Early days | Bitcointalksearch.org

GideonGono

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Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 28, 2025, 10:00:39 PM

Would it have been possible to buy 1000 usd of bitcoin in 2010 or earlier? If not then how to acquire this amount or more?

There are already people in it, so buying any amount would be possible.
I think the only problem that they have back then is to where to buy and if it is trusted.
And only few would be willing to invest big back then unless they would use it as a currency to pay something online.

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Quote from: Wiwo on January 30, 2025, 06:12:58 PM

The only thing is that buying bitcoin way back was a bit difficult in the process compared to now when one can easily buy bitcoin from an exchange and have it sent to one wallet without any stress.

I agree. To start using Bitcoin, one has to install a bitcoin core wallet on their personal computer in the old days. But today, there are dozens of Bitcoin wallets for computer and mobile devices. Anyone can install a wallet app from the app store/play store and start using Bitcoin. Also, there are hundreds of exchanges online from where users can buy Bitcoin.

I believe there were not many search results on google when someone searched with the keyword "Bitcoin exchange." But if someone knew how to install a Bitcoin core, they could have mined Bitcoin as well. I wish I knew about Bitcoin back then.

robertcarlyle

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But this is only mining then? Mt gox was up and running in 2010 and not 2011...

franky1

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Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 30, 2025, 06:07:21 PM

Would buying bitcoin on a different date instead of 2010 like 2009 have made a major difference in value as far as what it would be worth today? Why was bitcoin not as known in 2010 as today even on mt gox exchange? 3.333,333,333.33 usd?

NO ONE WAS BUYING IN 2009. mtgox was not even around in 2009, it didnt start until 2011

bitcoin was not thought of as a currency in 2009, btc was used just to test unit/coin movement success/bugs for an experimental transaction processing system..
and definitely not thought of as a investment

but here is the thing.. if you want to think about examples of things in 2009
satoshi had ~1,000,000btc stashed from his mining in 2009-2010
his stash if he still had the private keys would be worth $100,000,000,000 yep $100billion

other people spending money on their household electric to mine bitcoin using their home computer

places like the UK and US had a electric rating of £$0.13/kwh and a PC thats roughly 100w
meaning £$0.013 per hour which if they mined all 6 blocks of an hour would be 300btc for 13cents
which math would be 2300btc per $1

so
$1 in 2009 = $230m ($100k/btc this year)
$10 in 2009 = $2.3b ($100k/btc this year)
$100 in 2009 = $23b ($100k/btc this year)
$1000 in 2009 = $230b ($100k/btc this year)

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Quote from: freedomgo on January 29, 2025, 02:30:11 AM

Quote from: Learn Bitcoin on January 29, 2025, 01:57:47 AM

If I am not wrong, most people were able to mine Bitcoin with their CPU back then. I don't know exactly when the mining moved to GPU hardware and then ASICS, but I heard that it was possible to mine Bitcoin through CPU power. How else do you think people mined the blocks? I don't think Satoshi sold any of his mined Bitcoin back then. Some early miners sold their Bitcoin for a very low price.

As another member already said, there were already some exchanges. So, possibly some people also bought Bitcoin at that time. But mostly people acquired their Bitcoin for free. I wish I knew about Bitcoin back then.

True, mining was possible back then but considering the price at the time, it's also easier to just buy Bitcoin, and in 2010 Bitcoin was worth less than a dollar, it was basically worthless. If we had seen it coming, maybe dropping $1,000 on Bitcoin back then wouldn’t have been a big deal. And if we had held onto it until now we’d be living the kind of life most people can only dream of.

As for me, when I first got into crypto, the name I kept hearing was Mt. Gox. Of course, I never got the chance to trade on that exchange since they shut down in early 2014 after people started panicking.

Back then it was way easier to earn Bitcoin through several channels bitcoin was given as giveaways and airdrops or even faucets that pay higher amounts, but with time bitcoin started gaining value and things started changing, mining that could be done in 2009 with your laptops is now requiring special PC configuration and other equipment to make it functional unlike in the early days.

The only thing is that buying bitcoin way back was a bit difficult in the process compared to now when one can easily buy bitcoin from an exchange and have it sent to one wallet without any stress.

robertcarlyle

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Would buying bitcoin on a different date instead of 2010 like 2009 have made a major difference in value as far as what it would be worth today? Why was bitcoin not as known in 2010 as today even on mt gox exchange? 3.333,333,333.33 usd?

franky1

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Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 30, 2025, 05:12:00 PM

But if someone was wise and bought this amount in 2010 like how much would it be worth today? What if they were even wiser and bought it in 2009, would it be worth in the billions?

you have been told the answer multiple times in multiple topics you created asking the same thing over many months

one last time:
those that REALISTICALLY and FEASIBLY could buy bitcoin in 2010 were buying at an initial rate of 1btc=$0.03*
*(best most feasible rate more than one person had the opportunity to actually and realistically take)

$0.10 buy=3.33btc which if sold this year at $100k/btc = $333k
$1.00 buy=33.3btc which if sold this year at $100k/btc = $3.3m
$10 buy = 333btc which if sold this year at $100k/btc = $33m
$100 buy = 3,333btc which if sold this year at $100k/btc = $333m
$1000 buy = 33,333btc which if sold this year at $100k/btc = $3.33b

why do you keep asking the same questions.. and please dont wait months and then ask again about some 2009 scenario that never happened

..
if you want to talk about a scenario that never took place, in some time period no one was trading, using a price that was never traded.. then just make up your own made up answer and be happy with yourself..
.. but if you want a realistic feasible answer of actual possible opportunity of the early adopters. i just provided you the answer above and in other topics of similar subject

robertcarlyle

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But if someone was wise and bought this amount in 2010 like how much would it be worth today? What if they were even wiser and bought it in 2009, would it be worth in the billions?

Ziskinberg

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Quote from: Judith87403 on January 30, 2025, 03:23:04 AM

I guess majority of those early investors was only familiar with P2P. moreover, I don't think if anyone will take the risk to buy bitcoin using such amount back then, because no one knows about the good potential in future, so they wouldn't want to risk such amount in something that the outcome is not guaranteed.

It really depends on how much you could afford to lose back then, after all, Bitcoin was still a high-risk investment at the time. It didn’t have to be $1K; even just $100 worth of Bitcoin back then would be worth millions today.

Actually, buying wasn’t the hard part. The real challenge? Holding for many years without panic-selling. That’s where most people failed.

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Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 28, 2025, 10:00:39 PM

Would it have been possible to buy 1000 usd of bitcoin in 2010 or earlier? If not then how to acquire this amount or more?

In 2010, it was already possible to purchase bitcoin worth the amount of money you mentioned, because like others said, there was already a crypto exchange operating at that time.

But assuming there wasn't actually a crypto exchange, buying bitcoins worth the mentioned amount of money was still possible since alot of people traded by P2P back then, or trade by barter which involved exchanging your bitcoin for items you are interested in.

But I personally assume the big issue back then would be that, not everyone, that is, only a very few/limited number of persons will have the balls to spend this amount of money on something they are not very sure of its future success.

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Quote from: Learn Bitcoin on January 30, 2025, 01:03:28 AM

people did not know Bitcoin would grow that much in the future.
[/quote]Bitcoin is familar with as the modern currency in the world so the price of bitcoin has increased so much in the future.

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Quote from: FortuneFollower on January 29, 2025, 06:47:09 AM

In the retrospective, the current days would be seen as an opportunity by us and others too.
That's how I think about it.

Of course, no doubt about it being a real opportunity to grow our money since Bitcoin is set to become one of the most in-demand digital currencies in the future.

What’s funny is that even central banks, which have traditionally held gold as a reserve, are now planning to diversify into Bitcoin. Just imagine if every country, or even just the biggest ones, start doing the same, that would be huge for Bitcoin.

If we don’t position ourselves today, we might end up missing out on one of the biggest opportunities in history.

Judith87403

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Quote from: Ziskinberg on January 28, 2025, 11:10:09 PM

Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 28, 2025, 10:00:39 PM

Would it have been possible to buy 1000 usd of bitcoin in 2010 or earlier? If not then how to acquire this amount or more?

It's possible since there were already exchanges around that year. Plus, aside from exchanges, you could also buy through P2P transactions.

Here’s a reply from one of the old members in the forum that should answer your question.

Quote from: Xavofat on October 29, 2017, 04:50:25 AM

Quote from: pennywize on October 29, 2017, 04:06:49 AM

Buying BTC is easy today with sites like Coinbase but what was it like in 2010 and 2011?

New Liberty Exchange was up in 2009. Mt. Gox came up in mid-2010 and took up a lot of the market until its eventual collapse in 2014.

It was also more common for people to mine at home, because specialised hardware was not yet available nor required.

Quote from: pennywize on October 29, 2017, 04:06:49 AM

What wallet did people use?

Bitcoin Core. The blockchain was tiny then so it wouldn't have taken much effort (not that it really takes that much effort now).

you can also follow and read that thread for more information.

Yes you're right as Long as there's an exchange back then it can be possible to buy 1k bitcoin then, before you think of asking such question have you ever imagined how those early investors manage to invest in bitcoin back then? That's to prove to you that there's already an existing exchange and other means to buy bitcoin back then, though it was just few exchange that was existing back then, it was not as many as it is nowadays, why most people was also using P2P.

I guess majority of those early investors was only familiar with P2P. moreover, I don't think if anyone will take the risk to buy bitcoin using such amount back then, because no one knows about the good potential in future, so they wouldn't want to risk such amount in something that the outcome is not guaranteed.

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Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 28, 2025, 10:00:39 PM

Would it have been possible to buy 1000 usd of bitcoin in 2010 or earlier? If not then how to acquire this amount or more?

Mentioning the sum of $1K to buy Bitcoin is a bit complicating because from an onset up to date Bitcoin has always been possible to buy in any amount. Perhaps... If you are unable to buy a whole 1 Bitcoin you can as well buy some fractions of it Satoshi.

But if I get to be dynamic in thought, yes of course you can and at then trading as buying and selling of Bitcoins was not of todays technologies where exchange and platforms has been made possible and accessible for everyone.

Around 2010 based on my research to how to acquire and buy Bitcoin was through online negotiations as P2P in reputable platforms like here the bitcointalk platform and some other Internet related contacts such as one-on-one negotiate which payments has formally been without escrows which role the exchanges has come to play to grant fair transaction deals in the P2P.

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Quote from: freedomgo on January 29, 2025, 02:30:11 AM

True, mining was possible back then but considering the price at the time, it's also easier to just buy Bitcoin, and in 2010 Bitcoin was worth less than a dollar, it was basically worthless. If we had seen it coming, maybe dropping $1,000 on Bitcoin back then wouldn’t have been a big deal. And if we had held onto it until now we’d be living the kind of life most people can only dream of.

I know Bitcoin was below a dollar and it was easy to buy thousands of Bitcoins at that time. But there were not too many exchanges at that time. The main thing is, people did not know Bitcoin would grow that much in the future. So risking a thousand dollars on something that has no future does not make sense to a lot of people. Compared to buying Bitcoin, mining was much easier and I believe a lot of people mined Bitcoin back then. But a lot of them did not save their seed phrases carefully which is why they lost their Bitcoin.

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Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 29, 2025, 03:52:21 PM

So how soon was the earliest that someone could buy 1000 usd worth of bitcoin when it was really cheap unlike today? 2009, 2010, 2011, maybe 2012?

Definitely by 2012. I personally knew people buying (and selling) $1000 worth in 2012 when the price per bitcoin was between $8 and $12. That's an average of 100 BTC for $1000 which was easily doable in places like BitFloor and MtGox.

I wasn't aware of Bitcoin yet in 2011, but I suspect that it became quite a bit easier to acquire $1000 worth as the liquidity grew at MtGox throughout that year. If I recall correctly, Bitcoin hit a value of $1 for the first time in February of 2011? That would mean you could pick up 1000 BTC for $1000 if you could find a seller.

Perhaps someone that was paying closer attention towards the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2012 could give a more exact answer, but I strongly suspect that it became relatively easy to acquire $1000 worth of bitcoin sometime between fourth quarter of 2011 (beginning of October) and third quarter of 2012 (end of June).

robertcarlyle

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But even if it were done this way like how much today?

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In multiple transactions? I think that you'd be able to do it in Q2 2010 if you tried in different places all at once, like buying on Bitcoinmarket and Gox at the same time, over the course of a few days. Note that it would significantly pump the price because people were not buying that much at the time.

In a single transaction? Maybe Q4 2010? Between Q3 and Q4 bitcoin rose from 0.06 USD to 0.25, so 4x, which means USD volume of trades also went up. At 0.25 USD per coin, previously mentioned Mt. Gox volume of 1400 USD becomes 5700, and that is if the number of coins changing hands stays the same, but it also went up.

robertcarlyle

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So how soon was the earliest that someone could buy 1000 usd worth of bitcoin when it was really cheap unlike today? 2009, 2010, 2011, maybe 2012?

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Quote from: DannyHamilton on January 29, 2025, 12:46:01 PM

Quote from: robertcarlyle on January 28, 2025, 10:00:39 PM

Would it have been possible to buy 1000 usd of bitcoin in 2010 or earlier? If not then how to acquire this amount or more?

May 22, 2010 two pizzas (A value of about $40) were exchanged for 10,000 BTC.

At that exchange rate, $1000 of BTC would be 250,000 BTC.
At that time, there were about 2,852,150 BTC in existence.

So, acquiring 250,000 BTC would mean acquiring about 8.8% of all existing bitcoins.

Could it be done? I didn't know about Bitcoin yet in 2010, so someone else would probably be better able to answer. My guess is: Maybe. Probably not all in a single purchase though. You'd probably have to complete transactions with many individual. But to create such a large sudden demand would probably have driven the price up pretty quickly. In the end you'd probably have ended up with a lot less than 250,000 BTC as each individual purchase would significantly reduce the pool of bitcoins available for purchase and result in a higher price for the next purchase.

This answers the question in full.

I'd like to add that the first large bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox was launched in July 2010, so before that date it was almost impossible to buy bitcoin in large quantities, like the mentioned 250k, since people were trading on PayPal, but the fees were making it hard.

To give you a perspective, the price at launch on Gox was around $0.06 and the whole exchange held less than 1% of the supply. This means that even if you were to use the largest exchange on the market in Q3 2010, you'd have a hard time buying $1k worth of BTC.

One more thing to add. I found daily volume on Gox in August 2010 mentioned in a post and it was 23k BTC, which at that price was around 1400 USD.

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