The Bitcoin Millionaires

With Full Commitment to the Risk

Arte 2018

State controls: passé. Profits: fantastic – the promises of bitcoins and other internet currencies are great. Her followers believe in a social and technological revolution. Despite extremely volatile exchange rates and warnings of a dangerous bubble, they are investing millions worldwide in digital money. With what aim?

Script and Direction: Maria-Christina Degen
Camera: René Dame / Andreas Nebeling
Editor: Sascha Zimmermann
Production Assistant: Niklas Rathsmann
Production Manager: Susanne Zimmermann
Producer: Michael Fräntzel
Editor: Miriam Carbe
Producer: Stephan Lamby / ECO Media TV-Produktion GmbH

The Dutchman Didi Taihuttu (39) has turned his life and that of his family upside down for Bitcoins and Co. Half a year ago, the entrepreneur owned a house and three cars. In 2017 he sold everything and invested his fortune in digital currencies. The family now spends the cold season in Thailand. Didi’s fortune has increased fivefold in the last six months and in purely mathematical terms he is now a millionaire. But the Bitcoin family wants to benefit from it in the long term and therefore prefers a minimalist lifestyle. If the prices collapse, Didi and his family could be bankrupt overnight.

Robert Küfner and Till Wendler also believe in a revolution in finance through digital currencies. And they want to be at the forefront. The two Bitcoin millionaires founded the start-up Advanced Blockchain AG in the crypto stronghold of Berlin. The pioneers advise companies on how they can use the technology behind bitcoins – the so-called blockchain – in the future. Decentralized data processing that nobody can manipulate – this idea is intended to turn the financial market and industry inside out. Investors and well-known companies are already at the door. But the young entrepreneurs still lack employees with the right know-how. Till Wendler travels to Ukraine in search of programmers. The young entrepreneurs are under extreme pressure. If you want to be at the forefront of the new crypto technology market, you have to be quick.