

Celsius

Celsius is a cryptocurrency investing platform which will give you $20 for signing up using a referral code and depositing $200 worth of cryptocurrency. You must keep your deposit in the app for 30 days to get the full $20 bonus. You can then withdraw the full $240 and close your account fee free.

• https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/101697ce8c

Crypto.com

Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency investing platform which will give you $25 for signing up using a referral link, and "staking (aka, buying and holding) 1000 CRO (their special cryptocurrency, worth approximately $170) for 6 months. You need to apply for their "Ruby Steel" debit card when applying, its a 0 risk debit card, no credit impact, no fees. Combo's well with the Celsius promo if you need a platform to send cryptocurrency from, and you can send the $25 bonus crypto to celsius instantly.

• (enter referral code 66v69rwt76 if not pre-filled)
  • https://platinum.crypto.com/66v69rwt76

Gemini

Gemini is a cryptocurrency trading app/websitewhich will give you $10 worth of bitcoin for signing up using a referral link and buying/selling $100 worth of cryptocurrency.
Unlike the other offers listed here, this one can be used anywhere in the US (except NY), as well as Puerto Rico, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. This bonus posts VERY quickly, within a day or two.
https://gemini.com/share/rllzke26

Coinbase

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency trading platform which will pay you $10 in free bitcoin for trading $100 on the platform!
I would be grateful if you used my referral link- https://www.coinbase.com/join/ruiu_8
They will also give you $12 worth of the "Orchid" cryptocurrency (which can be immediately re-sold for cash) if you watch 3 short videos and answer 3 easy questions.
https://coinbase.com/earn/oxt/invite/t0wvs4k2

Credit Cards-

Chase Freedom

Chase will pay you $200 for signing up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card with a referral link and spending $500 it within the first 3 months. This is one of the best credit card bonuses in the industry!
All you have to do is sign up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card using my referral link, spend $500 within the first 3 months, and then get your $200! You can cancel the card at any time with no fees or penalties.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/ONLMEFPEFJ

Discover IT

Discover will pay you $50 for signing up for a Discover IT credit card with a referral link and making ANY purchase using it within the first 3 months. This is one of the easiest credit card bonuses in the industry!
All you have to do is sign up for a Discover IT credit card using my referral link, make ANY purchase using it within the first 3 months, and then get your $50! You can cancel the card at any time fee free.
https://refer.discover.com/s/hhti4m

Other-

Root

Root is an auto insurance app(iOS/Android) that will pay you $25 to download their app, let it track your driving for 3-4 weeks, and then offer you an auto insurance policy based on your driving data. You can easily ignore their policy offer, take the bonus, and walk away with the $25 bonus which then then go to your PayPal account, sent as a check, etc.
https://rootbonus.com/AmadeoRuiu

Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds is a finance app(iOS/Android) that will give you a free $10 bond to download their app, and open an account using a referral code. You never have to deposit any money into the account to get the bonus. You can sell the bond and take out the money after 90 days. The bond will also earn 5% yearly interest while you wait to withdraw.
The app may give you a popup saying the bonds are sold out (its a page with a celebratory emoji that pops up). I got this too. They make this popup because they sold out of a certain type of community bond, but have replaced it with a new one for referrals. In other words, you will still get your free bond. Just make sure you hit "next steps", set your initial purchase and monthly contributions to $0, and proceed. It should then credit the free bond immediately.
https://worthybonds.com/?r=etyji

SoFi Loans

SoFi loans is offering a $300 bonus for people who opens a new personal loan or refinance an existing student loan.
You should research the pros and cons of student loan refinancing before you consider this option, You can lower your interest rate, but lose some benefits from the federal government. Whether this is worth it to you will depend on individual circumstances.
There's also the option of taking out a SoFi loan.
www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy

Fetch

Fetch Rewards pays roughly 5 to 10 cents (7.5 cents on average) for most receipt scanned. My personal favorite scanning app! Accepts e-receipts if you connect your email/Amazon. Can scan up to 28 receipts in any given 7 day period. $3 minimum payout.
They also give a $2 bonus for signing up using a referral code (open this link from your phone).
https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=JU1GW

Raise

Raise is a discount gift card website, that offers a $5 credit towards your first gift card if you sign up using a referral code. They have gift cards like Amazon or Uber on their site, so its pretty easy to find something you would have needed anyway.
www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy
​
Thank you for checking out my referral post! As you can probably tell, I spend a lot of time searching the web for referral offers. If you would like, feel free to sign up for my mailing list and I will send new referrals that I come across directly to your inbox.
https://mailchi.mp/c52908afbf15/moneywhisperers-latest-finance-tips-latest-finds
I've also put together a small blog with those as well as the referrals listed below. I'd love it if you check it out. Thank you!
https://www.youngmoneywhisperer.com/home

There are a lot of awesome referral opportunities out there, these are my personal favorites! All these offers (besides Gemini) are US only.

Stocks

• Webull: BONUS IMPROVED!! 4 free stocks (2 worth $2.50-$250 just for opening an account, and 2 worth $8-$1600 each for depositing $100).
  • https://act.webull.com/kol-us/share.html?hl=en&inviteCode=PUnH4ruayL3j
• Public: 1 free stock worth up to $50 just for opening an account, no deposit required.
  • Open this link from your phone: http://share.public.com/rayruiu
• Dough: 1 free stock worth $2 - $200 simply for opening an account. No deposit required ($25 deposit required before first withdrawal, but you can then withdraw that too).
  • Open this link from your smart phone:
  • https://dough.com/referrals?referral=XPSSX6DFNF&referredby=Mila
• TradeUP: 1 free stock worth $2.50-250 just for opening an account, and an optional second stock worth $8-$1000 for making a $100 deposit from any source.
  • https://tradeup.marsco.com/activity/market/us-open-price/#/share?invite=6NDX1U
• Robinhood: 1 free stock worth $2.50- $200 for opening an account. No deposit required.
  • https://invite.robinhood.com/amadeor3/
• Acorns: $5 for $5 deposit from any source (additional steps required, please see below details).
  • https://www.acorns.com/invite/TLBCPD/
• Moomoo: 1 free stock worth $10-$1000 for making a $500 deposit.
  • https://j.moomoo.com/000LR3
• M1 Finance: $20 for opening a brokerage account and making a $100 deposit.
  • https://m1.finance/J6aLCt6SRGdW
• Round: $20 for opening a brokerage account and making a $500 deposit. Alternatively, you can make $100 for doing a $10,000 deposit (iOS only)
  • https://app.investround.com/inviteCode/amadeo-r360s0
• SoFi Invest: $50 for $1000 deposit from any source, and $25 worth of bitcoin for buying $10 worth of bitcoin on SoFi Crypto.
  • https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2498539
• Personal Capital: $20 for opening a new account and linking a qualified investment account (e.g. taxable brokerage, 401k, IRA, 529, etc) worth at least $1000. No deposit required!
  • https://share.personalcapital.com/x/oGFEyl

Banks

• Porte: $50 for depositing $500 from any source.
  • https://portebanking.app.link/es7KK8Fb69
• SoFi Money: $50 for depositing $500 from any source.
  • https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749
• Chime: $50 for $200 direct deposit (can easily get around direct deposit requirement, please see details below).
  • https://chime.com/milazadrozny
• SoFi Money: $50 for depositing $500 from any source.
  • https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749
• First Tech Federal Credit Union: $100 for depositing $250 from any source.
  • https://refer.firsttechfed.com/s/AMADEO
• Red Stone Federal Credit Union: $100 for using their debit card 4 times in 30 days.
  • https://www.redfcu.org/specials/refer-a-friend/redeem.html?first=AMADEO&last=RUIU&referralCode=RUI855220
• Radius: $50 for opening a Rewards Checking account and depositing $500 for 90 days. You must use my referral code when prompted during account signup to get the bonus. - TLAM9428D4
  • https://open.radiusbank.com/?utm_source=referafriend&utm_medium=narmi&promocode=9umylb
• Wings Financial Credit Union: $50 for opening a checking account, setting up eDocuments, and doing 5 debit card transactions of $5 or more (anything counts, including Amazon GC reloads), OR a direct deposit of $300+ in 60 days. No fees, can withdraw and close account any time.
  • https://www.referlive.com/wingsfinancial/newcustform/109cb9ea5300f9a4bb2a6884eac831077a4/4/11101268SY4BYUZ
• Aspiration: $50 for spending $250 with their debit card within 3 months, and extra $100 for $1000 spend in 3 months.
  • https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/232Y47KAE4OG8Y8W/
• Stash: $20 for $5 deposit from any source.
  • https://get.stashinvest.com/amadeowpr10
• SkyOne: $25 for opening an account and keeping the account open for 30 days. (additional steps required, please see below details).
  • https://refer.skyone.org/amadeoruiu3
• Premier Members Credit Union: $50 for opening a money market account and making a $5 deposit + $5 donation.
  • https://www.pmcu.org/referred-by-a-friend/VFVJEVQQQ/
• Oxygen: $25 for opening an account, depositing $200, and doing 5 debit card transactions within 60 days (can just buy 5 $1 Amazon GC's reloads, they don't care what the purchase is). PM me for a link.
• N26: $10 for opening an account and making a purchase of $10 or more using their de bit card.
  • https://app.n26.com/referral/amadeor4364

Cryptocurrency

• Voyager: Free $25 worth of Bitcoin for trading $100 on the app. Use referral code "AMA60T” in the “Reward Code” field when you create your Voyager account". Open these link from mobile:
  • IOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voyager-buy-bitcoin-crypto/id1396178579
  • Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.investvoyager
• Celsius: Free $20 for depositing $200 worth of cryptocurrency.
  • https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/101697ce8c
• Crypto.com: Free $25 for "staking" (buying and holding) 1000 CRO (approximately $170) for 6 months. (enter referral code 66v69rwt76 if not pre-filled)
  • https://platinum.crypto.com/66v69rwt76
• Gemini: Free $10 worth of Bitcoin for trading $100.
  • Account Signup: https://gemini.com/share/rllzke26
• Constant: Free $10 for opening an account, verifying your identity, and depositing $10.
  • https://www.myconstant.com?r=annoyedproduct
• Coinbase: Free $10 worth of Bitcoin for trading $100. They will also give you $12 of the "Orchid" cryptocurrency (which can be re-sold for cash) if you watch 3 1-2 minute videos and answer 3 easy questions about that cryptocurrency. (might get waitlisted, I had to wait a month before getting off it)
  • Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/join/ruiu_8
  • Orchid: https://coinbase.com/earn/oxt/invite/t0wvs4k2

Credit Cards

• Chase Freedom: Free $200 for signing up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card and spending $500 within 3 months.
  • https://www.referyourchasecard.com/2f/ONLMEFPEFJ
• Capital One Quicksilver: Free $200 for signing up for a Capital One Quicksilver credit card and spending $500 within 3 months.
  • https://capital.one/2V8xwY0
• Discover IT: Free $50 for signing up for a Discover IT credit card and making ANY purchase within 3 months (even $1).
  • https://refer.discover.com/s/hhti4m

Other

• Root: Free $25 for downloading the app, and allowing it to track your driving for 3-4 weeks. (Need to keep your phone on while driving so it can give you a quote. You can simply reject the offer and take the $25 bonus anyway).
  • https://rootbonus.com/AmadeoRuiu
• Worthy Bonds: Free $10 for opening an account, no deposit required.
  • https://worthybonds.com/?r=etyji
• SoFi Loans: Free $300 for refinancing a student loan or taking a personal loan.
  • www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy
• Fetch Rewards: Receipt scanner app, rewards you 5 cents each for receipts from most major chain stores. Fetch has a $2 bonus for using a referral link and scanning your first receipt (open this link from your phone).
  • https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=JU1GW
• Raise: Free $5 credit towards your first gift card if you sign up using a referral code, you can get an extra $5 off your first gift card purchase. I used it to buy a $10 Uber gift card, combined with their 2% discount, I only paid $4.80 for a $10 gift card!
  • https://www.raise.com/raise-rewards/AMADEO0427

--Details on each offer below--

Stocks-

Webull

Webull is a commission free stock trading platform/app which is giving out 4 free stocks (2 worth $2.50-$250 for opening an account, and 2 worth $8-$1600 each for depositing $100). That's a MINIMUM of $21 in free stock!
Webull is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
Referral link- https://act.webull.com/kol-us/share.html?hl=en&inviteCode=PUnH4ruayL3j

Public

Public is another commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued up to $50) when you create an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required.
Available on iOS or Android only.
http://share.public.com/rayruiu

Dough

Dough is a commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued $2- $200) when you open an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required, though you need to deposit $25 in order to make your first withdrawal (you can also withdraw your initial $25 too).
Available for iOS or Android only.
Open this link from your smart phone-
https://dough.com/referrals?referral=XPSSX6DFNF&referredby=Mila

TradeUp

TradeUP is a commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued $2.50-250) for opening an account via a referral link. No deposit required.
Additionally, they will give you a second stock (valued $8-$1000) for making a $100 deposit.
Available for iOS or Android only.
https://tradeup.marsco.com/activity/market/us-open-price/#/share?invite=6NDX1U

Robinhood

Robinhood is a stock trading platform/app which gives you a free stock (valued $2.50 - $200) when you open an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required.
Available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://invite.robinhood.com/amadeor3/

Acorns

Acorns is an online investing app (iOS or Android) which is offering a free $5 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link, depositing $5, and keeping the money in the account until the 15th of the following month. You can then withdraw the money and close the account, fee free!
If you keep the account longer, they may charge you a $3 fee, so be sure to close it after the 15th on the following month from when you signed up.
Acorns is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://www.acorns.com/invite/TLBCPD/

Moomoo

Moomoo is a commission free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued $10-$1000) for opening an account via a referral link and making a $500 deposit.
Moomoo is available on iOS or Android only.
https://j.moomoo.com/000LR3

M1 Finance

M1 Finance is an investing account, like Robinhood or Webull. If you open an account using a referral link, deposit $100 to a brokerage account, and keep that initial deposit in your account for 30 days, you will get a free $20 bonus that posts within 14 days.
M1 Finance is available on iOS or Android only.
https://m1.finance/J6aLCt6SRGdW

Round

Round is an online auto-investing app (iOS only) which is offering a free $20 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link and depositing $500. Alternatively, you can get $100 if you deposit $10,000.
Round is available on iOS only.
https://app.investround.com/inviteCode/amadeo-r360s0

SoFi Invest

SoFi gives $50 for anyone who signs up for a SoFi Invest account via a referral link and deposits $1000. This offer stacks with the SoFi Money $25 offer (see details above), so you can do both!
Plus, you can get another $25 cash bonus when you buy $10 or more of crypto like Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum. That's a total of $75 cash bonuses with SoFi Invest!
https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2498539

Personal Capital

Personal Capital is a finance tracking website similar to Mint but tailored for investment accounts. If you open an account and link a qualified investment account for tracking (e.g. taxable brokerage, 401k, IRA, 529, etc) with more than $1000 in it, they will give you a free $20 amazon gift card within a couple weeks.
Accounts that do not qualify as valid investment accounts include bank, credit or debit card, Paypal, Stash, Acorns, Kapitall, Groundfloor, WageWorks HSA, Coinbase, digital currency exchanges, and manual investment accounts. Robinhood works!
https://share.personalcapital.com/x/oGFEyl

Banks-

Porte

Porte is a bank/app which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code, and making a $500 direct deposit. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free as soon as you register their debit card (gotta wait a few days to get it in the mail).
A "direct deposit" technically means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment, but you can actually meet this requirement simply by transferring in $500 from virtually any source including bank accounts, cashapp, etc.
Referral link- https://portebanking.app.link/es7KK8Fb69

SoFi Money

SoFi is a bank/app that give out $50 for anyone who signs up for a SoFi Money (bank) account using a referral code and deposits $500 from any source. So all you have to do is open an account with a referral link, deposit $500, and then instantly collect the bonus and then take it all back.
You can close the account at any time with no fees-
https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749

First Tech Federal Credit Union

First Tech FCU is a bank that gives you a free $100 bonus for opening an account and depositing $250 for 30 days. There are no fees, and you can close your account any time fee free. The $100 posts 30 days after you do the $250 deposit and you can then immediately withdraw all the money + the bonus and keep the bonus.
During account signup, say you want to meet eligibility by joining the "Financial Fitness Association", they pay for your $8 membership for you so that anyone nationwide can open an account
https://refer.firsttechfed.com/s/AMADEO

Red Stone Federal Credit Union

Red Stone Federal Credit Union is a bank that gives you a free $100 bonus for opening an account and doing 4 debit card transactions with their card in 30 days. There are no fees, and you can close your account any time fee free. The $100 posts 30 days after you do the $250 deposit and you can then immediately withdraw all the money + the bonus and keep the bonus.
You will get your $100 bonus within 90 days of meeting the above requirements. Keep your account open until you get the bonus.
During account signup, say you want to meet eligibility by joining the "Financial Fitness Association", they pay for your $8 membership for you so that anyone nationwide can open an account. This deal combo's well with the First Tech FCU offer listed above for this reason, you can get FFA membership from one and then easily just use it for both offers.
https://www.redfcu.org/specials/refer-a-friend/redeem.html?first=AMADEO&last=RUIU&referralCode=RUI855220

Chime

Chime is a bank/app which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code and making a $200 direct deposit. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free as soon as you register their debit card (gotta wait a few days to get it in the mail).
A "direct deposit" technically means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment, but you can actually meet this requirement simply by transferring in $200 from virtually any source i.e. bank accounts, cashapp, etc.
https://chime.com/milazadrozny

Radius

Radius is a bank which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code and making a $500 deposit from any source. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free. You need to keep your account open for at least 90 days after depositing the $500, and keep the $500 in there for at least 60 days to be eligible to keep the bonus. So in other words, you can open the account, deposit $500, leave it in there for 60 days, then withdraw the $500 if you wish, and keep the account open for at least another 30 days to get the $50 bonus.
You need to enter my referral code when prompted during account signup top get the bonus, its TLAM9428D4
https://open.radiusbank.com/?utm_source=referafriend&utm_medium=narmi&promocode=9umylb

Wings

Wings Financial Credit Union is a bank offering $50 for opening a checking account, setting up eDocuments, and either doing 5 debit card transactions of $5 or more (anything counts, including Amazon GC reloads), OR a direct deposit of $300+ in 60 days.
No fees, can withdraw and close account any time.
https://www.wingsfinancial/newcustform/109cb9ea

Aspiration

Aspiration is an online bank which is offering a free $50 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link and spending $250, and an extra $100 for $1000 spend in 3 months.
So all you have to do is open a “Spend & Save” account using a referral link, spend $250/1000 using their debit card within 3 months, and then you will get $50/150 posted to your account! There are no fees to worry about! You can close the account fee free whenever you want!
https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/232Y47KAE4OG8Y8W/

Stash

Stash is a finance app that gives out $20 for anyone who signs up for the Stash (bank) or Stash Invest account via my referral link and deposits at least $5 from any source (payroll, another bank account, PayPal, etc.) So all you have to do is open an account with a referral link, deposit $5, and then the bonus will post to your account!
The app will ask you to open a paid account, but you can simply open a "beginner" account for $1 a month, and then close your account after 1 month after you get your $20 bonus.
https://get.stashinvest.com/amadeowpr10

SkyOne

SkyOne is a credit union which will pay you a $25 bonus for opening a checking account with a referral link, making a $5 opening deposit, and keeping your account open for at least 30 days.
This credit union services the SoCal area, but anyone nationwide can sign up if you follow the steps detailed below. People are normally required to make a donation to a local charity to qualify for a local credit union bank account when they don't live in the area, but SkyOne will actually pay for a donation to the "Surfrider Foundation" themselves because they want everyone on the US to be eligible! In other words, you don't have to spend a dime! Simply click ("None of the above? We've got you! SkyOne will make a one-time donation to one of the following non-profits") on the eligibility page when signing up.
https://refer.skyone.org/amadeoruiu3

Premier Members Credit Union

Premier Members Credit Union is a credit union which will pay you a $50 bonus for opening a money market account with a referral link, and making a $5 opening deposit. They will also require you to open a savings account alongside the money market account, which also requires a $5 opening deposit.
They are located in Boulder Colorado, but will allow anyone to create an account with them as long as you make a $5 donation to one of their local charities (they walk you through it during account signup). That's a total profit of $45!
And you can close the account at any time, fee free!
referral link (please remember to use my referral code during the account setup too)- https://www.pmcu.org/referred-by-a-friend/VFVJEVQQQ/

Oxygen

Oxygen is a mobile banking app that will pay you $25 for opening an account, depositing $200, and doing 5 debit card transaction within 60 days (You can just buy 5 $1 Amazon GC's reloads, they don't care what the purchase is. Lots of different ways to easily getr this). PM me for a link.

N26

N26 is a banking app (iOS/Android) which will pay you $10 for opening an account and spending $10 or more on a single purchase using their debit card.
The account has absolutely no fees and can be closed at any time. Account signup only takes a few minutes. You need to fund your N26 account from another bank with enough money to make the $10+ purchase. The debit card is shipped to you immediately after account signup. You receive the $10 bonus in the form of a statement credit.
N26 is available on iOS or Android only.
https://n26.com/amadeor4364

Cryptocurrency-

Voyager

Voyager is a crypocurrency trading app (iOS/Android only) which will pay you $25 in free bitcoin for trading $100 on the app! Make sure to use the referral code "AMA60T" in the “Reward Code” field when you create your account. The bonus posts within a couple of days, from my experience.
Referral link-
iOS- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voyager-buy-bitcoin-crypto/id1396178579
Android- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.investvoyager

Constant

Constant is a cryptocurrency P2P investing platform which will give you $10 for signing up using a referral link, verifying your ID (pass KYC), and depositing $10.
So all you have to do is open an account using a referral link, verify your ID, deposit $10 via any means, and then you will get a $10 bonus that posts instantly and you can withdraw to your bank immediately. No deposit required.
https://www.myconstant.com?r=annoyedproduct

Celsius

Celsius is a cryptocurrency investing platform which will give you $20 for signing up using a referral code and depositing $200 worth of cryptocurrency. You must keep your deposit in the app for 30 days to get the full $20 bonus. You can then withdraw the full $240 and close your account fee free.

• https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/101697ce8c

Crypto.com

Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency investing platform which will give you $25 for signing up using a referral link, and "staking (aka, buying and holding) 1000 CRO (their special cryptocurrency, worth approximately $170) for 6 months. You need to apply for their "Ruby Steel" debit card when applying, its a 0 risk debit card, no credit impact, no fees. Combo's well with the Celsius promo if you need a platform to send cryptocurrency from, and you can send the $25 bonus crypto to celsius instantly.

• (enter referral code 66v69rwt76 if not pre-filled)
  • https://platinum.crypto.com/66v69rwt76

Gemini

Gemini is a cryptocurrency trading app/websitewhich will give you $10 worth of bitcoin for signing up using a referral link and buying/selling $100 worth of cryptocurrency.
Unlike the other offers listed here, this one can be used anywhere in the US (except NY), as well as Puerto Rico, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. This bonus posts VERY quickly, within a day or two.
https://gemini.com/share/rllzke26

Coinbase

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency trading platform which will pay you $10 in free bitcoin for trading $100 on the platform!
I would be grateful if you used my referral link- https://www.coinbase.com/join/ruiu_8
They will also give you $12 worth of the "Orchid" cryptocurrency (which can be immediately re-sold for cash) if you watch 3 short videos and answer 3 easy questions.
https://coinbase.com/earn/oxt/invite/t0wvs4k2

Credit Cards-

Chase Freedom

Chase will pay you $200 for signing up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card with a referral link and spending $500 it within the first 3 months. This is one of the best credit card bonuses in the industry!
All you have to do is sign up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card using my referral link, spend $500 within the first 3 months, and then get your $200! You can cancel the card at any time with no fees or penalties.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/ONLMEFPEFJ

Capital One Quicksilver

Capital One will pay you $200 for signing up for a Capital One Quicksilver credit card with a referral link and spending $500 it within the first 3 months. This deal is basically the same as the Chase Freedom card mentioned above.
All you have to do is sign up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card using my referral link, spend $500 within the first 3 months, and then get your $200! You can cancel the card at any time with no fees or penalties.
https://capital.one/2V8xwY0

Discover IT

Discover will pay you $50 for signing up for a Discover IT credit card with a referral link and making ANY purchase using it within the first 3 months. This is one of the easiest credit card bonuses in the industry!
All you have to do is sign up for a Discover IT credit card using my referral link, make ANY purchase using it within the first 3 months, and then get your $50! You can cancel the card at any time fee free.
https://refer.discover.com/s/hhti4m

Other-

Root

Root is an auto insurance app(iOS/Android) that will pay you $25 to download their app, let it track your driving for 3-4 weeks, and then offer you an auto insurance policy based on your driving data. You can easily ignore their policy offer, take the bonus, and walk away with the $25 bonus which then then go to your PayPal account, sent as a check, etc.
https://rootbonus.com/AmadeoRuiu

Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds is a finance app(iOS/Android) that will give you a free $10 bond to download their app, and open an account using a referral code. You never have to deposit any money into the account to get the bonus. You can sell the bond and take out the money after 90 days. The bond will also earn 5% yearly interest while you wait to withdraw.
The app may give you a popup saying the bonds are sold out (its a page with a celebratory emoji that pops up). I got this too. They make this popup because they sold out of a certain type of community bond, but have replaced it with a new one for referrals. In other words, you will still get your free bond. Just make sure you hit "next steps", set your initial purchase and monthly contributions to $0, and proceed. It should then credit the free bond immediately.
https://worthybonds.com/?r=etyji

SoFi Loans

SoFi loans is offering a $300 bonus for people who opens a new personal loan or refinance an existing student loan.
You should research the pros and cons of student loan refinancing before you consider this option, You can lower your interest rate, but lose some benefits from the federal government. Whether this is worth it to you will depend on individual circumstances.
There's also the option of taking out a SoFi loan.
www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy

Fetch

Fetch Rewards pays roughly 5 to 10 cents (7.5 cents on average) for most receipt scanned. My personal favorite scanning app! Accepts e-receipts if you connect your email/Amazon. Can scan up to 28 receipts in any given 7 day period. $3 minimum payout.
They also give a $2 bonus for signing up using a referral code (open this link from your phone).
https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=JU1GW

Raise

Raise is a discount gift card website, that offers a $5 credit towards your first gift card if you sign up using a referral code. They have gift cards like Amazon or Uber on their site, so its pretty easy to find something you would have needed anyway.
www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy
​
Thank you for checking out my referral post! As you can probably tell, I spend a lot of time searching the web for referral offers. If you would like, feel free to sign up for my mailing list and I will send new referrals that I come across directly to your inbox.
https://mailchi.mp/c52908afbf15/moneywhisperers-latest-finance-tips-latest-finds
I've also put together a small blog with those as well as the referrals listed below. I'd love it if you check it out. Thank you!
https://www.youngmoneywhisperer.com/home