Bitcoin Forum

By AFP
7:12PM GMT 29 Oct 2013

Norwegian cashes in Bitcoins he forgot about to buy Oslo apartment
Fluctuation in online currency Bitcoin allows Norwegian man to cash in four-year-old investment to buy apartment in Oslo

 A Norwegian man who purchased 150 kroner (£16) worth of Bitcoins and then forgot about it for four years was able to buy an apartment in Oslo thanks to the massive appreciation of the virtual currency.

Kristoffer Koch invested in a small sum in the recently created Bitcoins – a means of payment over the internet – in 2009.

Mr Koch, now 29 and working as an engineer, only remembered the investment in April when he read an article about the soaring value of Bitcoins.

His 5,000 Bitcoins were worth around £429,000.

After spending a full day trying to remember his password, he then cashed in 1.1 million kroner (£116,000) by selling part of his newly acquired fortune.

 After deducting 28 per cent in taxes, the money was enough for the down payment and restoration of a flat worth 2.6 million kroner in central Oslo, one of the world's most expensive cities.

"Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that they would have soared like this," Mr Koch said.

"It's bizarre, these psychological reflexes that make us attach a value to something that doesn't have any in itself."

Bitcoins can be exchanged for real money or used to purchase goods and services online. Users are attracted to them because transactions are anonymous and the Bitcoins are not controlled by any central bank or organisation. Its value can fluctuate wildly however.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/10413026/Norwegian-cashes-in-Bitcoins-he-forgot-about-to-buy-Oslo-apartment.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/10413026/Norwegian-cashes-in-Bitcoins-he-forgot-about-to-buy-Oslo-apartment.html)

This is the main Bitcoin news on Twitter, everyone and their mom is mentioning it. People are about to start buying like crazy, hoping they can sit on it for 5 years and do the same.

Time to await a buyer rush come Christmas me thinks :)

For sure. First Christmas with no Crack for BTC (SR).

And everyone thinks "why didn't I discover bitcoin earlier?" :D
Well, he's happy, so we should be happy to! This will also give some publicity to bitcoin, and that's positive! :)

Don't be jealous, do the same. I'm writing for devtome to hopefully store up a nice amount of free Bitcoins.
And Devcoin itself is promising, as it is the only coin designed for people who can not mine.

I mentioned this in Economics with the link to the original source at NRK and a short translation of what Head of Norwegian Taxation department had to say about bitcoins.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=320705.0