“Bought Bitcoin in 2013, sold for 50$ profit two weeks later. Then I realized how I was wrong”: how people first got into crypto

Bitcoin hasn’t been worth $1 for a long time, and it will probably never return to that value again. Those who bought it at that price and held onto it until it grew are now millionaires or even billionaires, but that doesn’t stop many from entering the industry even now when the coin is trading at $20K or more.

They all joined the market in different years, but one thing they have in common is the belief that BTC will be worth even more someday. A Reddit user asked others which cryptocurrency was the first in their portfolio and what year the first purchase occurred.

Entering the industry: then and now 

“Buying Bitcoin at $1” sounds excellent, but at the beginning of the industry, it was not so easy to do because the technical component was not fully implemented. So, to buy a coin, first, you had to download a wallet and synchronize it with the blockchain. It seemed easy, but the process took hours or even days. Reddit user demomercury said that in 2014 he had to leave his laptop on for a day and a half to reset the entire blockchain, which also took up much hard drive. 

Then users could buy cryptocurrency, but few places allowed users to send money to strangers via bank transfer, hoping to get back something and not be scammed. This step also could have taken hours, and the sellers overinflated the prices. 

Cryptocurrencies are more accessible now. To buy coins, download the app, link your card, choose the necessary asset, and it will instantly appear on your balance. That’s why many who got into crypto when everything became technically easier say that they wouldn’t bother to buy if everything were as complicated as it used to be. 

Someone entered the industry twice. 

“Bought some in 2013 on bitcoin.de, sold all again for 50$ profit two weeks later because Litecoin was the new hot Bitcoin killer. Back then, I didn’t have time to look into all those coins and figured Bitcoin would be outdated soon. I got in again in 2017, realized I was wrong,” — said Reddit user BTCDEX. 

Many people are afraid to enter the industry for fear of losing all their savings, but practice shows that you should only invest what you are ready to lose in cryptocurrency. However, some market participants believe that many digital assets will one day replace fiat, go to the Moon, and choose to invest all their money in crypto. A Reddit user Goonzoo signed up for CEX (centralized exchange) in 2017 after months of hesitation, choosing platform friends advised him. 

“The experience I gained from research projects and all the tech behind it strangely fulfilled me. Leading to reorganizing my portfolio, for example”, he said. 

And now, he hopes he finally set up to ride the ever-growing wave of the financial future that, as he thinks, most in this world still do not realize is here for everyone.

So, let’s find out who bought their first coin and when (the brackets show how much money it is at the current exchange rate): 

• demoneyes87. He bought eight Bitcoin (the price was about $115 at the moment of buying) for a small purchase on the Silk Road darknet (which was shut down by the U.S. government in 2013) (~156K).
• Superb_Dragonfruit63. It was back in 2017. He bought 1 BTC with 10% of his paycheck. Then he deleted the app and logged back in after two years; the savings were up 200%. (~$19.5K)
• demomercury. Bought 0.1 BTC for $18 ($1,95K).
• ts_wrathchild. 14 BTC for $7 in June 2012 (~273,5K).
• DaddyDIRTknuckles. 12 ETH for $7.86 each in December 2016 (~16,4K).
• CandidateNrOne. He bought 1000 BTC for $1000 but sold it with a 100% profit a year later (~$19,6M).
• ChainLinkPost. 5 BTC back in 2012. I used it on the dark web to buy some equipment (~$97,8K).
• Humanofnow888. He succeeded in buying Bitcoin for $5000 a coin and Ethereum for $300. 

Things have changed; the market has crashed many times and risen again. People have taken risks and will continue to do so because the chance to repeat someone else’s success is very likely. Now that you’ve heard from others, in which year did you and how many coins did you first buy? Do you still HODL? Let us know in the comments.