A successful entrepreneur and self-made cryptocurrency millionaire has said he wants to “unite and empower” the global crypto trading community with a new social networking platform.

Samuel Leach is the founder and CEO of Samuel & Co. Trading, a business he set up in 2012 using £200,000 of his own money earned trading on the markets.

The 27-year-old is also behind Yield Coin, the world’s first multi-purpose backed cryptocurrency token.

Leach has today announced the global launch of Yield Owl, which he hopes will bring together traders and investors and create stronger relationships within the crypto community.

He also wants the network to serve as an educational platform to increase financial literacy, particularly among young people.

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“We got kind of frustrated with the fact that a lot of people aren’t really educated in finances,” he told BusinessCloud.  “We even ran a poll to find out exactly how bad those stats are – and they were really bad!

“More than half of 18 to 24-year-olds didn’t know what they were paying into their pensions every month and around 60 per cent don’t have a five-year finance plan of what their future should look like or even a rainy day fund.”

Leach says Yield Owl will unite and empower the trading community, as well as create new opportunities and new connections for crypto traders and enthusiasts worldwide.

“When you start trading, especially in the retail side, it can be quite a lonely place so we actually created the platform as a home for all of our traders,” he said.

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“The goal with the platform as it’s developed is to educate people and help them with life.”

The platform has already attracted 1,500 users during a pre-registration process and has now opened membership to cryptocurrency traders, forex traders, investors, stock traders and market enthusiasts across the world.

Yield Owl is one of a series of projects funded by Yield Coin, which launched for $78 million last month.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have over 1,500 users already active on the platform and are excited to welcome new members to our rapidly growing community,” Leach added.

“Yield Owl is already one of the fastest growing FinTech networking platforms in the world and the support provided by Yield Coin will only help us grow further.”

Once registered on the platform, members can enrich their Yield Owl profile through LinkedIn and connect with other users by searching for connections by location, name, or company.

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Users can also post updates, trips, events and opportunities to the platform, creating connections through the community forums and groups to engage with the wider community and expand their network.

Leach hopes to attract up to 50,000 users in the first year through partnerships with other platforms, review sites and even digital banks.

“If we partner with a digital bank we would be able to see your spending and make recommendations,” he said.

“You may get a message through your Yield Owl app to say “Hey, do you know you’ve spent 96 per cent more on Starbucks than our average user? It might be worth switching to water!”.

“It’s just a lighthearted way to let you be more aware of your spending.”

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