Barlton & Company
How can a former hedge fund manager build a cryptocurrency?
The first trillionaire, Casey Barlton, with an alabaster smile and sharp, almost bony features, sat at his computer in his studio apartment in Wilmington, Delaware, eating a bowl of cereal, his blue-black skin illuminated by the monitor’s glow.
How’d the six-foot, four inch tall wunderkind become the wealthiest man in history? He’d started Bitcoin, set up a network and ledger called blockchain, which recorded every transaction in his network, and then told NO one about it. He even created an alter-ego, signing his name Satashi Nakamoto.
Before his Bitcoin business, he’d shaken up the Wilmington Stock Exchange (WiSE). Barlton & Co. still runs as Delaware’s largest hedge fund, but Barlton got bored. He wanted to create something to liberate individuals, grounded in reason, to improve prosperity in the world. So like Atlas, he shrugged. One day, he announced his retirement from the firm, and handed the company off to his COO, a Boriqua named Tiffany Gonzalez. She’d grinned slyly as he handed her the keys to what was essentially a high end luxury sedan.
He bought drives, and a bevy of computers, then put them to work in unison, like tiny robots in an army of some kid’s couch. He enjoyed the freedom of trading bitcoins without the government’s overbearing coercion. It was his playground.
He created his wealth using other people’s money. He hedged until he bled. It all bubbled up until he became the first trillionaire. It wasn’t all wine and roses though; the hatred and envy from black white, young and old, absolute strangers and even those closest to him, weighed heavy on him after his windfall.
Once he left the company, he wanted to ensure that the government couldn’t completely touch his funds. So the idea of Bitcoin percolated in his head like coffee.
He figured if he could build a multi-trillion-dollar firm and transform himself into the world’s first trillionaire in 2008, then maybe he would have a chance. He experienced the emotional and conceptual process of making his case for the Bitcoin empire. By remaining anonymous and showing a name that would not be linked to him, he could enjoy the unknown status that such an alias would afford.
He put both his MBA and computer engineering degrees from New Sweden University (NSU) and Delaware Institute of Technology (DIT) to work. It took him multiple eighteen hour days just to construct the network’s structure. Once he’d finished, he rested with his beautiful Polish wife Ewa Nowak by his side. The slim, blue-eyed, busty blonde was actually a novelist....
As he hid in plain sight among the other Wilmingtonians, he felt the urge on October 31, 2008 to issue a white paper and grow the network that would see release in January of the next year.
“You’re doing too much,” Ewa said.
“I’m not doing enough. This is going to be bigger than the Internet.”
“I just made up a character who stumbles upon a murderer of a 1980’s Digicash user.”
“Why would you say that to me?”
“Because I want you to come to bed. You’ve worked long enough.”
Barlton did as she asked. He went to the kitchen to wash out his bowl, and returned to the bedroom.
“If we’re going to do this thing,” he said to her, “we’re going to need this backed by gold or some physical component, yes, but most important, we have to apply individualism and liberty to correct the evils of statism and government control.”
Ewa perked up. “Your whole life is an inspiration. This cryptocurrency is going to launch you without even letting the launch be publicized. I think that you’re going to be bigger than you already are, just know one will know it. I’m going to figure that into my book!”
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Skyler Saunders
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