‘What do you know about Bitcoin?’ Edward asked, relaxing back into his chair.

William shrugged. ‘Dunno, same as everyone else, Dad. It’s a payment system. You have people who mine the bitcoin which has a value and then you can use the coin to buy stuff. It’s like money but it’s all recorded. Right?’

‘That’s good enough,’ said Edward, giving nothing away. He paused before continuing,

‘From tomorrow, you will learn everything there is to know about Bitcoin. Learn about the exchanges, learn about the different currencies, the other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin…everything,’ he instructed.

‘Sure,’ said William. ‘Why?’ he asked, sure that there were more qualified experts out there that his father could buy.

‘I’ll tell you in good time. Just learn everything you can. Speak to Damon in the morning. Start with $5000 to get on the exchanges, play around. Let’s see how you do, then I’ll tell you why,’ stated Edward.

William nodded. He wanted to jump up and fist pump the air. He was finally going to get ‘in’. Keeping his cool, he stood up and put out his hand to shake Edward’s. His father’s enormous hand engulfed his. ‘Thanks, Dad, I’m going to make you proud,’ said William.

When William walked into the ballroom the next day, there was a new table next to Damon, the accountant, who was already at his desk. He pushed his thick-rimmed, black glasses up his nose and sniffed, before looking up.

‘This is your table, William,’ said Damon, staring at him before wrinkling up his nose as if he’d encountered a bad smell.

‘Cool man,’ said William, as he walked over to the desk. A laptop had been placed on the table, with stationery and a notebook. ‘Looks good,’ said William picking up each item and inspecting them.

He could feel Damon’s eyes on him. ‘Yes?’ he asked.

Damon stood up and walked to William’s desk. He opened up the laptop, handing him a piece of paper.

‘Here are your passwords,’ said Damon and typed them in.

‘You have access to the internet and anything you need. Your father has asked me to transfer $5000 for the Bitcoin project. I hope you know what you’re doing. The bank details, where the money sits, is also on the paper I’ve just given you. Maybe put that somewhere safe?’ sneered Damon, hunching his shoulders before focusing on his screen again. As he snorted and pushed his glasses up his face, William imagined him slithering out of his clothes. The man was really creepy.

‘Ya sure, thanks,’ said William trying not to reveal how much Damon grossed him out.

From behind his large computer screen, Damon said, ‘Your web surfing is monitored and any accounts and passwords you set up are stored, and we have access to all of it. Just in case you were thinking of doing anything that you shouldn’t…’ Then he coughed — a wet rattling cough that made William feel sick to his stomach. He swallowed hard, looked at his computer screen and sighed. His father said he had to learn about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but William actually already knew more than he’d let on. Moving frequently between schools and not really having friends meant spending many hours online — exploring coding and the world of cryptocurrency.

While he still hadn’t managed to figure out the coding or buy the machine power required to mine the Bitcoin, William understood the principles well. With most of his childhood spent listening to conversations involving trade, he’d always been curious and learnt as much as he could about stock exchanges. Many of the concepts and practices made perfect sense to William, but he didn’t have actual trading experience. Before he left the USA, he met a group of geeks who created an investment club. They all chipped in some money and began trading through an account one of their fathers had set up for them.

Unfortunately, he’d left the USA shortly thereafter and didn’t learn much more than a couple of basics from the club. Being in South Africa for the past two years, he’d only tinkered and had some minor successes, but enjoyed comparing traditional and cryptocurrency exchanges.

William sat down and immediately started surfing the net. No matter what Charles and this creep Damon thought of him, William knew his father recognised what he was capable of. He’d cruised through school because it was boring. But, if he actually applied himself, his results were exceptional and subjects like maths, computer science and accounting were in the As. The rest were passable. William only did what he liked and didn’t see why he should have to work at something he didn’t enjoy. His father had sent him on a speed-reading course and, because he could read at double the speed of most people, he’d read through ten different websites in a short space of time.

Once satisfied that he understood everything, William started trading. He chose an exchange which had been around for a while and created an account. After watching it for a few days, he could decide where to buy and do some more research into the stock being traded.

‘William! Coffee!’ boomed Edwards voice from across the ballroom.

‘Sure, Dad!’ shouted William in response.

The remainder of the week passed by in very much the same way. Damon’s wet cough and snide remarks were accompanied by Charles’ spying and his father’s demanding coffee habit. Despite their interruptions, William was making good progress on the exchange. He bought a few coins that were growing nicely and had created a fake social media profile to follow other coin traders. He studied what they spoke about — noting the language they used, what they shared and then looked for them on the exchanges. William was the ultimate chameleon and began to imitate their behaviour. Very quickly he’d become part of the scenery, almost as if he’d always been there. Edward walked past his desk one morning and peered over his shoulder at his computer screen.

‘Why are you on social media?’ he asked.

‘I’ve created a fake profile,’ he explained, clicking through to his home page. ‘See?’ he said, pointing to a picture of a person who looked like William but wasn’t. ‘It’s an AI-rendered image of myself. So, it distorts my photo so that it could be me, but you would never be able to face match it to me on a passport system or anything like that,’ said William.

‘So?’ asked Edward.

‘Well, all these bitcoin and crypto guys are big on social media. If you can get into their offline circles you get insider information. But I have to build up the credibility. I’ve managed to rebuild my old social media sites, so it looks like I’m not a bot and then I have history too. These guys are coders and maths boffs, so I have to be careful or they will figure me out quickly. So far, I’ve created the kind of profile they will think is legit and can trust. It won’t be long before they take me into their fold.’

‘Hmph. OK. But what about the actual trading. Show me that,’ demanded Edward.