The ‘Legitimising’ of Bitcoin – You could have turned $30 into R40 Million over 14 years

Bitcoin has been around for ages – since 9 January 2009 – and, in internet years, that is a very long time.

Early adopters used to bring their miners to work and plug them into their computer workstations USB ports to take advantage of the ’employer electricity and broadband’.

As the market matured the miners became more sophisticated, higher powered and the technology race began as the first four year ‘halving’ events began taking place.

Mining moved mainstream with miners making use of solar techonology to ensure a decent ROI.

Bitcoin had a price of zero when it was introduced in 2009. Its price jumped from its long-held level of $0.10 to $0.20 on Oct. 26, 2010. Before the year had closed out, it had reached $0.30.

Bitcoin hit a record high on Monday, 11 March 2024 above $72,000, as the biggest cryptocurrency’s surge showed no signs of slowing down.

On 13 March 2024 One Bitcoin cost R1 347 643.27. If you had invested $30 in Bitcoin in 2010 that would be worth $2 164 221 or R40 371 919.59 today.

The next step in ‘legitimising’ Bitcoin is it’s adoption by Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as ETFs are allowed to hold bitcoin. ETFs are a convenient way for ordinary investors to get exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin out of their regular brokerage accounts. Almost like investing in Unit Trusts.

Easy Equities have a number of baskets of crypto currencies that you can invest in without the added headache of learning about wallets and having the real fear of losing your ‘password’ and your investment.

Our small investment in Easy Equities EC 10 Crypto offering which invests in the following: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Solana, XRP, Cardano R, Dogecoin, Avalanche, SHIBA INU and TRON has grown by 16.2% over the last three weeks.

In 2024, not only have we seen the approval of Bitcoin ETFs, but Bitcoin has scheduled a halving event for next month. For Bitcoin, the “halving” happens every four years and it means that Bitcoin miners get rewarded half what they got before, which tends to push up the value. The halving will happen on April 20 and it will reduce miner rewards from 6.25 to 3.125 bitcoin.

The latest surveys of Bitcoin ownership show that governments have also entered the market. The US government now owns around 215 000 Bitcoins and the Chinese government a little under 200 000. That makes them among the largest single owners of Bitcoins. The UK and Germany are also up there. This big jump in government Bitcoin ownership only happened at the start of the year. Then, governments owned 90 000 bitcoins, but now they collectively own about 566 000 – it is not clear just how many of those coins are the result of seizures from fraudulent activity, though.