Austin Engineer Turned $5K Into $1.8M with Solana - Now He’s Betting Big on BlockDAG

In 2020, Tyler Monroe wasn’t chasing millions. The 31-year-old software engineer from Austin had just joined a cybersecurity firm and was juggling work, loan repayments, and weekend gaming. That’s when he came across Solana. It wasn’t a flashy pitch that drew him in, but the idea of speed. Solana’s use of Proof of History to speed up blockchain transactions piqued his interest.

“I didn’t have deep crypto knowledge,” Tyler said. “But the way Solana handled thousands of transactions per second without crazy fees stood out.”

Back then, Solana traded around $0.70. Tyler decided to use $5,000, money saved for a used car, to buy SOL. He let it sit untouched in his wallet.

Come 2021, things took off. Solana jumped to $55 by May, and his holding crossed $350,000. Still, he didn’t sell. “It wasn’t about timing. I believed the tech had staying power,” he said.

By November, Solana peaked near $258. His $5K ballooned to over $1.8 million. He sold part of it, bought a house, paid off his debts, and left his job. But he never lost interest in Layer 1 platforms.

Why BlockDAG Caught His Attention in 2024

By early 2024, Tyler began hearing chatter about a new Layer 1 called BlockDAG. Initially, he dismissed it as another passing project. But after reading into its documentation and tech stack, something clicked.

“This wasn’t just about faster speeds,” he explained. “BlockDAG was using Proof of Work along with DAG to allow multiple blocks at once. That was new.”

What really impressed him was the structure. It addressed blockchain performance issues like Solana did, but without relying on centralized validators. BlockDAG’s model made network overload and downtime less likely. Tyler followed updates closely and noticed its early growth.

By May 2024, BlockDAG had already crossed $50 million in funding. Its X1 mobile mining app had hundreds of thousands of users. That caught Tyler’s eye.

Putting $150K on BlockDAG’s Tech

Later that year, Tyler made a major move. With BDAG still in its early batches, he allocated $150,000 between batches 7 to 10, when prices ranged from $0.0035 to $0.0052.

“I saw the pattern, solid tech, early entry, community growth,” he said. “But BlockDAG was involving miners and developers even before launching. That stood out.”

By the end of 2024, BlockDAG’s presale crossed $200 million. By Batch 28, priced at $0.0262, the gain from earlier batches reached over 2,520%. Tyler’s holdings were valued at more than $6.5 million, and BlockDAG hadn’t even launched on exchanges yet.

He isn’t planning to sell anytime soon. “This feels like Solana again,” he said. “But more refined.”

The Pattern Behind His Picks

Tyler’s wins weren’t pure chance. His strategy focused on three things: understanding the tech, entering early, and choosing networks that fix real problems. Solana gave him scalability when Ethereum was bogged down. BlockDAG offers performance and decentralization, without needing extra layers.

“Most people run after the latest trend. I look at what’s under the hood,” Tyler said. “Solana proved performance mattered. BlockDAG is proving performance alone isn’t enough, it needs decentralization too.”

Now semi-retired, Tyler consults on smart contracts, guides young developers, and enjoys a more balanced lifestyle. But he’s still closely watching BDAG as the full mainnet draws near.

“With the testnet live, dev tools ready, and the community expanding, there’s room to grow. I believe BlockDAG could still pull off a 20x or 30x climb.”

What Tyler’s Story Tells Us

Tyler isn’t spreading funds across dozens of coins. He’s backing one he believes in. He saw Solana’s edge before it went mainstream and applied that lens to BlockDAG. It’s not just the $246 million raised, 20.1 billion coins sold, or even the $7 million in miner sales from over 17,440 units, it’s the fundamentals. With 15,000 TPS on its roadmap and features like mobile mining and no-code dApp creation, BlockDAG is solving issues that most Layer 1s still face.

With the beta testnet up and a full launch approaching, Tyler believes the real shift hasn’t happened yet. “Solana changed my life,” he said. “BlockDAG might do it again.” His journey is proof: early choices backed by tech can make all the difference.