10 years ago this month. In October 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto released a paper that described a new way to exchange tokens over a peer to peer computer network. As most of us watched the finacial systems around the world fall into utter chaos. A few people decided that there must be a better way to organise ourselves without the need for the centralised and corrupt powers of the banks and governments.
Enter Bitcoin.
What started off as an interesting technical idea began to transform those that came into contact with it and who really understood what it meant.
Bitcoin's 10th Birthday
Mashed up two images from Source
Unfortunately I wasn't one of them.
Here is my Bitcoin story
I was living in Cape town, South Africa on an extended break from work. I went there on holiday and liked it so much that I bought a house and stayed for the next 8 years. During this time I was active in my field which is information technology and one day in 2010 I got an email asking me to join a mailing list for this new 'thing'. Bitcoin. For joining the email list they woud give me some Bitcoin.
I joined and had a look at the white paper from Satoshi and found it interesting but of no immediate relevance to what I was doing in distributing maths software to schools. They did send me some Bitcoin which I looked at and thought it was a novel idea.
Transfering money from my UK bank to my S.A. bank was expensive but I just didn't make the connection?
The next year 2011 I returned to the UK and sold up just about everything that I had in the house in Cape town including the computer that held the Bitcoin.
I did back up the hard drive onto a portable hard drive and then formatted the computer before I sold it. I have scoured that hard drive to within an inch of it's life but cannot find those Bitcoins. I still hunt for them occasionally like today.
I have no idea what the file was called and there were no wallets in those days just an email with the private keys in an attachment as far as I can remember.
So how much where those Bitcoin worth when I got them?
In July 2010 1 Bitcoin was worth $0.08 cents a year later they were worth a whole $1.00.
As an investment over the last 10 years Bitcoin has been nothing short of amazing. As you can see in the graph below it took a few years to reach $1.00 and in April 2011 it was worth $0.78 cents.
A bit like Steem today and Steem is only just two and a half years old.
Bitcoin took time to catch on
I often wonder whether those Bitcoins I had are still on that old computer that I sold? I have the tools to do forensic analysis of supposedly formatted hard drives and I have recovered many deleted files from formatted hard drives in the past?
Well I guess we will never know. What is your Bitcoin story?
Compared to that other much manipulated store of value. Gold. Bitcoin has outerformed it exponetially.
In 2008 Gold was priced at $869.75 a troy ounce. Today (Oct 2018) Gold is trading at $1,186.15 a troy ounce.
That's an amazing story! How much bitcoin do you think was on that drive? I can just imagine you scanning that drive for hours.... good luck!
To be honest I don't remember how many bitcoins were on it.
Just thought it was an interesting idea at the time.
It wasn't until about three years ago that I remembered about them at all and then wondered if they could be recovered?
I lost contact with the guy that bought the computer so I assume he has no clue they may be sitting on the old hard drive. :-)
Will steem reach the same value at her 10?
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Once people understand what Steem can actually do. It will not take 10 years.
Not many people knew what to do with Bitcoin for the first 5 years. Now we have at least some people that understand that blockchains are the future of just about every area of life that requires zero trust.
Steem is a good contender for mass adoption. Bitcoin still has first mover advantage but as people become aware of alternative options this may change.
STEEM is the first social media project in blockchain technology and will probably be with him as with Bitcoin: in his field he will always be king first.
This is also very true. Steem does have first mover advantage and as we build out SMT's into other websites more and more people will become aware that they really should be getting paid for their contributions to these old web 2 platforms. @astromaniac
An informative essay. Do you have any way to track what happened to your computer after you sold it?
Nope it was back in Christmas time 2010-11 and I lost touch with the guy who bought the computer. Shame he could be sitting on a pile of bitcoins lol
Well, the Internet is a far-reaching tool. You might be able to track the guy.
My bitcoin story pretty much begins here with Steemit and I still have a lot to learn.
I do hope you find your missing bitcoins and that they were not sold with the computer.
They may turn up one day but in the meantime I have bought plenty more lol Everyone has to lose something sometime in crypto. It's almost an unwritten law. :-)
At least you are learning which puts you ahead of the pack who have no clue about it at all.
Keep learning. Deb.
The mother of all coins. It is good that is in 10 years now
It sure has been an expereince. 10 years in crypto is a very long time indeed. Congrats to Bitcoin.
I was just about to send a message to you @molometer to check you were OK as you haven't been around for a while.
What an interesting post. I've heard a few stories now of people who were given bitcoin in the early days and got rid of their computers. A bit like losing a winning lottery ticket.
It's interesting to see that graph. Those that bought in the early days must have had a lot of nerve. 😁
Hi Gillian, I have been down with a severe case of 'Man flu'. Very painful lol but I'm fine now. Thanks for asking.
Either that or a lot of faith. Either way it has paid of big time for the hodlers.
I remember hearing about when it was $25
But I didn't have an extra dime at the time to invest in something so "experimental".
But, Steem to the Moon!