In September of 2016 Bitcoin was selling for $572 a token. One year later that same coin is worth $4,472 at the time of this writing. That’s a substantial return of investment (ROI), and it’s hard to come up with anything else even remotely as lucrative, at least in the short term.
A year may not be a large enough slice of the Bitcoin pie to look at though, after all we’ve seen surges in the tech industry before. While the mainstream is just now getting savvy to cryptocurrency it’s actually been around since 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto invented it.
What if you’d made a $500 investment in Bitcoin before it became such a trendy topic?
Five years ago in December of 2012, at $12 per coin, you could have purchased 41 tokens and had enough change left over for a hamburger and fries, or whatever people ate in the past. Today those coins would be worth $182,275.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
In November 2013 Bitcoin was valued at $1,242, so even if you jumped out when it hit the first peak you’d have made a great ROI.
It’s easy to see this in retrospect, after the chips have fallen. When it comes to technology it’s hard to predict what is and isn’t going to work ahead of time. Cryptocurrency may be the “next big thing” but, whether or not it’s here to stay is a matter that’s up for some debate.
What will the future tell us about Bitcoin? If we look at Tech stocks, using our hind-sight goggles, we can pick a few retroactive winners.
Few could have predicted the disruption Amazon would have when it went public 20 years ago. In 1997, if you bought $500 worth of Amazon stock you’d have $319,000 for your investment now.
That’s over two decades of steel nerves though. It’s worth about $965 per share today, which won’t buy you a quarter of a Bitcoin. And it was $757 a year ago — nearly $200 more than a Bitcoin was then.
And five years ago? You could have traded a single share of Amazon for 20 Bitcoins.
Maybe there’s some room for further optimism concerning cryptocurrency.
Join us on TNW Answers Thursday, September 7 at 10am PDT (1pm EDT) as Sia co-founder and cryptocurrency expert David Vorick sits down to answer your questions about cryptocurrency and the future of altcoins. Get your questions ready, and join us here!
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.