Michael Jerome sat through ten minutes of his accounting lecture at Virginia Business School. Then he logged off. The next day, he dropped out completely.
This was 2021. His mates were probably cramming for exams whilst Michael was buying JPEGs of apes. Absolutely mental when you think about it.
But that’s threadguy for you. The blonde-haired bloke who’s now everywhere in crypto—interviewing CEOs, hosting daily streams, and somehow getting himself into the wildest situations.
Trading Trainers to Trading NFTs
Threadguy real name is Michael Jerome, and he’s from Virginia. Before crypto, he was flipping trainers and trading cards. Normal teenage stuff, really. But normal wasn’t cutting it for him.
“I either do things all or nothing,” he said. “I’ve always been this way.”
That’s a proper gamble, though, isn’t it? Drop out of uni to buy digital art when your parents are probably hoping you’ll become an accountant. Bold move.
He started writing Twitter threads about NFT projects he liked. Called himself DiscoverxNFT back then. No personality, no jokes—just information. Went from zero to 5,000 followers in three months.
The Michael we know now, the one shouting “Yo yo yo, GM GM, baby!!” every morning, used to post boring threads. Character development, that.
The Golden Ape Changes Everything
December 2021. Michael swaps an XCOPY piece for a Mutant Ape. That golden-furred ape became his profile picture. People started recognising the ape before they even saw his name.
It was at that time that Tally Labs hired him to be their “Director of Vibes”. Brilliant job title. Proper crypto nonsense. But it worked.
At first, he was terrified of speaking in public. “I didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” he confessed. But come June 2021, he’d warmed up to the idea of hosting a podcast. Found his voice after a few months of experimenting.
Fast forward to 2025. The man streams six days a week on ThreadGuy Twitch and videos on ThreadGuy YouTube. That is more dedication than most people devote to their actual jobs.
In February 2025, he got onto Adin Ross’s stream with his crew. Ross has more than 20 million followers. Their video “Teaching Adin Ross How to Trade Memecoins” was their second biggest hit. Not bad for a uni dropout.
The Argentine Coin Disaster
Then came the LIBRA memecoin mess. Proper car crash situation. In early 2025, accusations were flying about insider trading. The coin tanked. Michael was stuck right in the middle of it.
This time, he wasn’t wearing a dashing suit with his golden hair perfectly styled. He looked gutted.
“Most people in this market will eventually be ‘rekt’,” he said. “The number of people who can truly make money is very small. No one is willing to actively promote this casino, yet I inadvertently played that role.”
That hit different. The hype man was being brutally honest for once about how dodgy this whole game really is.
Four days after LIBRA collapsed, he posted a ten-minute video. He said he didn’t have insider information. Said there was no evidence he traded early. Whether you believe him or not, the damage was done.
He disappeared from social media for 20 days. In crypto, that’s like a year. People wondered if he’d come back at all.
Why His Story Actually Matters
Michael’s back now, still creating content across all his platforms. The LIBRA thing hasn’t killed his career, though it’s definitely left a mark.
But here’s what makes his story interesting beyond just one bloke making it in crypto. Traditional jobs still want you to “start as an intern” and work your way up for decades. Meanwhile, according to CoinGecko’s 2025 data, crypto workers aged 18-25 jumped from 17% in 2021 to 43% in 2025.
Threadguy age puts him in Gen Z, but his reach goes way beyond that. He’s part of something bigger where your Twitter following matters more than your degree, where a meme made at 3 am can be worth more than years of grafting, and where you can interview a former president one day and get absolutely roasted online the next.
Consistency Over Everything
Michael hammers home one point constantly: just keep showing up.
“The most important thing is consistency,” he said. “Even if you aren’t number one right now, if you keep putting out content, you’ll outlast most people.”
Solid advice, that. So many creators burst onto the scene for two months, then burn out completely. Michael’s been doing this for years now. Through scandals, through market crashes, through getting slated constantly.
“Outlasting the herd is extremely underrated,” he said. And he’s spot on.
Look at any successful person. The common thread isn’t genius or luck—it’s showing up repeatedly, even when things go pear-shaped. Even when an Argentine coin has dragged your name through the mud.
What We Can Learn From This
Threadguy net worth isn’t public, and honestly, that’s not the interesting bit. The point is how someone with no great advantages turned into a major figure in an industry that churns over a billion pounds per year by being himself and mostly authentic.
He is part of a generation with careers that did not exist five years ago. How they used memes, livestreams and Twitter to make something from nothing. Rewriting the rules while everyone else is still trying to figure out what the old rules were.
Old markers of success, like university degrees or corporate experience, or climbing the ladder, matter less in places like crypto. The industry cares about your ideas, your content, your understanding of the culture, and your willingness to take massive risks.
Michael took that risk. Walked out of accounting class after ten minutes and bet everything on digital apes and coins that only exist online.
Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes you end up in the middle of a memecoin scandal, getting roasted by thousands of people. That’s the gamble.
Where Things Stand
As of November 2025, Michael’s still active on Twitter, ThreadGuy Twitch, and ThreadGuy YouTube. Still doing his shows, still interviewing major players, still sporting that Mutant Ape profile picture.
The LIBRA controversy hasn’t destroyed him. If anything, it’s made him more human. People like someone who can admit when things go wrong, even in an industry built on hype and endless optimism.
But there’s more wisdom there now. More understanding that this wild west comes with real consequences for real people. That promoting coins isn’t just a game—it can actually hurt people when things collapse.
Taking huge risks could pay off, but they’re called risks for a reason. Michael’s gamble paid off, but for every story like his, there are countless tales that didn’t end so well. Consistency matters more than perfection. You don’t have to be the best. You just need to keep showing up when things get tough.
And authenticity has value. People responded to Michael because he was genuinely enthusiastic, even when that enthusiasm led him into dodgy territory. At least it felt real.
The crypto world might feel like nothing matters and everyone’s just having a laugh. But when real money is involved, when people are investing their savings based on what influencers say, things get serious quickly.
Michael Jerome learned that the hard way. His journey from that Virginia accounting lecture to the centre of crypto culture is one proper story. And sometimes a proper story with real ups and downs is the most valuable thing of all.
