"Man buys $27 of bitcoin, forgets about them, finds they're now worth $886k"

[vokain]

Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner ($26.60) in 5,000 bitcoins in 2009, after discovering them during the course of writing a thesis on encryption. He promptly forgot about them until widespread media coverage of the anonymous, decentralised, peer-to-peer digital currency in April 2013 jogged his memory.

I know it was released earlier tonight, but this article should be one of the more bullish adoption catalysts as more press outlets pick up the story and everyday  Main St. investors become more incentivized to participate in the Bitcoin market. Things like this really resonate with the common man.

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[rpietila]

and its not like he was a true supporter.

It doesn't seem like he worked much, but he withdrew BTC5,000 from the market through good and bleak months, enabling a higher price, more interest, higher difficulty, more security, etc.

Now he is a true supporter given the fact that he sold only 20% after an unbelievable runup. Any man from the street would have sold all.

[wopwop]

and its not like he was a true supporter.

It doesn't seem like he worked much, but he withdrew BTC5,000 from the market through good and bleak months, enabling a higher price, more interest, higher difficulty, more security, etc.

Now he is a true supporter given the fact that he sold only 20% after an unbelievable runup. Any man from the street would have sold all.

What is a 'man on the street'?

You don't consider people who use computers commonly a 'man on the street'?

Weird guy

[Hfleer]

That's really nice.  Would love to spend $27 to get $886,000 sometime.

[Hfleer]

That's really nice.  Would love to spend $27 to get $886,000 sometime.

Buy some btc todsy. Might be worth it in s few years

Of course we hope so.  Have been in Bitcoin for a while now.

[masyveonk]

Im more surprised he still have the wallet after 3 years.

I reinstalling computers much sonner 

[SheHadMANHands]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

[Ivanhoe]

Yup, people are gonna look at the charts and when they see the 2 year chart and that it survived 2 "bubbles" already. Well brace yourself then.

[jesse11]

Koch cashed in a fifth of his earnings to buy a three-bedroom apartment in Oslo. 
http://now.msn.com/kristoffer-koch-norwegian-man-buys-apartment-with-bitcoin-profit

[Koekiemonster]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

The difference is with poker people thought they might be able to do the same, but with the Bitcoin situation people will often think: "It's gone up so much, it can't possibly go up any further." This is a key difference so I don't think this will have much effect at all.

[SheHadMANHands]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

The difference is with poker people thought they might be able to do the same, but with the Bitcoin situation people will often think: "It's gone up so much, it can't possibly go up any further." This is a key difference so I don't think this will have much effect at all.

The point is it took that to grab people's attention, and get them interested.  This story would have been different right after the April crash, but climbing all the way back in 6 months makes it clear that we may be very, very far from the top.  I'm talking over a similar span of years...  <-- I have to mention this because people on Speculation seemed to have difficulty imagining a time period beyond 2 weeks from any particular date.  

[nthoangga]

House in Norway is that cheap? Only $180k for 3-bedroom apt?

[johnyj]

Highly doubt it, just like claim someone bought one lottery ticket and won millions, but there is one problem: He did not pay tax 

[600watt]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

i find your reasoning convincing. this will get a lot of people curious. more stories like this will pop up, the media will love it. much faster than the bitcoin protocol will be used mainstream, bitcoin as a speculative asset will hit the streets and become popular. that´s how new people get involved. love it or hate it, it is this crazyness about bitcoin gaining such incredible value in less than 5 years that will cause a boom, not its technological elegance. people may think that it can´t rise at the same rate, but even a slower rate would still dwarf what they get from classical investments in less than 5 years.

[Rockefoten]

House in Norway is that cheap? Only $180k for 3-bedroom apt?

It's in one of the cheaper areas of Oslo (Tøyen), despite all the articles claiming it is in a wealthy area (it is not).
My guess would be that the aparatment cost him between $400-500k - so the rest would come from the bank.

[Nemo1024]

I posted this in the main Economics forum the day before yesterday, but it went completely unnoticed. Here is a repost:

http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/norwegian-student-kristoffer-koch-buys-27-in-bitcoin-in-2009-now-he-owns-an-apartment/story-e6frfmd9-1226748159679

Reprint from the Norwegian source:

http://www.nrk.no/okonomi/kjopte-bolig-for-internettpenger-1.11314773

And and interesting and positive statement from Head of Taxation Department:

– Dette er en ny måte å tenke verdier på, sier skattedirektør Hans Christian Holte til NRK.

Dersom man tjener penger på investering i nettvaluta, skal man skatte 28 prosent av gevinsten, og omsetning av bitcoin skal man betale moms av, opplyser skattedirektøren.

– Hvilke utfordringer byr dette på?

– Dette er et ektefødt barn av en digital verden. Vi må ta våre lover og regler, og se hvordan disse skal anvendes på dette helt nye området, svarer skattedirektøren.

- This is a new way of thinking about values, says head of Tax Department Hans Christian Holte to  NRK.
Provided one earns money from investment in digital cirrencies, one has to pay 28% of the income in taxes, while circulation of bitcoins is subject to VAT taxation, informs Head of the department.

- What kind of challenges does this induce?

- This is a legitimate child of the digital world. We must take our laws and rules and see how they can be applied to this completely new area, is the response of the Head of the Department.

PS.: Can confirm that Tøyen is one of the cheapest areas of Oslo, almost ghetto-like.

[windjc]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

i find your reasoning convincing. this will get a lot of people curious. more stories like this will pop up, the media will love it. much faster than the bitcoin protocol will be used mainstream, bitcoin as a speculative asset will hit the streets and become popular. that´s how new people get involved. love it or hate it, it is this crazyness about bitcoin gaining such incredible value in less than 5 years that will cause a boom, not its technological elegance. people may think that it can´t rise at the same rate, but even a slower rate would still dwarf what they get from classical investments in less than 5 years.

Except that poker is fun. Buying Bitcoin is some complicated and boring shit.

Moneymaker was just a small part. The World Poker Tour was on air at the time and that took off like wildfire, as did online poker rooms. It was  perfect storm for the competitive U.S. egos. I was in the middle of it - actually opened a poker room in CR, which I later sold.

I would not call this comparable to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin could become as popular as poker on day, but it will be a much slower grind.

[SheHadMANHands]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

i find your reasoning convincing. this will get a lot of people curious. more stories like this will pop up, the media will love it. much faster than the bitcoin protocol will be used mainstream, bitcoin as a speculative asset will hit the streets and become popular. that´s how new people get involved. love it or hate it, it is this crazyness about bitcoin gaining such incredible value in less than 5 years that will cause a boom, not its technological elegance. people may think that it can´t rise at the same rate, but even a slower rate would still dwarf what they get from classical investments in less than 5 years.

Except that poker is fun. Buying Bitcoin is some complicated and boring shit.

Moneymaker was just a small part. The World Poker Tour was on air at the time and that took off like wildfire, as did online poker rooms. It was  perfect storm for the competitive U.S. egos. I was in the middle of it - actually opened a poker room in CR, which I later sold.

I would not call this comparable to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin could become as popular as poker on day, but it will be a much slower grind.

It's pretty common consensus that Chris Moneymaker's win was the catalyst.  WPT tour was very important as well, and, for many people, it's how they first heard of Moneymaker's win.
http://watch.betraisefoldmovie.com/ (watch Trailor)

The point was related to human psychology.  Not that it's exactly the same.  Obviously they're different.. 

[windjc]

I used to play a lot of poker.  Even semi-professionally for a while.  I'll never forget the "boom switch" that was flipped on when an "average Joe" named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003, for $2.5 million, on a $40 initial investment...

People eat that shit up.  Everyone wanted to get involved all of a sudden.

We could be priming for a huge bubble, which hopefully doesn't undermine Bitcoin's real value and innovation - not as a "get rich quick" scheme.  I suppose only time will tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_of_Poker_Main_Event_champions (notice entrants after 2003)

i find your reasoning convincing. this will get a lot of people curious. more stories like this will pop up, the media will love it. much faster than the bitcoin protocol will be used mainstream, bitcoin as a speculative asset will hit the streets and become popular. that´s how new people get involved. love it or hate it, it is this crazyness about bitcoin gaining such incredible value in less than 5 years that will cause a boom, not its technological elegance. people may think that it can´t rise at the same rate, but even a slower rate would still dwarf what they get from classical investments in less than 5 years.

Except that poker is fun. Buying Bitcoin is some complicated and boring shit.

Moneymaker was just a small part. The World Poker Tour was on air at the time and that took off like wildfire, as did online poker rooms. It was  perfect storm for the competitive U.S. egos. I was in the middle of it - actually opened a poker room in CR, which I later sold.

I would not call this comparable to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin could become as popular as poker on day, but it will be a much slower grind.

It's pretty common consensus that Chris Moneymaker's win was the catalyst.  WPT tour was very important as well, and, for many people, it's how they first heard of Moneymaker's win.
http://watch.betraisefoldmovie.com/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Well his last name was Hollywoodmoviesque for sure.

But I still don't think bitcoin is comparable to poker.  And, personally, I dont think we want it to be. If Bitcoin is just a place where people come to gamble and speculate it will never get to "the moon."

Bitcoin needs two major things to grow. Real innovation with bitcoin related business eco-system and asset investment.

Poker didn't need anything but a coin and a chair and some exposure.

[balanghai]

He surely is enjoying his profits at the moment.