How to use Bitcoin to Give Yourself 0% Personal Loans

Manufactured spending with cryptocurrencies.

Back in 2013 there was a funny story circulating about a infamous man named Brad Wilson who racked up over 1 million credit card points without actually spending any money. It is one of the most creative and lucrative personal financial hacks I’ve ever seen.

Brad learned about the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 that sought to put more $1 dollar coins back into circulation by allowing citizens to buy the coins directly from the US Mint website at face value.

From 2012 to 2016, new Presidential coins were minted and sold to collectors.

Shipping was free, and to Brad’s surprise, the Mint accepted credit cards. So Wilson pulled out his AMEX, which offered reward points for every dollar spent, and he started buying up $1 coins in bulk from the Mint’s website. At the end of every month, he would walk the coins back into his local bank and deposit them into his checking account, then use the cash to pay off his credit card bill in full. He was moving money around in a big circle.

His purchases were all in the ~$1,000 range, and he made about 10 of them per month. He racked up over 800,000 reward points in less than a…