Meet The 13-Year-Old Indian Kid Managing Millions Of Dollars In Crypto

The crypto hype has seen a surge in all parts of the world over the past couple of years. While some countries have embraced this novel technology with open arms, others have been very much opposed to the idea, even going as far as creating policies against trading crypto. One of such countries is India. […]
The crypto hype has seen a surge in all parts of the world over the past couple of years. While some countries have embraced this novel technology with open arms, others have been very much opposed to the idea, even going as far as creating policies against trading crypto. One of such countries is India. […]

The crypto hype has seen a surge in all parts of the world over the past couple of years. While some countries have embraced this novel technology with open arms, others have been very much opposed to the idea, even going as far as creating policies against trading crypto. One of such countries is India. But despite the Indian government’s reluctance in embracing cryptocurrency into its economy, its citizens are going above and beyond to immerse themselves in the crypto market and are coming up with innovative technologies.

The prodigy, in this case, happens to be 13-year old Gajesh Naik, who is in class 8 at People’s High School in Panaji. For a lot of people, the pandemic was a life-changing experience. But while it was unfavorable for most, Gajesh has managed to make lemonade out of lemons. He took advantage of school closure during the pandemic last year to equip himself with skills.

Related Reading | Survey Shows The Most Common Mistakes That Crypto Investors Make

Gajesh to the Daily said, “Since the last one year when physical classes were discontinued due to the pandemic, I decided to take and completed some online certificate courses. Including from University at Buffalo, State University of New York.”

Raising Awareness About Crypto And Blockchain

Gajesh’s first started with creating online content for primary school students in the country. But he was quickly drawn into the blockchain space. Where he then began to develop apps on the Polygon network.

Total crypto market cap chart from TradingView.com

Crypto market continues to see green | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

The 13-year-old wants to raise awareness about blockchain and crypto. And to this end, Gajesh started a YouTube channel where he talks about these two topics. While also appearing and speaking at various crypto and blockchain events.

His YouTube channel currently boasts over 12,000 subscribers. While his Twitter account has amassed a following of over 22,000. An avenue that Gajesh uses to talk about crypto and blockchain-related topics.

Getting An Early Start

The whiz kid started learning coding at just eight years old and has since mastered an impressive number of languages.  At just eight years old, Gajesh was already learning Java, Javascript, C++, and Solidity. However, his interest in blockchain was piqued in 2018 when he attended an international blockchain congress.

Related Reading | A Recap Of Regulatory Season In Crypto

The two apps which he developed this year, PolyGaj and StableGaj, have gained a lot of attention in the news among Indian news outlets over the last week. Both apps are based on the Polygon network which is a “protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.”

PolyGaj is a decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT platform. While StableGaj is a decentralized stablecoin exchange. PolyGaj which has recently been used by billionaire investor Mark Cuban has been used to manage an estimated $7 million in cryptocurrency.

Featured image from Business Today, chart from TradingView.com