The number of people who are taking up streaming has grown exponentially in recent years. Inspired by popular Twitch streamers like Ludwig and Pokimane, the prospect of making a living simply by entertaining strangers online is one that seems to appeal to an awful lot of people. What many of them may not realize though is that finding success on platforms like Twitch and YouTube is often far easier said than done.

For every streaming success story, there are hundreds, if not thousands, that end in failure. Due to the sheer volume of streamers on Twitch, the streaming scene is an incredibly competitive one, meaning that building up a strong viewership can often take years; not to mention a considerable amount of hard work. At times it can be both a grueling and thankless task, but, as it turns out, making money on the platform isn't always dependent on large viewing figures.

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When Cameron Ferguson began his stream a few nights ago, he could have had no idea that his life was about to change forever. Things started out fairly routinely too, with Cameron playing guitar for his small but dedicated fanbase. As the stream progressed and the number of viewers began to rise, however, he soon realized that this was no ordinary stream.

What Cameron didn't yet realize was that an influential cryptocurrency enthusiast named Cobie had stumbled upon the stream and sent out a tweet instructing his followers to raid it. Cobie then encouraged the streamer to create a Twitter account and install a crypto trading app called Blockfolio and, after he did so, donations quickly began flooding in for the relatively unheard of streamer.

As the amount donated continued to climb, the surprise and delight experienced by Cameron were clear for all to see. He even brought his wife into the stream to share the good news with her, although, much like Cameron, she at first had a tough time believing that the money was real. It's perhaps easy to understand why. By the stream's conclusion, Cameron's Blockfolio account contained an eye-watering $85,000 in cryptocurency. As this reality slowly began to sink in, the streamer took to his newly created Twitter account to thank his generous benefactors and share his delight at having received such a life-changing amount of money.

Twitch raids are nothing new at this point, although the intent of them has arguably changed somewhat in recent years. There was a time not too long ago when stories about fake donations in such raids were fairly common. Now though, raids are typically seen as a way for big names like Mr. Beast to send support to small but deserving streamers. There are arguably plenty of the latter around, but it's perhaps unlikely that any of them will ever be rewarded for their efforts in quite the same way that Cameron was; at least not anytime soon, anyway.

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Source: Dexerto