Bought $1,000 of bitcoin on jan.1, 2015
At $323 per coin unit.... .0321 approx. coins?

Now, $83,800.00 x 3.21...
Approx $260,000.00

We all f##ked up...

I know I had an extra one thousand
Back then...but didn't know how to buy it and didn't think too much about it..

I had $1000 in 2011. Nearly 1k full coins. I bought cigars from COH. Had about 150-200 coins left. I forgot about it. That computer died. Built a new one, threw the old hard drive in a Rubbermaid tote, scrapped the computer. When I heard btc was going up in price and hit $10 I dug out the drive and copied it. Couldn't find the encrypted folder. Couldn't find the encryption key even if I found the folder. When it got to $100 I spent some money on trying to recover it.

That was before you could easily buy/sell and record keep like today.

I was bitter at losing $20k. I think the folder was on the backup drive that got scrapped with the computer. I should have jumped back in once I realized it wasn't just crypto currency, but a potential investment option.

I've made terrible decisions in many many investments I've held. Sold amd at $7. Sold nvda at $15. Sold msft at $150. But btc was my biggest blunder.

$700mil in a landfill

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/15/nx-s1-5294596/a-lost-hard-drive-in-a-landfill-holds-the-key-to-a-british-mans-crypto-fortune#:~:text=Weekend%20Edition%20Saturday-,A%20lost%20hard%20drive%20in%20a%20landfill%20holds%20the%20key,more%20than%20a%20decade%20ago .

Well danm...at least you tried and succeeded in buying some bitcoin...
I didn't even accomplish that ...
So sorry the story went SOUTH...
MY INVESTMENT HISTORY is worse than sad...
Hence I only have a few thousand in a 401k and I'm 68 and broke as hell...

All's I can say to the youngest on this forum ...

Save your money but...also risk $1,000 on anything that looks like it has potential and stick with it...don't sell ever till you retire...

Also, don't move in with a parent and take care of them for 4-5 years for free whilst spending your entire savings to pay all your personnel bills when you can't work at all due to being a care giver...also get any financial agreement with them in writing with a lawyer...

The newest thing is Medicare will pay you to take care of your loved ones through 3rd party employers and it is at least a small wage that will offset using all your savings$$, best to research that possibility.

Here is a question????

All of your bitcoin that never got used by you and lost the encrypted codes...
Does it still exist in a lost void?
Can it be used or is it lost forever?

Like the English guy losing $700 million in bitcoin above?
Where does it go?
There has to be 100's of thousands of full bitcoin that will never be cashed out or resold...how does that effect the total bitcoin universe?

How many coins were available when it started?

How many are lost forever?

There are a lot that are lost forever. Mostly all early adopters. It was not easy to get. I don't recall the process but it was intentionally difficult with the end result being an untraceable currency. You didn't have a coinbase or other "crypto bank account" you had a file on your computer. A wallet it was called. And you had an encryption key to access it and do things with it.

Lose the key and you can be permanently locked out.

Lose the file and it's just gone.

While there's records of those coins existing, can't trace whose they are. That's kinda the point of a crypto currency.

My wallet was worth $150ish when that computer died. Not a trivial amount, but small enough that it wasn't a big deal to me. I figured it was still on the drive and I'll just add more next time I buy CCs. When I heard the value went up to $10, I wanted that $1500. And had I gotten it off the drive, I would have cashed in or spent it all. So I can't kick myself saying I lost out on millions, I never would have held this long.

a buddy of mine retired (forced medical retirement) from the air force and mined coins back in the 2005-2015 era, had a huge set up for mining. he had terminal brain cancer and wanted to leave a nest egg for his wife and daughter above and beyond his militrary retirement. when he passed in 2015 he had a letter as part of his will that explained what he had done (some of us knew about it but his family did not) and how to access it and what to do to cash it out. when he passed in 2015 his wife and best friend (that knew about it and had spent time with our buddy to learn what to do) spent a week following the instructions which included how to get access and how to sell them. with in a few months his family was sitting on over a million in the bank account. he offered to set up a few of us with the same type of systems but we never took him up on it... wish we had.