Who is DCinvestor? Influencer with a $100M NFT portfolio
The insight and Twitter insights of this analyst have helped many aspiring crypto enthusiasts navigate the NFT space. In his posts, he often looks at digital tokens from a global perspective, which helps him assess current trends. He is also known for giving accurate forecasts regarding the development of certain projects. He also owns the largest NFT portfolio in the history of the industry, which was estimated at $100 million in 2022. Today we will talk about Aftab Hossain, better known in the crypto world under the nickname DCinvestor.
Who is DCinvestor?
DCinvestor is a strategic advisor and private investor in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space with a focus on decentralized finance (DeFi) technology. Aftab Hossain led the Organizational Strategy & Design Practice and the Blockchain Working Group at Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC. He worked closely with the leadership of the federal authorities, who highly appreciated him for offering solutions that greatly increased the efficiency of work. Hossain’s responsibilities included supporting federal agencies in founding new organizations and developing business models to meet current and future challenges.
DCinvestor is known as a supporter of Ethereum, the second largest blockchain in the world by market capitalization and the leading platform for programmable decentralized applications. He is sure that one should “respect the blockchain”:
i often get asked what my investment philosophy is, and what my long-term thoughts are on crypto within its context as a still difficult-to-use, emerging technology
i discuss all of this and more on this episode of @BanklessHQ https://t.co/TfxLTagvcO
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) November 11, 2021
He also regularly posts helpful and educational content on Twitter and talks about his journey as an NFT investor. However, on his Twitter profile, he insists that he does not give specific investment advice. Influencers often talk about themselves on social media in the third person.
DCinvestor Official Links
- Official NFT Gallery https://gallery.so/dcinvestor
- Official OpenSea account,
- LinkedIn @aftab,
- Twitter @iamDCinvestor – over 230k followers.
Path of DCinvestor to the NFT world
Prior to his serious passion for NFT, Aftab Hossain worked as an analyst, as well as a specialist in organizational design and transformation processes in companies such as Booz Allen, Deloitte and Grant Thornton.
Aftab Hossain’s journey into the NFT industry began when he became interested in Bitcoin in 2013 and later in early projects such as CryptoKitties. In 2016, he discovered Ethereum. It should be said that at that time DCinvestor did not yet perceive NFTs as works of art. But at the same time, he already saw in the games Cryptokitties and Axie Infinity (by the way, the game recently appeared in the AppStore) great potential that can be used in the future in gaming ecosystem or digital metaverse.
According to the influencer, he has always had an interest in collecting. In his youth he collected stamps. He jokes that he switched to non-fingible tokens as a collectible since they don’t take up any physical space, which suited him just fine (the future owner of the largest crypto portfolio used to live in a small apartment).
DCinvestor in the NFT world
In 2021, DCinvestor gradually began to notice the growing popularity of NFTs and the fascination of collectors with collecting new tokens. In particular, he became interested in the CryptoPunks collection from Larva Labs. At the beginning of the year, DCinvestor purchased its first token – CryptoPunk #294, paying about 12 ETH for it (note that now the floor price of this collection is about 52 ETH). The future influencer liked CryptoPunk #294 so much that he began to use it as an avatar in social networks.
4/ With that out of the way, the first "art" project I started to dive into (after years of being personally focused on in-game NFTs), was #CryptoPunks by @larvalabs.
Punks are widely acknowledged to be the first digital collectible on Ethereum, pre-dating the ERC-721 standard. pic.twitter.com/ME8vJYe9xS
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) February 14, 2021
Aftab Hossain justifies his choice as follows: as blockchain art gains momentum, the demand for collectible OG items will grow.
After acquiring the CryptoPunk token, the influencer realized that the Ethereum platform holds many more interesting collections. Therefore, he decided not to stop there and invested in the Socks (also known as Unisocks) project from Uniswap. DCinvestor plans to hold Socks tokens as something reminiscent of the evolution of DeFi technology.
🧦 Announcing Unisocks – a limited edition, dynamically priced sock!!!
Now purchasable on https://t.co/fJv6jrJwCL pic.twitter.com/KnUfPprvj7
— Uniswap Labs 🦄 (@Uniswap) May 9, 2019
The next project that caught the attention of DCinvestor was The Hashmasks. He liked that The Hashmasks can boast not only beautifully designed digital avatars, but also a strong community.
So Aftab Hossain became the owner of tokens from two collections focused on generative art. After some time, he discovered the Art Blocks platform, which provides artists working in this direction with enough space for self-expression. DCinvestor especially liked the Ringers collection by Dmitri Cherniak.
16/ @artblocks_io has been around for several months and has already built up a stunning collection.
While I think many of the series have great aesthetic value (and own pieces from many), the Ringers series from @dmitricherniak has captivated me.https://t.co/ASPJoICwjm pic.twitter.com/1ccgDd0lbq
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) February 14, 2021
Passionate about generative art, the influencer has invested in:
18/ Once I saw the beauty (and potential) in generative art to become THE genre which blockchain could give life and meaning to, I scrambled to collect pieces from some of the foundational series in the genre.#Autoglyphs from @larvalabs were a must have.
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) February 14, 2021
- Squiggly WTF
20/ After chatting with some folks, I realized I had missed another piece of history: @squigglyWTF
Squiggly helped catalyze the NFT gen art scene, and many view it as a turning point in the genre.
Only 100 were created, and I think they're beautiful.https://t.co/c6zCFhCr8s pic.twitter.com/3QYo9uBnR5
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) February 14, 2021
DCinvestor has been able to acquire a number of works by “early” digital artists such as XCOPY, Anne Spalter, Coldie and others. The influencer’s gallery of top-notch NFTs is certainly a phenomenal collection and bears witness to its owner’s extraordinary crypto knowledge, broad outlook, and entrepreneurial spirit.
NFT projects of DCinvestor
Today, the influencer does not create his own NFT projects, but focuses on collecting as a form of investment in digital assets. However, in one of his tweets, back in 2021, he shared his plans to open a virtual art gallery on the Ethereum blockchain.
22/ One day, I hope to create some kind of virtual exhibition to celebrate generative art on #Ethereum.
It's funny because I've been in Ethereum & DeFi for so long, but barely paid attention this incredible #NFT art scene right under my nose.
But I'm glad I found it when I did.
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) February 14, 2021
NFT collection of DCinvestor
The influencer has a rich NFT collection (more than 900 pieces) both in terms of historical, cultural value, and in terms of valuation:
- Autoglyphs,
- Ringers и The Eternal Pump by Dmitri Cherniak,
- Nouns,
- Twin Flames от Justin Aversano,
- mfers,
- Archetype by Kjetil Golid,
- Fragments of an Infinite Field by Monica Rizzolli,
- Chromie Squiggle by Snowfro,
- Meridian by Matt DesLauriers,
- Other works by XCOPY, Coldie, Beeple, FEWOCiOUS,
- CrypToadz,
- Damien Hirst – The Currency,
- CryptoPunks,
- Meebits,
- Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs,
- PROOF Collective,
- Moonbirds,
- The Hashmasks.
In 2022, the estimated value of his investment portfolio was about $100 million.
Collaborations of DCinvestor
To date, DCinvestor conducts independent investment activities and does not enter into partnerships with other representatives of the crypto space.
Opinion of DCinvestor about the NFT market
The influencer speaks very warmly of the digital creator XCOPY, calling him a possible contender for the title of the most famous crypto artist of all time, and regrets that he did not acquire more than 1/1 NFTs from XCOPY in his time. Also, DCinvestor has a high opinion of the mfers collection and the artist Tyler Hobbs, whom he calls a genius.
Aftab Hossain gives the following recommendations to all novice investors:
- Search and collect only what you are really interested in;
- Don’t fall for the FOMO Syndrome;
- Don’t buy NFTs expecting a financial return as you may be very disappointed as tastes change rapidly.
And when asked what NFT collection he would buy from if he had to spend 185 ETH from his wallet for one token, DCinvestor confidently answers: “Autoglyph”.
The influencer is known to view NFTs not only as pieces of art, but also as a significant value proposition for Ethereum and other decentralized network systems. He also admires contemporary generative art for its aesthetic value and supports the idea of licensing CC0.
i think for artists who strive to be corporations, CC0 / public domain is probably a neutral-to-bad thing
i think for artists who want to spread their creativity and leave a lasting legacy on their medium and those who follow, CC0 / public domain can be absurdly powerful
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) August 7, 2022
And here is his opinion on the convenience of interacting with DeFi technologies and NFT projects:
every DeFi project and many NFT projects should ensure users can self-host and interact with contracts via a UI
if the distros are signed, this has the potential to be more secure than visiting a web page, and gives the user confidence they can use the service if site goes down https://t.co/RIZ3vcsy07
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) April 4, 2022
Opinion of NFTmetria
Aftab Hossain, better known as DCinvestor, is one of the earliest and visionary NFT investors and influencers. For a long time, he carefully collected his collection of tokens, which included many well-known projects today. DCinvestor is optimistic about the future of NFTs and generative art. And while he insists that his posts are not in the nature of specific financial advice, they are a powerful source of inspiration for many crypto fans.
