Around 60 people living in Winchmore Hill, Amersham are investing in cryptocurrency like Koda hoping that it will make them a small fortune.
The Potters Arms pub owner Peter Gilbert, 46, has told many people to put money into Koda which he truly believes will help the old and young become rich.
High-interest rates attracted him to Koda, saying it will be better than “crappy bank accounts that offer up to four per cent – if you’re lucky”.
He has been gifting Koda to every member of staff, 25 to 30 members, as a thank you for their hard work with the aim to incentivise them to stay as well as offering a potential cash sum in the future.
Peter claims he’s made “tens of thousands” from the online currency and is confident that the “future is crypto”.
However, with all investments, there is a risk involved or we’d all be millionaires. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) “regularly warn people against investing in crypto assets”.
Regardless, Peter is more than confident that Koda will continue to rise and claims to have “very good form” with investments.
He told one news publisher: “I can smell money from a mile away and this stinks of it more than anything I’ve experienced in my whole life.
“I’m supremely confident this won’t go wrong and for the people who work for me, it’s a risk-free bet. I have massive faith that this will work.
“Some of my staff have four-figure sums in their little online wallets and half of my village – around 50 or 60 people – are on it too, some are even walking around wearing Koda jumpers.
“People are investing in me as much as they are in Koda, I’m really putting my head on the block here but this is how much I believe in it.”
How does crypto work?
Cryptocurrency is a virtual currency that sits on a ‘blockchain’, this is a ledger that stores and confirms transactions as well as information about the currency.
It gives users the ability to store and make payments without the need to reveal their identity and eliminates the need for a bank.
The value of a cryptocurrency is very much based on supply and demand. If a small number of coins are added to the market then they will cost more than those projects with millions of coins.
Other factors also influence the price of a currency one of the main ones being the usefulness of the project behind it. If the project is in its early stages of development then the coins will likely be cheaper but as it is developed further and has real potential to fill a gap in the market then it will begin to rise in value.
The big players in the crypto space at the moment are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance coin (BNB) but even their value changes both up and down over time.
Koda launched back in May and was worth $0.0000730 and as of this week according to CoinGecko, it’s worth $.0.00089977.
Keep in mind that all cryptocurrencies fluctuate in value daily, for example, Koda had an all-time high of $0.00223939 which is a 2,967% increase from its starting value.
Back in October Koda won the Most Trusted Cryptocurrency 2021 award at a Dubai expo specifically for online currency investors and experts.
Peter believes that rewarding staff in crypto has been instrumental for the hospitality industry which has taken a massive hit due to the pandemic.
“I want my staff to feel appreciated because they are, but as it stands we don’t have a lot of money to spare.
“I’ve been incentivising them with this gift each month if the pub is doing well and they don’t take a day off work.
“They don’t think about having the day off now even if they have been on a bender the night before, they are excited about coming in and it seems to be working,” he said.
Peter gifts his head chef £100, full-time staff £50 and part-time staff £25 in Koda to express his appreciation and has gifted thousands so far.
He does acknowledge they are only small sums at the moment but he does believe they will be worth much more later down the line.
Peter said: “I believe the risk to reward is worth a punt and it’s much better than them sp**king away their money or putting £50 on Chelsea or West Ham”
He says it’s his way of giving back as he’s seriously concerned about youngsters being able to afford houses in the future.
“I’m trying to do something that will change people’s lives and take the edge off so they don’t have to grind 12 hours a day.”
Lauren Mitchell, 19 and part of the staff invests a small amount every month and hopes she’ll “triple or quadruple” it in the future.
She said: “Cryptocurrencies will be important in the future because everything is online now and everywhere is going cashless.
“I feel like I have an upper hand because I’ve invested in it now and have also noticed a change in how I spend my money.
“Before I used to waste £100 or £200 a month on clothes and shoes but it wasn’t necessary.”
“Now I’m investing in my future and hope it will help me to buy a house, it feels good to be putting money into something good that will benefit me.”
Callum Bray, 17 and student who works front of house at the pub. He currently has around £2,000 in Koda and all his family have money in it too.
“I’m not really looking to cash out any time soon and it’s more of a long-term investment.
“I hope to use the money to buy a new car in the future, depending on how successful the coin is.”
“I found that I’m spending a lot less on the things I used to buy before but now I’m investing more in crypto.
“I put more in my wallet every time I get paid as well as the gift Pete is putting in each time too.”
Jane Darby, 50, had around £2,500 invested in Koda before she joined the pub and now has over £6,500 in the currency.
She wants to leave her money in the online wallet hoping it will grow and amount to a life-changing sum of money and she already knows how she’s going to spend it.
“I am in the process of buying a property. We have stables where we keep horses and they need renovating,” Jade shared with the Mirror.
“My ultimate goal is to be able to refurbish them with this investment.”
Jacob Bark, 22, junior sous chef hoping to earn “a nice nest egg” making his “life easier in the future”.
“The reason I tried Koda is that I want passive income, what could be better than going to bed and waking up with more money just by sleeping?
“I’m more positive about crypto since being involved as Pete has helped me look into blockchain and I know that the world is heading in that direction.”
‘Crypto king’ from pest control pro
Koda founder James Gale launched the currency seven months ago and claims there are huge plans for the cryptocurrency’s future.
So far they have had over £1million investments through the online currency in just a few days and predicts it will take off next year.
He’s 34 and manages one of the biggest pest control businesses in the UK and is using his tech know-how to make Koda an ‘authentic business’.
“I had the dream of running a really swanky company that’s technologically advanced, all marketing and software development – and now I have that.”
James will be putting his name and face on the Koda website, this may sound small but in the crypto world, many companies keep their identities hidden in case things go south. Other staff members will also be doing the same to be seen as “more accountable” and authentic.
James first invest in crypto back in 2018 and had a “few big successes” which inspired him to use those skills to launch Koda.
Koda won the Most Trusted Cryptocurrency 2021 award at the Crypto Expo, in Dubai which saw more than 8,000, investors, exhibitors and enthusiasts.
“I started playing around with some of the smaller cryptocurrencies with higher risks and got burned time and time again but I also found how to make money at the same time.”
“You can throw money in and lose it with one click of a button if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Those mistakes taught me what not to do and to recognise that the space needed to be safer, so we’re working on a way to make it that way for others.”
“My biggest piece of advice is to only put in an amount of money that you can afford to lose, like with anything.“
“I was losing more than I should have been at first but it taught me valuable lessons – if I could go back in time I would have saved myself a lot of stress.”
“I know what the scammers do and the red flags to look out for with potential investments and am sharing that with the community, country and world.”
FCA is against crypto
The future of cryptocurrency is never a clear vision and the FCA are certainly not optimistic about it and advise the public to never invest more than you can afford to lose.
“The FCA regularly warns about investing in crypto assets which generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money.”
“If consumers invest in these types of product, they should be prepared to lose all their money and they are unlikely to have access to any redress or compensation schemes.”
“We also advise consumers to check the new FCA Investsmart campaign and website that highlights the risks that exist when investing as well as the ScamSmart website on the risks of being scammed.”
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