Are Early Adopters rich?

[Nrcewker]

It depends on the users themselves, in what conditions they are living now.
If they have sold the Bitcoins, when BTC was around 1000$ etc, then definitely they missed a big opportunity and now working hard in a regular job. Else if someone by mistake kept some Bitcoins anywhere and forgot, and then got access to them in late 2020. Then definitely he will be enjoying his life now.
Nevertheless no one has the ability to see the future, so I am guessing many of the early Bitcoiners have sold their Bitcoins.

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[Morosophy]

Not all, many of them sold their bitcoins out of panic. I am one of them. I regret doing that though.

[dark1234]

Not all, many of them sold their bitcoins out of panic. I am one of them. I regret doing that though.

that's normal, my friend..... but if you get it and enter at a low price of course it's okay but if you enter at a high price of course it's a deep disappointment
maybe those who held it at the beginning also sold it because of the panic the price was so high at that time that they couldn't hold it

[RealMalatesta]

Likely, if you are here and buy many Bitcoin where the price was just $1k, imagining the price today and you still hold it you are absolutely rich this time. I'm sure someone or a few people had managed to keep their Bitcoins until today and they just let the last ATH pass without selling any as their plan could be long-term. Thus, if you are also able to do it now and hold for at least 5 years, you can think that it might double or triple your money, or even more.

It is difficult to keep coins for so long, when you see that your invested money has doubled several times, then it becomes very difficult to resist selling. Therefore, I think that very few people were able to keep their coins to this day, but of course those who were able to do this became very rich people, this is a reward for patience. Those who buy now and will be able to hold for many years will also get a good profit, maybe not so big, but still it will be a significant profit.

It is reasonable to expect that though. I mean I had a period in my life where I made so much profit that I was able to pay all of my debts that was there for nearly 5 years. Think about it, living with a debt for 5 years and then suddenly getting out of it means something to many people and it did to me as well so I just ended up selling it.

I paid of all my debts and I spent it on other stuff as well and for the first time in my life, I wasn't supposed to be scared of at the end of the month, because I finally had some money. So yeah, I did get in early, I made a ton of money, I sold and I do not regret it because thanks to that sell, I am not debt free. Could have been richer, but that's fine.

[Igurugwu]

Those of them who sold early i think they are not rich.
That doesn't mean they can't get rich from other sources.
But those who held till now yes i think they are rich.
And i think any still adopting now is still not late as Bitcoin hasn't really achieve all that it can.

[Tomohisa]

Yes, early adopters of Bitcoin are rich but not that kind of rich everyone was thinking with hundreds of million. Many of them must have sold Bitcoin when it was at $1000 so they don't have much from it unless they still got 10 BTC for later. Have you seen the guy keep looking for his hard drive in a landfill that stores thousands of Bitcoin? Many early adopters of Bitcoin were like that. Got a lot of Bitcoin but it was impossible for them to keep on holding it with all the milestone prices of Bitcoin.

[Rigon]

Some are and some are not, most of the early adopters who sold btc at very cheap prices never thought it will be this expensive, take the case of the pizza guy for example, see the amount of btc spent for a pizza! if he had held them for the long term he would be very rich. it all depends on the trust each one of them had towards the tech, those who held and were determined to see what will become of btc and were able to withstand the high volatility are probably rich now. Aside from being an early adopter, it takes a lot of trust, determination, and patience to actually become very rich as an early btc invsetor.

Recalling the pizza bought here, we understand that early Bitcoin users did not get rich.Because they never thought Bitcoin would come to such a good position. So they are certainly not a pizza with so many bit coins.Again, the person who sold the pizza and got 10,000 bitcoins but didn't keep the bitcoins also sold the person.So we can be sure from here that early stage Bitcoin users can become rich.There are also individuals who bought and held bitcoins with no thought of selling them who may have become very rich at some point.

[Raflesia]

I have a few friends who were the ones who introduced me to Crypto and it's safe to say they came before me even though I can't say they were early adopters.
Actually, it might be too much to say that they are rich because indeed wealth for everyone is clearly different and this depends on each perspective.
But their life is well off and in my country it's definitely a pretty good thing to live like that. Regardless of rich or not as long as they are here they can buy what they want and they need it is good enough in my opinion and I plunged into Crypto now I feel that even though I can't call myself rich but when I can buy whatever I need with the money I get then I think it's enough.

[2stout]

It all depends on amount of BTC, whether they were long term holders, if they cashed out in the 5 figure range, and whether or not they were able to hang onto their fortune without spending it all up.

[worle1bm]

I just wonder: are Early Adopters rich?
We know AA, author of "Mastering Bitcoin" was once attacked because he did not made any fortune having BTC from early years, then people donated some BTC and he collected around 100BTC.
Hal F's wife sued "I am Satoshi guy" and they were talking about $ 3-digit mln, so they are not kind of people who wait every month for their wage.
What about others? Bitcoin Core developers? Forum admins or well-known old users? Are they crazy rich living in their own castles or did they lost their coins, sold for $10 because of mortgage loan or student's debt and today they must work 7-15 every day?

It depends on at what time they have sold like if miners who were involved in bitcoin back in 2011 or so if sold at 2017 say around $19k they would definitely have been rich or if others still have the guts to hold till date knowing how much it will be used at these time.There are many people who just found their keys or wallet files at current time making them millionaires today so yes there are people who have been benefited from bitcoin a lot while some has loss also.

[AicecreaME]

It depends if they managed to resist the temptation to sell or spend.  It's conceivable that many of the people who got in super early when BTC was <$1 may have assumed $10 or even $100 would be the highest it could ever go and sold the lot.  If they held, then yes, they're pretty rich.

I agree. This is a subjective matter and it will really depend on someone's ability to restrain himself and of course, the situation that person is into. If that person managed to believe in bitcoin, invested continuously, and held his coins up until this day, then yes, he is and would definitely be wealthy. Given the value of bitcoin now, if someone managed to dive before when its price is pretty much lower than $10, he's definitely profited so much already.

Meanwhile, if someone didn't really believe that bitcoin would skyrocket and sold his assets early on, then definitely he's one of the many people regretting selling their assets too easily. It would be too bad seeing the price position now. But perhaps some people really needed money that time. Hence, resulting to selling their coins. If it helped them way back, I guess it isn't much of a waste. After all, there's really only a few who trusted btc so much when it has so little value and I can't really blame those who were shaken.

[Republikcoin.com]

Those of them who sold early i think they are not rich.
That doesn't mean they can't get rich from other sources.
But those who held till now yes i think they are rich.
And i think any still adopting now is still not late as Bitcoin hasn't really achieve all that it can.

If you look at the deadline, those who have bought Bitcoin in 2018 and sold it in 2021, then they are rich people, but for those who bought at the highest price in 2021, now they are already poor if they let go of the assets they have bought. last year. So it's not just about how long one holds Bitcoin, but how smart one is at taking advantage of the moment in the market. For example like now, if someone buys Bitcoin at a price of $17K - $18K, then now they already have a profit even when they haven't sold it.

[Kakmakr]

Well, I bought some coins when the price of Bitcoin was just over $300 per coin. This does not make me an "early coiner" ....but it was early enough for me to make very good profits on those coins, if I held onto them until the price reached $60 000.

Now, you should know.... when the price hit $18 000 .... most people thought that was going to be the highest it will EVER go, so a lot of us sold some coins back then. (took profit) .......we did this again at $40 000 and again at $60 000. So what I am trying to say is.... not everyone are hardcore hoarders, you are tempted to sell at different price spikes.  

The secret.... keep some of that profit and buy back some coins, when there are a big crash in the price. 

[Davidvictorson]

I believe that there are two types of early adopters: the wise early adopters and the foolish early adopters. The wise early adopters who became rich are those who believe in the future of bitcoin and never wavered despite the numerous bear markets. Then the foolish early adopters where those who bought bitcoin out of FOMO. They were weak hands and when the market crash happened, FUD overtook them and quickly sold of their coins. Now they are living in regrets and telling stories of how they were the first to buy bitcoin at $20 many years ago.

[Hypnosis00]

I believe that there are two types of early adopters: the wise early adopters and the foolish early adopters. The wise early adopters who became rich are those who believe in the future of bitcoin and never wavered despite the numerous bear markets. Then the foolish early adopters where those who bought bitcoin out of FOMO. They were weak hands and when the market crash happened, FUD overtook them and quickly sold of their coins. Now they are living in regrets and telling stories of how they were the first to buy bitcoin at $20 many years ago.

Then LogitechMouse is right, YES AND NO. Perhaps, that was really going to happen and even to say that Bitcoin welcomes everyone doesn't mean that all who invest in this went successful and become rich. Many of these early adopters had also failed and might suffer losses because of some misconceptions and market worries, and not all of them had the courage to hold longer but easily got panic upon seeing the price decline.

Maybe if can bring back the past and start over again, I know nobody will ever sell their Bitcoin and spend it wrongly but rather hold it until now.

[Issa56]

Not all, many of them sold their bitcoins out of panic. I am one of them. I regret doing that though.

Some of them that don't really believe in bitcoin sold early, but some are still holding and some don't have access to their wallet any longer. I didn't know about bitcon early but have been holding my bitcoin and am accumulating more for few year's now.
I think is not still late to invest in bitcoin, in the next few years you are still going to be among the early adopters, so just buy and hold now so that you won't endup regretting why you didn't buy now.

[Abiky]

I just wonder: are Early Adopters rich?
We know AA, author of "Mastering Bitcoin" was once attacked because he did not made any fortune having BTC from early years, then people donated some BTC and he collected around 100BTC.
Hal F's wife sued "I am Satoshi guy" and they were talking about $ 3-digit mln, so they are not kind of people who wait every month for their wage.
What about others? Bitcoin Core developers? Forum admins or well-known old users? Are they crazy rich living in their own castles or did they lost their coins, sold for $10 because of mortgage loan or student's debt and today they must work 7-15 every day?

Some early adopters became rich because they "hodled" Bitcoin no matter what. But others haven't been that lucky. I came into the Bitcoin scene in late 2014, but I'm not rich because I've spent most of my BTC in cloud mining companies and daily necessities. All of the cloud mining companies I've invested turned into a scam, so I was left with almost no Bitcoin in my wallet. It was a few years later that I've decided to invest my BTC into PoS coins in order to build a passive income system of my own. I'm now making a lot of money, but I'm still not rich, because again, I've been spending the profits on daily necessities.

To become rich is quite a hard task, especially when the crypto market is widely unpredictable. There's too much volatility where BTC can one day go up and then go all the way down the drain the other day. BTC is still below the projected $1m price per coin, so I'd still consider most of us early adopters. Just keep on "hodling" and maybe you'll get lucky someday.

[Marvell1]

If we compare the price of bitcoin at the beginning of its emergence with the price of bitcoin now it is very much different, most likely people who adopted bitcoin at the beginning of the emergence of bitcoin can certainly enjoy the wealth they have obtained from their adoption of bitcoin in the past, because the price of bitcoin in 2016 can it is said that the value is very high, so of course they have fantastic wealth, but it all depends on how they manage the finances they have got, if they are not good at managing their finances, it is certain that the wealth they get will not last long.

I believe the rise in the price of bitcoin can be considered the most unexpected even for the creator of bitcoin. In 13 years, no one could have predicted bitcoin would be worth tens of thousands of dollars and that the $100k milestone would be broken soon. Back in 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz got excited when he bought 2 pizzas for 10000btc and the situation was then considered a huge hit with bitcoin, from something worthless and can now buy several products. So it can be said that very few people will hold bitcoin so far, they cannot avoid the temptation of bitcoin price when bitcoin hit ATH in the past.

[franky1]

What about others?
...
well-known old users? Are they crazy rich living in their own castles or did they lost their coins,

still hoarding since 2012
im 'explorer rich'  (funds calculated to fiat via explorer view of funds) analogy: 'rich on paper'
but not had the desire or reason yet to sell the whole hoard, so not yet ready to buy castles

i have took some out to cover a comfortable life, travel and leisure, but not really much in the scheme of things

that said i have had many many years without the burden of trying to kiss some managers ass for a wage, or having to charm some employer to pay me to do their dirty work. so bitcoin has offered me many freedoms to be myself and do what i wanna do, which to me has been worth more than the small allotments i has played with along the years

Am I correct in my understanding Sir, you started saving or holding Bitcoin since the year 2012 and until now you have not sold any of the bitcoins you hold? Because if none of your possessions have been sold, you are one of the millionaires today. Because in those years 2012, the value of Bitcoin was still very cheap, it is impossible to imagine how many bitcoins you held or bought at that time, which in fact if you sell it now, its value in dollar terms is terrible has bitcoin in the market at present.

Then maybe the early adopters of bitcoin, most of them were sold or they lived with their wallet balance until now. There are probably only a few people like you who have not sold a single bitcoin since you started doing it in 2012, you have been storing your Bitcoin for more than a decade. Have you been thinking about 20 years or 30 years, do you intend to store what you have before selling it in the market? how much is one bitcoin?

i bought some coin in 2012 to start me off, GPU mined some(btc and LTC(converting to btc)) and won some others in competitions and other stuff, projects etc . and was loving the volatility and arbitrage opportunities of day trading 2012-13. it was a very entertaining time flipping between btc-usd-ltc-btc(and reverse) on a couple exchanges in 2012-13, my yield was increasing fast and it was great fun riding the waves and pump and dumps that were rampant then. arbitraging was just easy and i was loving every second of it.

as things progressed i started to not trade my hoard but keep it out of exchanges and start playing with % of hoard. as the price went up the less % i was playing with (risk adverse tactic)

ive only sold-out completely(exited) a very small percentage of hoard, mainly i was in 2013-16 day trading small percentages on different exchanges to increase my yield and occassionally taking fiat out on those day trade profits (small percentages of small percentages)
 
i have not sold my main hoard so i dont consider myself a millionaire. because i dont have my hands on actual millions of fiat. though value wise of bitcoin would suggest otherwise.

i dont live an extravagant life nor need to show off or act like an elitist or pompous richguy.(you will never see me do a youtube influencer 'lambo' video)
 yea i got the freedom to live and travel without a a$$hole manager/boss/employer. so i live a good life not a pompous life, and im happy

..
looking deep at my mindset of the years.
i started off when btc was about $6 each
and when it leaped to over $100 and then $1200 in 2013 and then back down to $200-$400 in 2014. my mind transitioned to the thought that the price was above my initial acquisition costs so im not at a loss so no need to stress or worry or rush to sell. so i didnt sell on the $1.2k high.
at the time i was planning for the 5-10 year involvement. seeing what the next halving would look like

now i have no exit date/plan, so now i just think of it as a retirement plan(not any time soon),
where no matter what i 'could' sell out and always make a profit, but i have no need to sell my hoard.

i have what i need go where i like and dont wanna waste any headaches on taxes and fiat crap just to hold it in fiat. so why sell out just for receive fiat headaches where holding fiat earns me nothing, has no purpose in my life to just have a bank account of large amount of fiat that just depreciates due to inflation.. (well who would be silly to prefer to hoard inflationary fiat that depreciates in value.. ?)

then(2014+) i just stopped looking at the total value/price of my hoard, because i always knew it was in profit so no need to keep checking on it daily. much like people dont check on their pension plan account balances daily
so i just put it aside and stopped worrying/caring/concerning myself with thinking about.

i just used a very small amount for entertainment play on exchanges day trading. and using profits of the small percentage to cover any real life desires.

in the years of 2014-16 i did lose few a coins to defunct exchanges(the usual "we been hacked see ya never" excuses of crappy exchanges) and some asics that become obsolete quick.. and looking back, yea i could have got upset about the value of those spend/lost coins at todays value. but then again those lost/spend coins were only a small % so its not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

yep 60coins for a 2nd/3rd gen asic(circa 2014) of only a few hundred ghash, would now seem like a huge waste in todays value. especially when network difficulty/hashrate was rising so high so fast the hash competition didnt even return all ROI
but oh well .. its still a good foot stall and room heater even today.(i dont use it for that purpose. but i could)

i have never traded via emotion or hope/dream. i trade via logic. its seen me good when day trading to increase my yield over the years. and also cover real life stuff.

heck i have the hoard and dont need to increase it. yet even this year when the price calmed back down and corrected from the $70k bubble back down to reasonable cheap coin for this cycle/era. yep i threw in a few thousand in spare fiat to buy more coin for a medium term ROI when the next cycle spins up. because,.. well why the hell not take the opportunity. buy low sell high. and again not need to touch the main hoard

[Haunebu]

This is a dumb question to be honest with you op. The answer is obvious. If they somehow managed to HODL their BTC for a long period of time, they did become crazy rich. If not, they clearly didn't, but profited anyway.

One of the best examples of an early adopter who became rich in this manner is Erik Finman who became a millionaire through some really smart choices.

There are also some early adopters who forgot/lost their stash and recovered it later on which instantly made them rich.