Man Forgets About Buying $27 of Bitcoin, Is Now Worth About $1 Million

Four years ago, Oslo-man Christopher Koch’s girlfriend scoffed at his purchase of $27-worth of Bitcoin. Chances are she was singing a decidedly different tune last April, when Koch checked back in on his investment and found out it was worth $886,000. And over a cool million today.

Back in 2009, Koch was working on a thesis paper about encryption, which introduced him to the relatively unknown world of Bitcoin. On little more than a whim, he decided to throw down $27 for 5,000 Bitcoins because the encryption process fascinated him and because why not. Koch then promptly forgot about the purchase—until Bitcoin started popping up in the news four years later, that is.  Continue reading

Bitcoin IS Intrinsically Valuable

Image credit: Flickr

By Dan Roseman
Image credit: Flickr

It has been said a lot. Bitcoin is risky because it not “backed” by any government, asset, or commodity and has no intrinsic value in and of itself. It is true that Bitcoin is risky, but not for any those reasons. Bitcoin is risky because it is an entirely new disruptive technology with revolutionary potential in an unknown regulatory environment. The risk lies in Bitcoin’s ability to persevere despite the uncertain regulatory climate and realize its unspoken potential. The jury is still out on that. Continue reading