If You Bought $120 Of Bitcoin 7 Yrs Ago, You’d Be Sitting On A Cool $97M RN

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Published

May 23, 2017

If you ever thought about dabbling in Bitcoin, you probably should have started 7 years ago.

The decentralised digital currency was worth next to nothing ($0.003 per coin) back in May of 2010, but has since increased in value by a dizzying amount. A single Bitcoin is now worth over $US2,200 ($AU3,011).

In other, far more devastating words, if you invested $US100 into the cryptocurrency in 2010, you would now have almost $US73 million ($AU97.6 million). I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Bitcoin was created by a programmer in 2008 as a secure peer-to-peer electronic payment system. You’ve probably heard about it in relation to the deep web and online drug market places like Silk Road. This is because its transactions are difficult to track and therefore, favoured by criminals.

It’s not controlled by any person, company or country and can be obtained by exchange – like traditional currencies – or through “mining”. A miner is a computer that constantly verifies transaction to confirm their legitimacy in exchange for Bitcoin.

Mining requires an incredibly powerful computer or network of computers that can crunch massive numbers to earn the currency, which is why it’s now primarily done by businesses who can afford to do it.

Bitcoin: $10,000 invested in July 2010 is worth over $250 million today. $BTCUSD https://t.co/H1h3eXXPep pic.twitter.com/Ff8P8plFbJ

— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) May 22, 2017

There’s currently around 15 million Bitcoins in circulation and the total amount is capped at 21 million.

Is it still worth investing? Only if you’re game enough. Many investors see it as a high-risk venture, but given its value rose by 130 percent this year alone, there’s certainly the potential for high gains.

But for now, there’s a fuckload of regret getting around out there.