Bitcoin has been around for a long time, enough to generate its own generation of billionaires and multimillionaires. Some of these stories are about tried and true investors who are familiar with the industry and have worked their way to the top; others are there by accident since they got lucky at the right time.
Our list won’t mention Satoshi Nakamoto, who owns the most Bitcoin, as it wouldn’t be fair since Nakamoto invented Bitcoin and has mined most of it in the early days when no one heard about it yet.
How Did They Make it?
There’s a pattern in how the first Bitcoin millionaires have made it and what sets them apart from the other investors. In most cases, it’s a mixture of being at the right place at the right time and having enough funds to invest in a new venture early on.
Early Adoption
Experience shows that early adoption is the best way to get rich from Bitcoin. Those who were in the know early on bought crypto when it was very inexpensive and waited until it became the phenomenon that it is today. Those were mostly people close to the tech industry and nerds in general.
The Ability to Hold
The best way to earn from Bitcoin is to simply buy and hold it until it reaches the amount that you’re satisfied with. There will be some dips and ups and downs, but in the end, it has proven to be a good investment. Those who had Bitcoin early on and have held on to it for ten years, for instance, have had the most benefits from that ability. It’s tempting to sell when the prices are high, and the ability not to do so is a form of privilege.
Technical Know-How
Bitcoin is both a financial and a technical invention and therefore, it was especially well suited to those who came to the industry from the tech world. Knowing blockchain technology and the ways innovations can be used to predict the price allows investors to make their decisions on time.
Blind Luck
In the end, some of the investors on our list have also had a matter of blind luck. There’s nothing that can be done about it, and some have it.
Success Stories
Here are a few of the most remarkable Bitcoin success stories. The investors on our list are usually a mixture of the qualities we mentioned.
Javed Khan
Javed Khan is an interesting example. He was an unknown trader in 2018 when he bought Bitcoin for $3.000. His approach to a trading philosophy is somewhat unique. “When nobody’s talking about bitcoin, there’s no headlines, that’s a good time to buy.”, said Khan in an interview.
Khan mostly used Bitcoin to transfer funds, as with any other currency, since it was easier than using a bank. However, he kept a portion of his initial investment in a wallet and let it grow for years. In 2020, he cashed the wallet out and bought a Bentley.
Mr Smith, Anonymous Software Engineer
Smith worked at a tech company in San Francisco in 2008, right after graduating from college. In 2010, he invested $3,000. The price of bitcoin was only US 15 cents at the time, which means he had almost 20,000 bitcoins. Unlike other examples on our list, Smith knew what he was doing. “I knew from the very start that I was playing the long game. I wanted to see how high it could go,” he said.
Over the years, the value of his portfolio grew to over $2 million. “I quit my job and left on a round-the-world trip.”
Jeremy Gardner
Gardner first bought Bitcoin in 2013 and became consumed with it over the years. It led to his founding two businesses working in the cryptocurrency industry – The BlockChain Education network, which is a nonprofit that educates people about blockchain technology, and Augur, which is a decentralized prediction market.
At the time, Garner took an interest in Bitcoin, which was worth just a few hundred dollars. Still, it led to him creating a multi-million dollar fortune and becoming one of the biggest proponents of the crypto industry in general.
Kane Ellis
Kane Ellis is the creator of Nerd Herd, a consulting company that works in the world of tech and finance, focused on helping companies integrate the latest tech in their businesses. Then, he went on to launch the CarSwap app. Ellis started mining crypto in 2010 when it was almost unknown to the tech geeks.
Ellis dipped into his crypto portfolio twice. The second time was in the middle of the rush when crypto was already the biggest thing on the market. It was worth $200.000 at the time, compared to a few dollars when he started mining. The first was years before when Ellis bought a McDonald’s meal with crypto as a joke. That would have been worth six figures now.
Laszlo Hanyec
Laszlo Hanyec isn’t like other names on our list, as he’s not well known in the world of crypto and because he didn’t hold on to his wealth. He was one of the early adopters and had about 10.000 Bitcoin in 2010.
He used the funds to buy a single pizza as a joke, and the pizzeria accepted it. In fact, the price of the actual pizza was probably covered by the delivery guy as the pizzeria didn’t really accept Bitcoin, as no one did. No one knows what happened to Bitcoin, as it would now be worth about $800 million.
Mike Novogratz
Mike Novogratz is an interesting example, as he was a veteran of Wall Street trading who later became a crypto investor. It’s a rare breed since most of the heavyweights who worked in traditional finance didn’t see the potential in crypto.
Novogratz was like that on the earliest day of crypto adoption, but he changed his ways in 2015, which is kind of late compared to others on our list. He later founded Galaxy Digital, a major crypto investment firm, and went all in.
Erik Finman
Erik Finman has one of the strangest stories in the world of crypto investing. At the age of 12, he made a deal with his parents that he didn’t have to go to college if he managed to turn the $1000 he got from his grandmother into a $ million.
He purchased Bitcoin for that amount, and as the price of Bitcoin rose, so did Finman’s personal wealth. Finman was 18 when he managed to fulfill his goal of becoming a millionaire. After that, Finman had many other smaller ventures, but none compared to the initial success.
To Sum Up
In conclusion, the success stories of Bitcoin investors reveal a mix of strategy, timing, and sometimes sheer luck. Early adopters like Javed Khan and Mr. Smith capitalized on Bitcoin’s infancy, while tech-savvy individuals like Jeremy Gardner and Kane Ellis navigated the complexities of blockchain technology to build substantial wealth. Laszlo Hanyec’s pizza purchase underscores the unpredictability of Bitcoin’s early days, while Mike Novogratz’s transition from Wall Street to crypto exemplifies a shift in financial paradigms.
These narratives collectively underscore Bitcoin’s transformative power, offering both cautionary tales and inspiring journeys in the world of cryptocurrency investment.
