When Tyler Monroe, a 31-year-old software engineer from Austin, Texas, first stumbled upon Solana in the summer of 2020, he wasn’t looking to become a millionaire. He had just taken a new job at a cybersecurity startup, was paying off his student loans, and spent most weekends writing code or gaming with friends. But after reading up on how Solana promised faster blockchain transactions using something called Proof of History, he decided to take a chance.
“I didn’t know much,” Tyler recalls. “But the idea of a blockchain that could handle thousands of transactions per second without insane gas fees really stood out.”
At the time, Solana (SOL) was trading around $0.70. Tyler invested $5,000, money he’d originally set aside for a second-hand car, and left it sitting in his exchange wallet. He didn’t touch it for months.
Then came 2021. Solana exploded in popularity, its price hitting $55 by May. Tyler’s portfolio had already crossed $350,000. But he held on. “It wasn’t just luck. I actually believed the tech would get adopted,” he said.
By November 2021, Solana peaked around $258. Tyler’s $5,000 had grown to just over $1.8 million. He cashed out a portion, bought a house in Round Rock, cleared his debts, and moved on from the startup. But he never stopped following the Layer 1 space.
Enter BlockDAG, the Next Big Layer 1
In early 2024, Tyler started hearing about a new Layer 1 platform called BlockDAG. At first, it sounded like another crypto buzzword. But after seeing comparisons to Solana and Ethereum, and digging into the technical documentation, he got curious.
“This was different. It wasn’t just about speed. BlockDAG combined Proof of Work with DAG architecture to process multiple blocks at once. That caught my attention,” he said.
The structure reminded him of what drew him to Solana: solving blockchain’s performance issues. But this time, it also came with decentralization baked in, no need to rely on centralized validators or risk downtime from overload. He followed the platform’s updates and watched the presale numbers climb.
By May 2024, BlockDAG had already raised over $50 million. The X1 mobile mining app had hit hundreds of thousands of users. Tyler took it as a signal.
Betting Big, Again
That summer, with BDAG still in early presale stages, Tyler made another bold move. He put $150,000 into BDAG across batches 7 to 10. The coin was priced between $0.0035 and $0.0052 at the time.
“I’d seen this play before, strong tech, early entry, viral traction,” he explained. “But BlockDAG was doing something Solana didn’t: it was bringing miners and developers in before launch. That was smart.”
By the end of 2024, BlockDAG’s presale had crossed $200 million. The coin price had climbed over 2,000%, hitting $0.0262 in batch 28. Tyler’s BDAG holdings were now valued at over $6.5 million, before even hitting public exchanges.
“I plan on holding BDAG for the long term,” he said in a recent interview. “This reminds me so much of Solana in 2021. But the tech here feels more complete.”
Two Bets, One Pattern
Tyler’s success came from more than just early buying. He stuck to a pattern: study the tech, get in before the hype, and only buy into networks solving real problems. Solana gave him speed when Ethereum was congested. BlockDAG gave him scale and decentralization without waiting for layer-2 patches.
“People chase hype. I chase architecture,” he says. “Solana showed the market needed performance. BlockDAG is showing it needs performance without centralization.”
Today, Tyler is semi-retired. He consults on smart contract security, mentors a few crypto developers, and spends more time outdoors than in front of screens. But he’s still holding his BDAG and watching closely as the mainnet nears.
“The testnet is already live, the dev tools are in place, and the community is growing fast. If BlockDAG hits even half of what it’s aiming for, this could easily be a 20x or 30x run from current levels.”
Looking Ahead
Today, Tyler isn’t chasing hype or diversifying across dozens of tokens. He’s doubling down on what he believes could be the next major breakout. Solana gave him $1.8 million because he saw its technical edge early, before most people paid attention. Now, he’s applying that same approach to BlockDAG. What caught his eye isn’t just the $240.5 million raised or the 20 billion coins sold, it’s the architecture. BlockDAG’s hybrid of Proof of Work and DAG, its 15,000 TPS roadmap, and features like mobile mining and no-code dApp tools show that it’s solving problems that many Layer 1s still haven’t cracked.
With the beta testnet already live and full mainnet launch ahead, Tyler’s convinced the biggest moves haven’t even started. “Solana changed everything for me,” he says. “BlockDAG might do it again.” For anyone watching from the sidelines, Tyler’s journey is a reminder: early decisions on strong tech can change everything.
Presale: https://purchase.blockdag.network
Website: https://blockdag.network
Telegram: https://t.me/blockDAGnetworkOfficial
Discord: https://discord.gg/Q7BxghMVyu
Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.
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