BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – While the virtual world of cryptocurrency is complicated and ever-evolving, one Vermont family is trying to bring a piece of home into the blockchain.
The Hyde family cat, Odin, spends his days sleeping and roaming among houses in their Brattleboro neighborhood. “He’s handsome, he’s a ham, he’s very decentralized,” said Matthew Hyde.
But you can also now catch a glance of the feline in his newer home online. “I’m not an active trader. I kind of just buy and support coins that I think will do well and flourish,” Hyde said.
The family is now active in eating Odin, a cat meme coin, on Cardano, a community-driven cryptocurrency and database. The family has been attempting to grow the feline’s popularity through social media and thought he was perfect for their coins’ digital artwork. “We just decided Odin since we loved him, and I’m sure other people would as well,” said Thomas Hyde, a Brattleboro High School grad and current first-year student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. He’s pursuing a degree in financial technology and says his dad’s interest in crypto piqued his curiosity. “I thought that my money making more money was a good decision and basically went with that ever since.”
The Hydes say that while making Odin the face of their digital creation, the goal is more than just possible profits. “At the end of the day, if this doesn’t pan out, it’s good experience for him, it’s a project we’re doing as a family, so I think we won already, so to speak,” Matthew said.
“We just want to immortalize Odin on the blockchain. Another thing we like to say is, if you can’t hold Odin physically, you can hold him digitally,” Thomas said.