Bitcoin exchange rates over the last four years turned one man in Oslo into almost a millionaire after forgetting he even bought the electronic currency.
It really isn’t every day that you see something in the news that reminds you of something you did years ago and discover you’re rich because you spent a few dollars on something experimental. That’s what happened to Christopher Koch, who dropped $27 for 5,000 Bitcoins , a purchase his girlfriend had poked fun at him over. After making the purchase, he quickly forgot about it, most likely assuming it wouldn’t get him anywhere.
Christopher Koch was very wrong because four years later, he started hearing about Bitcoins in the news and decided to see what the fuss was about. He went out of his way to figure out the password he was using, and when he logged in, he found he was sitting on $886,000. Needless to say, he took advantage of it.
With the Bitcoin exchange rate payout he received for only a fifth of it, Christopher Koch proceeded to buy an apartment in the wealthy part of Oslo.
It all started when Christopher Koch had been writing a thesis paper on encryption , and heard about a new form of technology called Bitcoins. Thinking nothing of it, he spent a small amount of money on what at the time was next to worthless, and moved on.
Apparently the encrypted currency skyrocketed and Christopher Koch just discovered in April of this year that he had been lucky enough to be reminded at the right time. Since then, the value plummeted again, but for the Norwegian man, it doesn’t matter now.
At the time, cashing in on the Bitcoin exchange rate was a tedious task of sending them to an exchanger like Mt Gox to trade for cash. Since then, the electronic currency has been getting more widely accepted in the physical world. Some places in Great Britain have been known to use them as a form of instant payment, like making purchases in a pub. This means that eventually it could find its way into various online trades much like Paypal, which has grown in popularity as a way to pay for goods and services in the real world. An ATM in Canada allows cash exchanges for the moment, but so far that’s about as easy as it gets.
As much as its value tends to fluctuate, though, the electronic currency is still a little unstable for common use. Don’t expect to start buying things off Amazon with Bitcoins just yet.
If you can afford it, you might want to take advantage of the Bitcoin exchange rate. Who knows, you might end up sitting on a fortune like Christopher Koch.