--- title: How a Disgraced Former Stock Broker Became an Overnight Bitcoin Billionaire description: The astronomical rise in the price of bitcoin briefly turned a little-known former trader into one of the richest people in America. authors: - name: Billy Perrigo url: https://money.com/author/billy-perrigo/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 17 covers: - Investing - Business - Identity Theft - Lifestyle - Shopping - Technology social: - https://x.com/billyperrigo former_staff: true published: '2017-12-14T18:00:13.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T07:27:05.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Bitcoin - Cryptocurrency - Investing - onetime word_count: 270 canonical: https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![DuJour Magazine And Jason Binn Launch Lionel Richie Home Collection With IMPULSE! International](https://img.money.com/2017/12/mike-poutre.jpg?crop=0px%2C202px%2C2108px%2C1186px&quality=85) *Lionel Richie and Misahara Jewelry Mike Poutre attend Jason Binn's DuJour Magazine and Lionel Richie Home Collection launch with IMPULSE! International at PHD Terrace at Dream Midtown on October 27, 2015 in New York City.* The astronomical rise in the price of Bitcoin briefly turned a little-known former stock market trader into one of the richest people in America. Michael Poutre, the CEO and owner of a fifth of the shares of [Crypto Company](https://www.thecryptocompany.com/), was briefly worth $3.9 billion on paper on Monday, *[The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-made-this-man-briefly-one-of-the-richest-people-in-america-1513197557)* reports, as bitcoin's rise helped rocket his company's stock price to $642 per share. The company says it provides consultation, platforms and infrastructure to businesses interested in digital currencies. But then share prices tumbled by 75% on Tuesday, and rallied to just over $312 per share on Wednesday. In a private deal hinting at the value of the company, Poutre disclosed on Wednesday he had sold shares to "accredited investors" at just $7 each, a 97% discount on Tuesday's market price, [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-13/crypto-company-s-accredited-investors-get-a-sweetheart-deal) reports. The company's stock is still doing far better than it was at the beginning of December, as investors rush to buy into anything related to cryptocurrency. "It certainly seems to be a reflection of the interest in this space," Poutre told the *Journal* of his rise. "One of the reasons we went public was to give the average investor access to this space in a way all can understand." Poutre was suspended from trading for two years and [fined $5,000](https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/2482252#disclosuresSection) in 2010 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, though he has tried to have his record expunged. He has since been involved in several small businesses. The price of Bitcoin was hovering around $16,500 on Thursday, up from under $1,000 at the start of the year. It hit an all-time high of $17,580 on Tuesday. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bitcoin", "item": "https://money.com/bitcoin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "How a Disgraced Former Stock Broker Became an Overnight Bitcoin Billionaire" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/", "name": "How a Disgraced Former Stock Broker Became an Overnight Bitcoin Billionaire", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-12-14T18:00:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:27:05.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "How a Disgraced Former Stock Broker Became an Overnight Bitcoin Billionaire", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/12/mike-poutre.jpg?crop=0px%2C202px%2C2108px%2C1186px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "DuJour Magazine And Jason Binn Launch Lionel Richie Home Collection With IMPULSE! International" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Billy Perrigo", "url": "https://money.com/author/billy-perrigo/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/billy-perrigo/#author", "email": "billy.perrigo@time.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/billyperrigo" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-12-14T18:00:13.000Z", "description": "The astronomical rise in the price of bitcoin briefly turned a little-known former trader into one of the richest people in America.", "abstract": "The astronomical rise in the price of bitcoin briefly turned a little-known former trader into one of the richest people in America.", "@id": "https://money.com/bitcoin-billionaire-michael-poutre/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:27:05.000Z", "wordCount": 270, "keywords": [ "Bitcoin", "Cryptocurrency", "Investing", "onetime" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bitcoin", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin" ] } ] } ] } ```