Way back around 2009-2010 when I first read about Bitcoin in the media, I remember thinking to myself, "Sounds interesting. Maybe worth having a £300 punt and just sitting on it."

The only thing was, I couldn't figure out how to buy. The banks were not up on it, and there weren't all the wallets available like today. In the end, I gave up and life and work got in the way.

 

Bitcoin's story is now history, but I was wondering. How did early adopters manage to buy their Bitcoin?  If there are any here on AN, was it easy for you?

 

 

3 minutes ago, phetphet said:

The only thing was, I couldn't figure out how to buy

Same here.

Wasn't until 2015 I found coins.co.th, my first purchase was 9.9 Bitcoins, capped for the first purchase. 

 

 

I have put about 4% of my portfolio in Crypto ETFs through legit name brokers.

The early days you could buy BC online.  The fees were very high and the security sucked lots of scams with no government insurance.  

10 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Way back around 2009-2010 when I first read about Bitcoin in the media, I remember thinking to myself, "Sounds interesting. Maybe worth having a £300 punt and just sitting on it."

The only thing was, I couldn't figure out how to buy. The banks were not up on it, and there weren't all the wallets available like today. In the end, I gave up and life and work got in the way.

 

Bitcoin's story is now history, but I was wondering. How did early adopters manage to buy their Bitcoin?  If there are any here on AN, was it easy for you?

 

 

 

 

Bought in around 2015/16.......but keep selling each time the price jumped (stupid looking back).....down to just less than one bitcoin now.

 

 

Opened a Coinbase account around 2015 after reading something online as I though it sounded interesting considering I became a Goldbug after the 2008 financial crisis. 

 

Didn't have a clue what I was doing and bought next to nothing. Duh!!! 

 

I can remember they were restricting fiat deposits to something like $20 a month or something incredibly low on the account I had at least, if my memory serves me correctly? Could be wrong on that.

 

Decided in 2017 to close the account as I didn't use it. Customers services contacted me advising that I move my balance to self custody. Once again didn't have a clue what that meant so told them it was all too complicated so keep it and have a beer on me. Double Duh!!!

 

2018 got talking to an Ozzie bloke I used to play online games with. Can't recall what he said exactly but I do recall a lightbulb went off in my head. Opened a now defunct BX account and the rest is history as they say.

 

I watched a really interesting podcast a while back when some bloke was talking about the stages most Bitcoiners go through, it was so accurate. Went something along the lines of.

 

1. Heard about it but not interested and don't understand it. Bloody Ponzi scheme for crooks.
2. Intrigued so decide to look into it a little more and maybe have a dabble.
3. Start to become more interested.
4. Become mega interested, but only due to focusing on 'number go up'.
5. Bitcoin Maxi stage. Price has nothing to do with anything, that's just a side effect. This is a revolution. $1m BTC side effect incoming. 

Before I opened an account with any exchange I had previously bought coins on Ebay.

 

What if I told you that it is still early days?

6 hours ago, hotsun said:

What if I told you that it is still early days?

 

Quantum supremacy would like a word. 

On 7/30/2025 at 8:35 AM, phetphet said:

Way back around 2009-2010 when I first read about Bitcoin in the media, I remember thinking to myself, "Sounds interesting. Maybe worth having a £300 punt and just sitting on it."

The only thing was, I couldn't figure out how to buy. The banks were not up on it, and there weren't all the wallets available like today. In the end, I gave up and life and work got in the way.

 

Bitcoin's story is now history, but I was wondering. How did early adopters manage to buy their Bitcoin?  If there are any here on AN, was it easy for you?

 

 

(I think) I found out about Bitcoin from watching The Keiser Report on RT. I managed to find a CEX and opened an account. As I was paid in CHF there was no real CHF -> BTC direct route and even if I did CHF -> USD, the cheaper currency converters wouldn't allow transfers to crypto exchanges "because unregulated". I managed to find a web site based in Belgium that let me send CHF in and BTC out and that is how I initially funded my first CEX account.

 

Later, I remember one morning at about 02:00, I did a google search on my mobile phone for low cost CHF -> crypto routes. In those days, Google allowed you to use search operators (these days they just ignore them). Despite that it was on page 15 or so of the search results that I found Lykke, who did not charge any commission on currency conversions and their bank account was in Lichtenstein. I used Lykke mainly for cheap conversions and transfers, but along the way I bought some of their utility token and on a coffee break a colleague pointed out the token had gone up 14x. So I sold 2/3 of it and put 50% of that into a mining pool and got nearly wiped out, LOL. 8K in, 2K out or something like that.

 

At one point I entertained the idea of buying CHF 50 per month of BTC, and I think I decided against it because at the time there was only Bitcoin Suisse, who, typically for a Swiss outfit, wanted an unearned 3% slice for converting my fiat into digital gold. I think "Penny wise, pound foolish" is the story of my financial life.

16 hours ago, Everyman said:

 

Quantum supremacy would like a word. 

I've spent some time looking into this, because it sounds scary, but I conclude in effect it is going to be a nothing burger. It already is a nothing burger.

 

There are some real threats, but they are contingent on some real advances in the QC space that are some years away, as well as not taking a couple of precautions plus a couple of updates to the Bitcoin software to change the encryption algos and probably a few other things.

 

I mean, Tutanota already use quantum-resistant encryption.

22 hours ago, hotsun said:

What if I told you that it is still early days?

I would say I agree with you.

Bitcoin through the roof!

 

The above is a YT short, reiterating British HODL's perspective and his three rules of Bitcoin.

22 hours ago, Conno said:

 

The current "growth" narrative is focused on the so-called Bitcoin Treasury Companies (BTC-TCs). Prominent among these is Strategy (MSTR, nee Microstrategy). The companies playing this game well will be rewarded by share growth rate at a higher CAGR than Bitcoin itself. In my mind, these are like the gold mining companies, whose RoE is greater than the price appreciation of the underlying.

 

Top 100 Public Bitcoin Treasury Companies

https://bitcointreasuries.net/

 

Strategy Tracker

https://strategytracker.com/home

 

For some reason, my links are often not posted as links if I put in a title.

On 7/30/2025 at 8:35 AM, phetphet said:

Way back around 2009-2010 when I first read about Bitcoin in the media, I remember thinking to myself, "Sounds interesting. Maybe worth having a £300 punt and just sitting on it."

Similar to me but I had a lazy $10000 AUD lying around so looked at buying 1000 coins. But with the forex losses to USD through the OZ banks and not being easy to buy I let it go when the price went up a bit.

Mt Gox was one way to buy back than so probably would have bought through them. And we know how that story ended. Anyway would have sold out much earlier than the current price so would have still a sad tale to tell. 

On 7/30/2025 at 8:35 AM, phetphet said:

Way back around 2009-2010 when I first read about Bitcoin in the media, I remember thinking to myself, "Sounds interesting. Maybe worth having a £300 punt and just sitting on it."

The only thing was, I couldn't figure out how to buy. The banks were not up on it, and there weren't all the wallets available like today. In the end, I gave up and life and work got in the way.

 

Bitcoin's story is now history, but I was wondering. How did early adopters manage to buy their Bitcoin?  If there are any here on AN, was it easy for you?

 

 

IT was a drag.

RBS - Paypal 2/3 working days - Paypal Virwox 1/3 working days - Virwox linden bucks 1hr, Linden Bucks -BTC and withdraw 1 day

On 7/31/2025 at 2:10 PM, BeastOfBodmin said:

I've spent some time looking into this, because it sounds scary, but I conclude in effect it is going to be a nothing burger. It already is a nothing burger.

 

There are some real threats, but they are contingent on some real advances in the QC space that are some years away, as well as not taking a couple of precautions plus a couple of updates to the Bitcoin software to change the encryption algos and probably a few other things.

 

I mean, Tutanota already use quantum-resistant encryption.

 

 

YOur outlook is interesting.  Might I ask you to consider the similarities with the stocke exchange.

 

Many people buy stocks thinking they are going to be around (anyone remember a company called Kodak, blackberry)  

 

The trick with any stock or coin is simple you invest in it and either ride it or you get in when it is building then when it reaches the top sell and get out.

 

There are no guarantees The one thing that I have noticed is that with all the crap going on in the world the return on bitcoin seems legitamate.  

 

1,000 investment in Bitcoin is worth today if you’d invested one year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago and 15 years ago. The calculation is based on $107,361, which is about where Bitcoin traded on June 30, 2025. Historical price data is from CoinMarketCap.

 

 

Yes some of us were slow to get in but hey it is real and rises and falls like Gold which is pretty safe

On 7/30/2025 at 8:35 AM, phetphet said:

Way back around 2009-2010 when I first read about Bitcoin in the media, I remember thinking to myself, "Sounds interesting. Maybe worth having a £300 punt and just sitting on it."

The only thing was, I couldn't figure out how to buy. The banks were not up on it, and there weren't all the wallets available like today. In the end, I gave up and life and work got in the way.

 

Bitcoin's story is now history, but I was wondering. How did early adopters manage to buy their Bitcoin?  If there are any here on AN, was it easy for you?

 

 

 

In 2011 a friend sent me 10 BTC as a gift.  I promptly forgot about them until 2017 when I realised I'd lost them.  

In 2017 I started trading crypto myself and in that year (bull run) I got lucky and turned 10,000 baht into 200,000 baht.  

Now I use trading bots to open and close deals for me.  

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

YOur outlook is interesting.  Might I ask you to consider the similarities with the stocke exchange.

 

Many people buy stocks thinking they are going to be around (anyone remember a company called Kodak, blackberry)  

 

The trick with any stock or coin is simple you invest in it and either ride it or you get in when it is building then when it reaches the top sell and get out.

 

There are no guarantees The one thing that I have noticed is that with all the crap going on in the world the return on bitcoin seems legitamate.  

 

1,000 investment in Bitcoin is worth today if you’d invested one year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago and 15 years ago. The calculation is based on $107,361, which is about where Bitcoin traded on June 30, 2025. Historical price data is from CoinMarketCap.

 

 

Yes some of us were slow to get in but hey it is real and rises and falls like Gold which is pretty safe

In my post, I was addressing the threat of quantum computing to blockchain encryption.

 

Despite the below missive, I have no idea why MSTR dropped 7% yesterday 😁.

 

As far as Bitcoin (BTC) as an investment is concerned, I do not think BTC is going to zero.

 

It is not going to be made illegal. In the current climate, the opposite is true (although the UK seem to be trying their best to prevent UK tax payers from using crypto investments to get ahead).

 

I think there is a floor of about USD 100k, basis recent ETF inflows and the OTC activity used to fund the so-called Bitcoin Treasury Companies (BTC-TCs), but in the event of a replay of the GFC, this floor may not hold.

 

With reference to the diagram in Conno's post: 

 

I think BTC will start to see a capital rotation from all the asset classes into BTC. How much in total, and how much per asset class I do not know. The vehicle for this is provided by BTC-TCs and Strategy's (MSTR) playbook is the best as far as I am aware.

 

What Strategy are offering with STRD, STRK & STRF is SEC-approved exposure to Bitcoin for corporate & treasury money managers who are not allowed to invest directly in BTC. This means an opportunity to get out of underperforming bonds, REITs, Real Estate, etc. and into Bitcoin. A side effect of the BTC-TCs (the ones that make good on their strategies) will be that their share prices will increase at a faster rate than BTC itself. This is similar to how gold miners with low AISC see share price accretion at a higher rate then gold price accretion. It implies a strategy of allocating some cash to these companies, and periodically take some off the table and buy bitcoin with it, ending up with more BTC than if you had bought BTC instead of shares.

 

When that happens we should see property (including residential) and bond prices fall. If I am a young person trying to get on the property ladder, this is A Good Thing(TM). The deflation in housing markets will not harm the sellers, since they will be rotating into another asset class with a short history but unbeaten CAGR. Some might be interested in picking up some sovereign debt if the prices fall enough that the yields look to beat real inflation by a few %.

 

You can't print Bitcoin as is the case with government fiat. The current supply of freshly mined BTC is currently BTC 3.125 every 10 minutes (every block), which is 144 * BTC 3.125 = BTC 450 per day (only USD 54M per day at current prices) plus the books of the DEX and CEX exchanges plus whatever is done via OTC. As we'd expect with gold and silver, if the larger money managers decided to allocate only 1 - 2% to BTC, the amount of capital they would have to convert to BTC can only boost the price. At the same time, it would likely raise the price support floor.

 

I've gone on long enough...

Got into crypto purely out of a nerdy interest, namely the mining of them.

Started when cpu mining still worked, and the very early days of gpu mining.

Must been 2010 or something like that.

Just the kick of getting it all set up, was rather challenging in those early days, and have a computer actively generating money just churning away on numbers!.

Never made much out of it, living in Europe back then electricity was too expensive to make it really worthwhile.

So sold most of to cover expenses.

A few years ago I did find on an old backup drive a word file with the recovery phrase for a wallet, actually was able to reinstall the app and restore the wallet an found a few tens of mBTC in it.

At the time probably a leftover from a rounded of sale and left there as virtually worthless at that time when I was mining.

Found out it BTC was worth over 40k$, so sold them mBTC for about 2000€.

 

Now I don't hold any crypto, to close to gambling for me, just as any US stock at the moment under Taco Trump 🤣🤣

 

Had fun with it, never really considered it as something really moneymaking (was obviously dead wrong there 😁 )

 

 

On 7/30/2025 at 3:16 PM, hotsun said:

What if I told you that it is still early days?

Personally, I'd disagree but I recognise that you might have no time for an alternative opinion, and that's OK.

The rise in Bitcoin exists because of greed, fear of missing out, and new buyers being willing to pay more than the last ones did; in two words: irrational exuberance.

Back in 2012 I worked with a colleague who had 6,000 bitcoins.  He'd had them for many years at that time having got in right at the beginning, and he wasn't remotely interested in selling them.  I occasionally wonder if he still has them but I've long since lost touch with him. 

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.  One day, as is always the case in the long term with these things, the bubble will burst.  At first, holders will be shaken but will quickly try to reassure themselves that the price will rebound and restore the damage.  In the meantime, the price will continue down.  Because of the entrenched mindset, desperate searches for more evidence of a rebound will be sought; and the price will continue down as they do.  Most will exit too late.  I've seen it happen.

History has many precedents for this:

a) Tulip Mania, Holland (1636-7), when tulip bulbs became a status symbol and investment object. Prices rose 20x in a matter of months.  Prices suddenly crashed when buyers vanished.  Many were ruined.

b) South Sea bubble, UK (1720), when the South Sea Company was granted trade monopolies in South America (which never materialized). Shares were heavily promoted to the public.  The share price rose from £100 to £1,000 in under a year.  The bubble burst almost overnight. Prominent investors (including Isaac Newton) lost fortunes.

c) Mississippi bubble, France (1720 - a bad year, apparently), when the Mississippi Company was granted control over France’s North American colonies. Backed by paper money issued by John Law’s Banque Royale.  There was massive buying of shares and currency.  In the end, paper currency became worthless, shares crashed, and the French economy destabilized.

d) Roaring Twenties stock market bubble, USA (1920's), when there was widespread speculation on stocks, often with borrowed money (margin).  The peak was in 1929, with record highs on the Dow Jones.  The 1929 Wall Street Crash triggered a global economic depression lasting over a decade.

e) Japanese Asset Price bubble (1986-91), when Japanese stocks and urban land prices skyrocketed.  At the peak, Tokyo was worth more than all of California.  The bubble burst in the 1990's, triggering the "Lost Decade".

f) Dot-Com bubble (1995-2000), when internet-related stocks surged on hype, despite many having no revenue (sound familiar?).  The NASDAQ quintupled in five years.  By 2002, the NASDAQ had lost 78% of its value.

g) US Housing bubble (2002-2007), when housing prices surged due to cheap credit, risky lending, and financial engineering (CDOs, MBSs).  Then prices fell, subprime defaults exploded, and major banks failed. Global recession followed.  It is interesting to note that history shows that there was overconfidence in the "safe" nature of property—similar to the "store of value" argument used for Bitcoin.

History repeats itself.  Time will tell.
 

3 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

The rise in Bitcoin exists because of greed, fear of missing out, and new buyers being willing to pay more than the last ones did

 

Sounds a bit like the stock market, where the popular equities are vastly overpriced.

 

Companies that never made a profit valued at several billion US$ etc.

Companies that made a profit valued at 300 times price to earnings

18 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

 

Sounds a bit like the stock market, where the popular equities are vastly overpriced.

 

Companies that never made a profit valued at several billion US$ etc.

Companies that made a profit valued at 300 times price to earnings

Indeed.  Warren Buffett famously has a cash stockpile of over $350 billion because he can't find sensible valuations to invest in.  He's sitting it out but he'll pile in again when a correction resolves this.

A case of irrational exuberance occurred on Wednesday night, when the S&P500 Futures market rose overnight more than 70 points from Wednesday's official close.  Spotting this, and knowing that it would invariably revert, I put many pounds per point on it to go down (at 6423, if you follow these things).  As of Friday night, it's fallen around 200 points, and it's not over yet.

If I ever spot a similar opportunity on Bitcoin, I'd short that too.
 

40 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value.

Let me rephrase you: "I don't understand the value of Bitcoin", and it's OK.

As per W. Buffett saying: "Invest in what you understand".

26 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

Indeed.  Warren Buffett famously has a cash stockpile of over $350 billion because he can't find sensible valuations to invest in.  He's sitting it out but he'll pile in again when a correction resolves this.

A case of irrational exuberance occurred on Wednesday night, when the S&P500 Futures market rose overnight more than 70 points from Wednesday's official close.  Spotting this, and knowing that it would invariably revert, I put many pounds per point on it to go down (at 6423, if you follow these things).  As of Friday night, it's fallen around 200 points, and it's not over yet.

If I ever spot a similar opportunity on Bitcoin, I'd short that too.
 

Doesnt seem like you understand bitcoin much. It follows a predictable four year cycle. 2026 starts the bear market, so short it then

I have nothing against bitcoin, but I don't trust the exchanges. They are a bunch of thieves, simple as that

1 hour ago, Yumthai said:

Let me rephrase you: "I don't understand the value of Bitcoin", and it's OK.

As per W. Buffett saying: "Invest in what you understand".

I understand that Bitcoin - and any other cryptocurrency - has no intrinsic value, which makes it completely speculative.  That's not investment, that's gambling.

I'm happy for you to help me - what don't I understand about Bitcoin?  That it goes up forever?  You should look at my history lesson again above if you believe that.

I make regular profits on stock markets and Forex, and I don't have any nagging concerns about whether the bottom might drop out of my investments at any time...  Each to their own.
 

9 hours ago, IsaanT said:

I'm happy for you to help me - what don't I understand about Bitcoin?  That it goes up forever?  You should look at my history lesson again above if you believe that.

There's plenty of insightful information available online, I can't make it comprehensible for you. And again, it's OK.

 

9 hours ago, IsaanT said:

I make regular profits on stock markets and Forex, and I don't have any nagging concerns about whether the bottom might drop out of my investments at any time...  Each to their own.

Great, keep on.

 

Likewise I know many people who have made tons of money with real-estate, they won't touch Stocks/Forex because it's gambling as they say.

 

Bitcoin and other top-tier crypto ETFs are also increasingly SEC approved. Perhaps these billion USD fund management companies along with US SEC have somewhat understood value in crypto... or is it just FOMO?

 

On 7/31/2025 at 3:10 PM, BeastOfBodmin said:

I've spent some time looking into this, because it sounds scary, but I conclude in effect it is going to be a nothing burger. It already is a nothing burger.

 

There are some real threats, but they are contingent on some real advances in the QC space that are some years away, as well as not taking a couple of precautions plus a couple of updates to the Bitcoin software to change the encryption algos and probably a few other things.

 

I mean, Tutanota already use quantum-resistant encryption.

Sorry, they've already manufactured quantum computing chips... Do try and keep up.

5 hours ago, gargamon said:

Sorry, they've already manufactured quantum computing chips... Do try and keep up.

Are you angry? Itll be 150k and you dont have any