Making Millions: Three Cases Of Getting Rich Off Bitcoin

Story by Jade Ow

About 6 years ago in 2009, the Bitcoin, a revolutionary internet cash, was born. It had no value at all, and not many people were interested. However, some tech geeks decided to test it out, they bought those early Bitcoins at unimaginably cheap prices. Those people struck the jackpot. 

[Three] years later in 2012, due to the skyrocket of Bitcoin value, many enthusiasts who had almost given up hope in their cryptocurrency, made millions of bucks overnight. 

Photo: NRK

 1  Kristoffer Koch

A Norwegian man [Kristoffer Koch] bought 5800 of them, for US $0.20 a piece, and threw 800 of

them away in a while clearing his laptop.

The latter is worth approximately US$187 000 now, and the 5000 BTC he had could get him five apartments in the wealthier areas of Norway, with several hundred euros to spare. He did not seem regretful about the 800 bitcoins though.

 2  Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Photo: Bloomberg Getty Images

Another example of those multimillionaires are the Winklevoss brothers. People thought they were mad when they invested $11 million in Bitcoin. The amount, the next year, suddenly rose to more than three times of what they had paid for. 

They are currently the wealthiest Bitcoin investors, holding US $40,000,000.00 or approximately 1% of the total number of Bitcoins.

[Editors Note: The Winklevoss twins may sound familiar from the Facebook legal fiasco made popular by the 2003 movie "The Social Network"]

 3  Roger Ver

Photo: NRK

The last example is Roger Ver, also known as the "Bitcoin Jesus" for he used to give out thousands of Bitcoins for free, when the value was negligible. 

His charity was rewarded when his Bitcoins became worth a few million in 2012. All these examples show how chance can change your lives that easily. Those people listed above all took chances on their own money. 

Of course, a major value eruption may not be likely now, but anything is possible, and you may find that the $20 of Bitcoins you invested in several years back may suddenly be worth hundreds.

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Story by Jade Ow

Winklevoss Image Bloomberg and Getty Images

Ver Photo: Technologyreview

Kock PhotoL NRK