Bitcoin Forum

15-Year-Old Makes $100,000 on Bitcoin
http://mashable.com/2014/06/10/botangle/


http://cryptocurrencyinc.com/images/CryptoCurrency.png

That is a very cool story. There is a good chance he regrets selling his BTC though.

I am a bit jealous of the earliest adopters but they took the risk so they get the biggest reward
This just goes to show that people of all ages strike it rich
Just hope that is also myself in 5 years with Bitcoin  :D

But 1000 to 100,000 must have sold around the 90 to 250 dollar range
Still it is neat to see he has enough to pay his employees in Bits and launch his company
Thanks for sharing this

how weird would it be to report to your.. 15 year old boss? he'd probably have to ask you for a ride him from work.

15 year old will soon learn that those proceeds will be taxed (if he hasn't already learned this).

His goal is to make a million by 18 or DIE trying.

Death and Taxes...

Could have made his million just by holding longer... but his cause is admirable.

Botangle is a really nice website.  ;D

how lucky him, make 100x profit from bitcoin's increasing price
really envy with early adopters of bitcoin :(

WTF? This guy is definitely luckier than me. In 2013 January, I had bought 40 Bitcoins for $1,000. But I lost most of the coins (80%) in the BTCT.co scam. Then recently I sold some coins for fiat cash. Now I only have 10% of my initial investment.

He did a nice investment like most of us, but he was lucky not to have lost them in scams or trading at loss.

Selling 100% off his bitcoins does not seem so smart

Yeah when things go boom he will have some regrets to say the least. Hopefully his site really takes off.

Obviously he's only 15. Please do try to give him the best advice possible in case he does read this thread.

That is a shame, but you still have 4 Bitcoins which is more than most people have... if the price continues to increase who knows what they will be worth in 5 years?

Should have HODLed!

Always hlod.

"I actually have a deal with my parents that if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don't have to go to college," he said. "I’m going to do it or die trying."

He's a man in a 15years old body  ;D poor college  :-[

At 15 you can pretty much take whatever risks you want.  Taxes will be a bitch, though.  If I was him, I'd get tons of PR, build a viable company, then sell it ASAP. 

The real money is selling your tiny business to a much larger one (Huffington Post, etc.)

Could have been $1mn if he had held on. Perhaps should have.
Arguably....

Yes, if price would rise to 10.000 / BTC in a few years, it may be a mistake. It may be wise to at least keep a part of the money in bitcoin.

Hmm.... that's true. But still, everyday I curse myself for investing in those crappy crypto-stocks without thinking about the consequences. I got too much greedy perhaps, and got punished for the same.

It is actually easier to start a business when you are 15 because you have no commitments, have nothing to loose, and can take huge risks. That is what he did. I bet he is not the only 15 year old who made good money on bitcoin  ;)

It's no problem as long as you learn from it - and like I said just try to focus on the 4 BTC you still have :)

I've lost a lot of BTC through silly investments too, but I'm still glad just to be involved anyway

I remember reading his thread on r/bitcoin. Cool kid, wish him luck with his website.

I'd never sell 100% of my BTC. If i was him, sell 50%, get your business going, and keep the rest.

I'm one who regret sold my BTC a half n year ago. I had 11 BTC in 2012.  >:(

I have a conviction that bitcoin will be the liberator for the worlds poor like this 15-Year-Old. Ah, yes. I can already see the recyclers of the slums of Mumbai rushing to buy bitcoins on their smartphones and educating themselves about the ecosystem

One doesn't 'have' to go to college, one 'gets' to go to college.  He is a very stupid kid indeed if he thinks he is so smart that he can't make good use of all those professors and laboratories at the university.

Why? You cant predict the future, if he held, and BTC crashed, it would have been holding would not have seemed so smart. Anyone would be smart to spend $100, and cash out at $100,000. The BRAVE hold it.

Age 15.  Should had hold to the moon.  Probably will spend it all before starting college.

I'm reminded of some kid who won $1 million lottery at age 17 (under 18 is allowed in certain areas) and he was down to $200K by first year college (still thought he was rich, so acted smug / arrogant / confident to the camera).

Lost his money by going full 'tard by buying cars, high end vacations and 'blind' investing on the stockmarket.


I bet this 15 year old will 'yolo' his 100K away in months

He went full retard. Sold all of his BTC.
Never sell all your BTC.

According to the reddit thread he sold near the ATH - $1200, so he can certainly buy back in at no loss.

To be young and to have a substantive amount of money. Maybe he'll realize that it is still beneficial to buy some back (but probably should have done it sooner).

After all, $100k is nice, but let's face it, based on average costs of living in the U.S., the average person needs to "receive" around $1.2 million in their lifetime. He's still not 10% the way there.

Hopefully, he doesn't blow it all on "luxuries," but he should treat himself to something nice.

This story reminds me of the .com days when high school kids were taking their allowance from their parents and started day trading. There were plenty of stories like this when everyone was printing money!

That is a great return on his investment. He should have held it longer, but oh well.

Dot.com was a $7 trillion bubble.  Coins have a l00000ng way to go

I think this kid was very prudent. If you read the article, it says that hes still into bitcoin, pays his employees, etc in coin.. Im sure hes replaced his 100 or so coins that he sold to start his venture. Plus his idea is a very very good one...

Truth be told, if he got out on 1200, than hell kid did good. He can get back now with huge profit and still have money for his business.

I am not saying to hold every is smart either.

The smart thing to do is to sell some and hold some, the exact proportions of selling/holding depend on his risk tolerance

I fail to see anything very significant in this story.  I'm a relative latecomer.  When I got involved there were plenty of people who were buying in for pennies.  They would have had to really work at it to NOT have become multi-millionaires.

Then, as now, it is a fair bet based on the content of the chit-chat that many of the participants were still gazing in wonder at the hair forming on their pubes.

Don't generalize the kids. If he is smart enough to invest in Bitcoin, then definitely he is smart enough to spend the money wisely. People who win lottery jackpots usually spend their money recklessly, as they feel that they got the money without any effort. However, in this case, the kid took extreme risk by lending money from his grandma.

It's funny how if you do something at 15 it can be extraordinary but random at 20, the same goes for 20 compared to 30 ect.

I wonder if he kept any bitcoins, he probably kept a few

i doubt it has anything to do with luck. he just knew how to protect his assets, unlike many bitcoin holders (at least from the ones who complain here).


that might be ad hominem logic though.. tons of smart people do stupid things, and tons of stupid people do smart things. he might be a smart, tech-savy kid, but that doesn't necessarily translate to "smart with his finances." a good example is steve wozniak.

i thought i was doing good for being 15 and making $400 off bitcoin  :-\

I have just lost 0.01btc on satoshidice im sad  :-\

Don't worry, that's good enough. Maybe next year you will be able to add another 0 to that. :) Just remember to hold for as long as you can. I would advice you not to sell til you are 18 and just hold all coins you obtain. If the price skyrockets again that will make for a nice birthday present. :)

Every couple of months same news regarding early bitcoin holder came rich.

My guess is that after a few years we all will have news like that
we will be early adopters in a few years

I like how you think...

The HODLERS become rich people..  We should make a group just for giggles if BTC passes 100k called the BTC Hodlers.

Oh woe is thee! Spending money to help better someone's Education. And not to mention, have you read the article? His tutors can charge whatever they like. Right now he's getting 30% royalty.

30% of $39/hr (Which is what one of his tutors are offering) equals approx. $11/hr to him.

Tell me, Rupert, what would your business be like? And Shark Tank (Which is just one show on entrepreneurs, and yes, I fucking love it.) won't have 'laugh you off'? And just because he's a kid doesn't mean that all of his decisions are idiotic. Every entrepreneur makes a stupid decision in their lifetime.

lol my birthday is actually on saturday  ;D haha i should just hold for two more years then

So the kid bought for peanuts - and later sold at the ATH - but, according to some wise contributors to this thread he should have held  ;D

I'd like to say that its easy to be wise in retrospect - but from the ATH the price is now $632 not $1632.

Let's see this kid in 5 years, when he's neck deep in hookers and cocaine, owes back taxes to the IRS, and becomes besties with Brock Pierce.

At least, that's how I envision his story on the big screen.   :P

they don't have buy drug in silkroad ... it have forget bitcoin in a mail backup ... until now.  ;D
that, it's a 13 years old kid.

a real one.
with 1200 USD, at 13 years, i plan to buy a scooter (or a mac like all -idiot- student)  ... not buy bitcoin in 2012 !

http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/typing-gif.gif

Quite astounding :). Just goes to prove how awesome Bitcoin is! Way to go kid.

WOW I wish I was young now like my Son's age lol and into Bitcoin. All my family know of bitcoin because of me and  am 48 years old lol..with only few btc in my name but I am buying a rig soon.. ;D

Its like 99.9% mistake . But i dont blame him, i wouldawe done the same for sure. And its still a great decision he made to buy that coins.

"I actually have a deal with my parents that if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don't have to go to college," he said. "I’m going to do it or die trying."


LOL this kid don't want to go to college :)))


I hope he changes his mind if he makes that million!

there are lots of kids who forego college and get on the fast-track in computer technology though. you don't need to go to school if you're a really bright kid, which this kid may or may not be.

Well I have friends who are really rich!

And they went to USA for MBA because they wanted to learn more ... so learning is always good no matter how good your businesses is doing!

It is good news that bring people to Bitcoin


He seems to be pretty stable and down to earth

He received 1000$ and bought Bitcoin in 2012...

artile wont load for me ? wtf dam GEO tag maybe ?
anyway did he end up with 100k ? or was that the theoretical amount he could of made ? if he didnt sell or something ??
assuming he make 100k.. as per title.. but ya never know lol

I've sent you a  PM with the article :)


Enjoy!

I'm getting very mad reading some responses on this forum and the reddit ama with people trying to give him advice on how to manage his finances. I'm fairly young and a lot of adults such as teachers act very condensing. How annoyed would you be if some idiot that can't even understand the flaw in fiat money felt they knew more about finances just because they were older? It gets very frustrating dealing with people that think their superior just because of their age. Don't act like a condensing cunt to someone just because of your pre determined generalized notions you have about them.

report to a 15 yr old boss. OMG. That'd be cool on some levels, and not so cool on others. Cool, cuz I like the young people and finding out their stories, and not so cool to think a KID made it bigger than I did in my 38 year OLD life. Would love to go for coffee with him and interview him.

College doesn't guarantee you anything. Really tired of people preaching of this mystical world called college. I go to college, but it's not like I'm going to get a ton of opportunities, or even a career in what I'm currently going for.

Why do you want him to change his mind, exactly?

Yeah I wasn't comparing the .com hoopla to the bitcoin story! Lol. I agree we have a little way to go before it turns into a frenzy like that. I was just stating in both cases that teenagers were in on the ride!

Because of this


and because you live to learn! when yo stop learning new things it's like you died!

This story is cool, but people like this kid would be extremely successful in life whether or not they invest in Bitcoin. He is clearly very intelligent.

That's irrelevant. You don't need to go to college to learn. Hell, many successful people didn't go to college and made very successful businesses. I'm not saying learning is bad, but you don't need to go to college. And please, calm down with the bold and underlining.

Agreed. My wife is a professor and she would agree as well. Life can give you a far better education than college if you know where to look.

I sure hope this kid did something REALLY nice for his grandma.  Boondogle or whatever the heck it's called wouldn't be around if it weren't for her initial $1,000.

I would say he should give her 10 Bitcoins but that would seem a bit strange so maybe a nice trip and vacation
A light one since there is age but see new places etc.

Kudo's for the little man...

Good for him, this dude should be a little smarty-pants :)

And learning is not always connected with schools / collages. In some fields you can learn more by "doing" than by reading. Most of new technologies are like that.

We can do it too but just with a lot more cost , if you keep bitcoin now and wait for it to raise to 10k / bitcoin in somedays lol

That's not good idea if that guy sell his bitcoin, then he will probably have with taxman  >:(

But, however, compliments to that guy, 100.000$ at the age of 15 year is not a bit.

A suggestion would be he investing the bitcoin on something and then withdraw the ROI every month .

Its best not to withdraw all the fund at a time .

Admireable, im just hoping he doesnt loose it all if he keeps on trading.
Greed is ethernal :) so its better for him to just forget about trading and make something usefull with that money.

Well he did that. He made that website with the money. Probably not all of it , but he rly seems like smart kid :D

If that website manages to make him money over time, than he did EXCELENT investment. He can turn that business into something that will sustain him for life, no matter what happens to BTC / fiat. Smart kid.

It's funny how many people are calling this kid stupid for doing this... how many of you guys had made $100k by the time you were 15?

All you need is the time , chance , greed !

nice story - still I would have hodled them longer till about 1 mio and then sold.

Exactly, but he know what is the right choice.

A simple stupid know that now is not the perfect moment for sell because, thanks to the news of the big company that accepts bitcoin, price probably will go up to 1000+$, so, that 100.000$ can be 200 or 300.000$.

Surely an investment is the best choice.

I saw that 50cent accept bitcoin as a payment and thats a very good multimedia effect

More people will know about bitcoin and there will be more business opening up accepting bitcoin as a payment .

So lets see how bitcoin will go from now :)

Isnt Expedia using them from now on ?

Botangle is a great website. The kid's doing good, really good.

Pratically how Botangle work ?

why i dont have any luck

wow, I was very motivated at all :)
I wish I could make such a thing would surely happy parents, relatives and other people who really need it :)

Good news keep piling up, we may be close to the huge spike in price

Real entrepreneurs know that you can't just sit on your wealth, but need to put it to work.

I wonder if he is a member on bitcointalk, you would think he knows the forum, care to greet us?

Based on the viability of BTC at the time, he was essentially buying a lottery ticket. He may have been able to see the fundamental value in the blockchain concept and made a good bet.

how lucky. just by holding for a higher price.
seems like anyone can do it

if I stay seated alone: D

Its all about seizing the opportunity and being in the right place at the right time. Then you can achieve anything!

If any of us 3 years ago was collecting btc for 1usd.... ;)

Should have sold off only a portion rather than the whole sum just in case in the long term we moved upwards. Regardless though I'd say he's just another one of those cases where having some luck and being in the right place at the right time can pay off overall.

Yeah he should have kept hold of some as a future investment, but I can see why he'd want to sell.

He most likely buys back his btc..  He will have a business and more btc in the future

it is a fortune unfortunately why 4 years ago bitcoin pupoler not in my country

He sold his coins in order to start a business. I believe that his business deals in BTC.

If his business is successful then he could potentially earn more BTC then he sold to start his business.

It is not written that he sold it all, he probably kept 10-60% of it and he can buy back, earn a nice income with his business, earn BTC with his business or sell his business for a large fiat amount that he can partly transfer in BTC for safety and value

Great for him and very wise that he took his profits. I hope that he kept a few BTC just in case though ;)

I wish Bitcoin was around when I was a kid and had times on my hands (as well as no kids, lol).

My kids are too young to understand BTC.  I think BTC is prime for kids in high-school though.  Anyways, lucky kid.

Great for him.  Cool to see a kid getting into bitcoin.

Who get's $1,000 as a gift for easter as a 15 yr old though  ??? ::) :P ;D

There was an article that say some 15 year old used $1,000 that his grandmother gave him to buy bitcon early last year and old it recently for a $150,000 profit.

It does say he sold it for 100k$ :

"When Erik Finman received $1,000 from his grandmother in 2012, he invested it in bitcoin, the then-obscure form of online currency. A year and a half later, he sold his investment for $100,000 and used the earnings to launch Botangle.com, an online tutoring service that runs on video chat."

I think it is unlikely he didn't kept any of it

Hmm... if this is true, then this 15-year old is more intelligent than most of the 30-year old posters here. The only thing that I don't like about him is the fact that he doesn't have anymore coins in his stash.

I am very doubtful he doesn't have any left

I am not surprised than a 15 years old is more intelligent than any 30 years old

According to the article, he has sold all his coins for fiat. I don't blame him. Bitcoin is a very risky investment. You can lose all your net worth in a matter of few days, if not hours.

Nothing wrong with taking profits, but to exit the Bitcoin market entirely seems a bit hasty. 

Kid has got a head start on life, but $100k isn't very much especially after taxes.

I know that he started a new business with his proceeds. I think the business was something bitcoin related

Long Terms Caps Gain Tax is something like 15%. Even if the tax guys take a cut of $15,000, he will be left with the remaining $85,000. More than enough to start a new venture, IMO.

He can retire @ 45 if he invested it wisely now ;)

His new business is https://botangle.com/how-it-works : Joined members 1304 Botangle with a B like Bitcoin; it will sell for millions once it picked up ;)

he was lucky, but kinda nice story tho

The site looks very professional. I think the kid hired staff to help him run the site.

Good for him though he likely sold too soon!

There is another 15-year-old kid who named Gong Jianhui ,he owned above tens thousands(It's said the number is five-figure sum) Bitcoins.
It's said he bought some video cards and mined Bitcoin in 2010.He is too young to go to high school but he dropped out now and started his own company.

You can check his weibo : http://weibo.com/gongjianhui

Yes most definitely, it looks very profesionnal and it is actually a great idea and very user friendly

do not think a child that young age has a great mind and dare to exchange all the money for bitcoin. and he lived to enjoy the results now.
we are not too late to do the same, and we see the results the next few years

Good for him, hope he doesnt spend it on drugs.

He sold when BTC was at 1,050 (+-) each, though many say he shouldn't of sold 100% of his coin, he made a smart move at the moment. currently he can reinvest from the profits of his business into BTC at $600 (+-) pay his employees and keep some for when they increase in price again, repeat and continue. If you simply just Hold with something that has no given 100% of growth or failure you may get nowhere.

Market cap is 8Billions, the potential is in the tens of billions then in the hundreds of billions without being too bullish

It could also fail

I hope his business will succeed, I will keep an eye on it

Thats really great to hear.

He made wise decision buying btc when the rate was lowest.

Awesome! I think it's great that he sold when the btc were high. He obviously made a good investment with it. And he is still the BTC enthousiast he was, paying his employees in BTC most of the time. Probably means he bought a bunch back @ current pricings.

Are you the guy in question?  ;)

Of course he still is the Bitcoin enthousiast he was, it wouldn't make sense otherwise

If only he had waited.

I kinda wish haha. But it's cool that he sticks to bitcoin as a means to pay out his employees right? Gets the word out :)

i have $1,200,000 should i launch startup

You can envy People more good looking than you or luckier than you but what's the point?

WOW, great story!

And he used the currency all for himself... greedy bastard.

Haha, that is true. But there was the chance to cash out and take the winnings vs loosing the money already made. At this point I can't say I blame him...

You sure he just cash out and dint cash in any more ?

May be he did cash out at high price and cash in low price and now cash out waiting for another moment again  ;)

He can probably still buy back some at a cheaper price and I doubt he doesn't have any left

What he is doing is improving the lives of people like him, students that want to learn things that aren't taught where he lives.

Instead of speculating all day long he is actually trying to start a business. He already turned 1k to 100k.

What is being created here is another platform for online tutoring with chat, video and a shared whiteboard. I haven't used the site but I might.

Using the site you could get tutored by someone who graduated with honors for Computer science or someone who has worked years in animation etc.

That being said he could have held and 3 possible scenarios would happen. 1. Bitcoin price would have a temporary drop 2. Bitcoin price could remain the same for up to 3 years. 3. Bitcoin price could rise

So given that he had enough money to start his business I think he chose correctly. And who is to say he doesn't still have a few BTC stashed away?

Smart kid, but he made 1 mistake, he should have holded at least some of his coins.
Or does his website accept coins?

nice investment....

Great lad,

guy got his own company and doing good!

I love the deal he made with his parents, if he makes 1 million before 18 he doesn't have to go to college.

I find it interesting that there were several threads on this forum shortly before this story came out that were asking if someone under 18 could trade bitcoin on an exchange

a very right decision to buy bitcoin when inherited from her grandmother,
he may have become a rich man now ;D

So what do you think? He will sit at home with just school education? He will go to college, but will be free to chose the subject he want. Or he could do some correspondence course from home.  ;D

Anyway hats off to him. Well done kid. :)

He will likely not need to to college if his business is successful enough.

Many successful business owners either did not go to college or they dropped out of college.

Good for him! Not many 15 year old kids would have the vision, focus, or commitment to start their own business. he is gaining incredible skills and experience for someone his age, definitely going to be successful in life.

Good luck to him. I hope he's done his research, this has been tried a few times before and failed.

Did he buy at ~1$ and sell at ~100$?
If he would have holded till 1000$ he would have that million dollar now :P

TBH not sure how far $100k will go to pay developers to maintain and add features to a site like this, if that's his bankroll he needs to be making money pretty quick off the bat.

Still, it's pretty darn amazing what kids can do these days.

I think he bought at around $10 and sold around $1,000

Good point.  Even if he does make that million by 18, he should still go to college.  1 million at that age isn't a lot of money considering how long he has to live.  Kid seems pretty damn smart though, so I'm sure he will figure it out. 

I'd still head to college though, who knows the valuable connections he could make while there.

1,000,000$ well invested at 18 is huge but if he is using it to live, it isn't that much anymore

He will meet friends and learn things on life in college

College is god for an "experience" but is not necessarily good from an "education" prospective.

Don't be envious. Get off your ass and help build the network like he did. No work = No reward

He has invested it in his business. If his business survives for 5 years, chances are that it will allow him to live off of the business's earnings, if it fails within 5 years then he would not be too old to go to college then and finish school and still have most of his life ahead of him

It would of been a bit better if he actually earned the first $1000. He took a gamble with the money his grama gave him and he got lucky. Nothing really to be impressed about. You wouldn't be impressed if Dank gambled some money that he borrowed and won enough to pay back the loan and buy a mansion with 150 bathrooms. There isn't much difference. I'm not really that impressed.

The site isn't that great and paying instructors to teach people will cost a lot more than hes expecting. He is 15 years old and hasn't got a degree etc so people would be less likely to want to be taught by him. Also this type of site has been done by experts so he has a lot of competition and only a 100k investment.....very difficult.

15 years old thats awesome for him.

He invested the money in a high risk/high return investment which shows that he was willing to postpone gratification and sacrifice the present for the future which is very rare for any of us; most people get what they can in the present and don't plan too much for the future because they lack the skill to sacrifice the present to enjoy more in the future

Will there really be such a high value, I am looking forward to

"Sorry son, your business is only worth $818,000 at last valuation. Off to school with you."
"But DAAAAD....

I wouldn't say that his investment was high risk/high return. I would say that he put money in something that he likely did not understand and happened to make it big.

He should apply for a Thiel fellowship and if he wins use that as his excuse to skip college. Seriously, there are only something like 500 applicants, and from what I have seen so far from my interactions with them a large contingent of them are VERY interested in cryptocurrency.

I don't know what world you live in but things costs on the Internet are nothing compared to offline businesses. I would be comfortable launching this business with well under $10,000 and so would many others. You do not need $100,000 to start a business online.

I wouldn't say that he so much help build the network, but rather bought when the price was low. Him buying coins did not help secure the network in any way.

He took the time to learn and study bitcoin. Most people will just brush it off in the early days and called it a scam.

And he has the balls to invest in something he know and he has a vision to see the potential of bitcoin. He also has an exit strategy and know what to do with his profit.


Most of the late comers on this forum. Do they have the balls, vision and exit strategy?

Wow, great story. Good for him.

He should apply for a Thiel fellowship and if he wins use that as his excuse to skip college. Seriously, there are only something like 500 applicants, and from what I have seen so far from my interactions with them a large contingent of them are VERY interested in cryptocurrency.

That's true when at least one of the founders is a developers. Otherwise, you need to hire them (which the kid did), and that's not cheap.

No but if you are in a first world country, you want talents, an office and staff you will need 50,000$ + to start