"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even

[Learn Bitcoin]

Those Satoshi’s bitcoin doesn’t seems like something that he lost, he might have actually just created a new wallet and throw those bitcoins there and then throw the keys away just to maybe add value to the circulating ones as he as he did say himself what lost coins are for. Or probably he is dead and no one knows the whereabout of the keys.

Even if we do not consider it as a lost coin, these coins are not in circulation. There are other possibilities too. He might let it remain in his wallet because he is a wealthy guy and does not need to spend his coins. Instead, he lets its users see how valuable it is today. Since people believe he has 1M Bitcoin, if they start to move, people will understand that Satoshi has almost 5% of the total supply.

If we look at the Lazslo cases it is because many people are just seeing it now as him been wasteful because of how expensive bitcoin is now, I bet before the mining of bitcoin even ends some of the next generation might even finds us stupid too for how we spent ours too.

Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't have spent the ETH that I received a couple of years ago as salary from a crypto project. I was getting 1 ETH every two weeks and I spent them instantly. It was around $125 back then.

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[libert19]

Aside from reason given in top comment, I'd say due to price increase, if you are into BTC since it was few cents, then $1 price is lot, if you somehow kept holding till then, then you will surely sell it for $10, if not at that then for sure at $100 — you could go on like that.

Our minds are conditioned, and even few x is huge return if you were to compare it to traditional stock market or bank returns back then and still is to people who are not into crypto.  

[Assface16678]

It is because many people in the past believed in the potential of the bitcoin and many predictions scattered around at that time, so maybe many investors or holders decided to believe in bitcoin, and if it is, then they are not wrong, but why still many hold their bitcoin and remain? Maybe because some of that bitcoin is locked, meaning its owner forgot their access in the wallet and never retrieved their bitcoin, like, for example, those quite known people who lost their bitcoins, like the one that lost its hard drive, and many more cases, so maybe that's why.

But one thing is sure: many people believe in bitcoin and believe that it could go higher. Even if the amount they hold is tempting, with self-discipline and a futuristic mindset, they will choose to hold their bitcoin. Of course, it is impossible for some people to sell some of their bitcoin as they have their own needs.

[bayu7adi]

Apologies to be blunt, but I believe the answer falls something along the lines of:  "None of your business".

When it's your money, you can wonder about what to do with it.  If it's not yours, then what the owner is or isn't doing with it is of no concern to you.

Absolutely, that's their business. But I think today's generation should also give props to those who supported and owned BTC from the start when it was dirt cheap. Because anything is possible from anywhere, and what I'm thinking is that the current status of Bitcoin owes a lot to those who still embraced it when it wasn't known by many. It's a level where someone supported it without necessarily expecting huge profits from Bitcoin, quite different from our mindset nowadays.

Interestingly, when those old wallets wake up, the market gets a bit shaken. No one knows about those old wallets, whether they can still be accessed or if they've lost their owners.

[taufik123]

Op might wonder why there are too many untouched Bitcoins on different old addresses, it's given an earlier post answer, it could be the real owner can't access it or is stuck there because they are dead.  I don't think there's a real long-term holder now, it might be a few of them, but the majority will sell Bitcoin in a short period of time when they see a small profit.
-snip-

It's like a kind of Bitcoin graveyard on an address that can't be accessed anymore.
The Bitcoin is motionless and cannot be opened by anyone.
The initial holder must have sold his holdings and if any of them are able to withstand until now, of course he is very great and not tempted by the millions of dollars he can make.

Like Davinci Jeremie, a software developer from Chile who was an early Bitcoin holder who bought Bitcoin in 2011-2013 and still cost $1 at that time.
He can make $10m in just 10 years holding Bitcoin.
But some people also can't hold back too long and sell it at a very cheap price.

[Bloodseekers]

It is because many people in the past believed in the potential of the bitcoin and many predictions scattered around at that time, so maybe many investors or holders decided to believe in bitcoin, and if it is, then they are not wrong, but why still many hold their bitcoin and remain? Maybe because some of that bitcoin is locked, meaning its owner forgot their access in the wallet and never retrieved their bitcoin, like, for example, those quite known people who lost their bitcoins, like the one that lost its hard drive, and many more cases, so maybe that's why.

But one thing is sure: many people believe in bitcoin and believe that it could go higher. Even if the amount they hold is tempting, with self-discipline and a futuristic mindset, they will choose to hold their bitcoin. Of course, it is impossible for some people to sell some of their bitcoin as they have their own needs.

You are right, when we look at those who still hold large amounts of Bitcoin and don't sell it I think they have lost access to their wallet and don't have a way to fix it and maybe there are some who have a lot of assets so they don't sell the assets they have and that's for sure we don't know for sure why someone does what they want.

When someone believes they can get real profits from holding Bitcoin, of course they will not easily sell it, even though they have a very urgent need, of course they will look for other ways to solve it and still keep their Bitcoin.

[Ayers]

Apologies to be blunt, but I believe the answer falls something along the lines of:  "None of your business".

When it's your money, you can wonder about what to do with it.  If it's not yours, then what the owner is or isn't doing with it is of no concern to you.

+1

I'm not an OG by any means, but I was up over x60k on my investment in the 2021 bull market and barely sold anything, so I can understand why someone who was up even more decided not to do it.
I know OP might be more interested about people who held bitcoin when it was worth $1, but I know that if we went to $100k somewhere next year, I'd still hold bitcoin.

OP probably comes from a family where owning $100k is a big thing, but not all of us do. Many people live in houses worth 10 or more bitcoin (at current price) and drive cars worth a few coins as well.
The safety that owning an independent asset like bitcoin gives you might be more important to them than some more fiat money in the bank.  

One hundred thousand dollars is really a lot for me. I am still worrying about the house. After all, the house is too expensive. It's cool that you can buy a house and a car with a few bitcoins, so that's why the rich get richer. Although I missed the early participation, I also learned new knowledge, so people still have to try to accept new things, such as the current gtp, which is also a product of a new era. Did not expect the post has so many early contact with the big brother to reply to the post, let the little brother know more, thank you thank you!

It's never too late to invest in bitcoin, man. Everything is still very early and there are still many opportunities for us. Furthermore, the financial market has many ways to make money, not everyone who invests early will definitely get rich. Many people who invested early still lost money and only a few became rich. What matters in this market is your knowledge, your knowledge and experience will determine the amount of money you will earn. It doesn't matter how early or late you get in, what matters is how long you stay in the market because the reward usually goes to the last person to stay.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I think everyone had their reasons. Remembering myself in 2009 or 2010, I was also offered to pay for my work in Bitcoin, but I refused. I think it’s because I didn’t know the full value of Bitcoin, which could turn into large sums in the future. What would I do if I had no choice and had to get paid in Bitcoin? I would certainly exchange it for another currency, since the parts that make up Bitcoin scare me. But someone could probably receive the payment and simply forget about it. We often see stories where people start bringing up old documents in search of seed phrases that were created a long time ago. There were probably people who saw much further than us ordinary people, and it is they who are now skimming the cream off their early investments, which turned out to be very successful.

[shield132]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"

Because not everyone realized the true potential of Bitcoin and the upcoming era of cryptocurrencies in financial world. Many people thought that bitcoin was a temporary thing, like they were thinking about computer in 90s and 2000s. Those, who saw that bitcoin went from some cents to ten dollars, thought it was the best time to make money from nothing and sold them immediately but there were people who knew that it was just the beginning and bitcoin would capture financial world. Yes, some waited and made millions of dollars from it, retired earlier but we can't deny that there are some people who wrote history by selling bitcoin for a few bucks and one of them is a man who bought pizza in exchange of 10000 bitcoins.

[Ale88]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"

There could be a few reasons, and usually they are not good reasons: maybe they lost their private keys, maybe they simply forgot the bitcoins they mined/purchased a long time ago in an old hard disk that they thrown away. It's not nice to say because probably we're talking about relatively young people but they could have died. I find difficult to believe that otherwise someone wouldn't touch his bitcoins for such a long time, not even to moving them to a new wallet or address?

[n00ber]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"


Thank you very much for your answers. Those who hold these addresses may all be believers, just like when Nakamoto was founded, life will end at any time. With a private key, Bitcoin will always exist. I ask questions with a learning mindset, and after understanding, I feel that Bitcoin is like digital gold. It's basically difficult to have it after not having it in the early stages, after all, the price is too high. Although I don't have one, I hope Bitcoin and forums are getting better and better. I hope I can have it in the future. Those who possess are truly lucky


Bitcoin does allow firm holders to achieve financial freedom, is the best return, I am still trying to make money, only for the down payment of the house, hard work and finally debt bound this life, can only be said to be shortsighted, limited cognition of new things, I believe that Satoshi still exists, just for an ID, Satoshi can come out again to create a new Bitcoin? Or give me a little bitcoin, and I'll change my life

I believe it's because most of them lost access to their bitcoin wallets. Honestly, if someone still has access to their bitcoin wallet, I don't believe it's possible for someone in the last 15 years to not once sell their bitcoin for a dream profit. People who buy bitcoins for less than $1 or $0.01, they have millions of percent profits, which is a crazy profit that even rich people would covet, let alone ordinary people like us. So, other than them losing access to their wallets, I really don't think there's any other reasonable reason.

[NeilLostBitCoin]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"

The owner may have forgotten about their Bitcoin investments or lost the private key that holds many Bitcoins. Some are diamond hands that still hold Bitcoin until a specific price point.

To the early participants of Bitcoin who held on to their investment even when the price was high, good luck. I hope they can sell it for their desired price and safely secure their profits.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I believe that Satoshi still exists, just for an ID, Satoshi can come out again to create a new Bitcoin? Or give me a little bitcoin, and I'll change my life

Stop dreaming and start living in reality, Satoshi has invented something powerful and has disappeared or gone underground to be able to craft newer upgrades and strategies to maintain his innovation and to make it remain competitive and relevant, he's not coming any day to create a new bitcoin or give you some bitcoin. The bitcoin he created is the only original cryptocurrency in the world and he wouldn't reduce himself to the point of creating another shitcoin to compete with Bitcoin cos that will be madness. The early guys have ran their race and keep reaping the fruits of their labour, that doesn't mean that the entire opportunity is gone, No. You have to start from where you are to build your wealth and run your race. quit being jealous of the early holders, they had their own challenges back then before investing in BTC and they are successful enough now. Take charge of your own life, work hard and smart around your finances so you can accumulate good quantity, enjoy and be celebrated in the nearest future instead of wishing that Satoshi appears and gives you free BTC to better your life. Bro, nothing comes for free in this life, you've to work for them and with consistency and dedication, you will excel Just like Satoshi and the early investors.

[franky1]

Sounds great, but I wanted to know how many times you transferred your Bitcoin to a different address.

not revealing all details but i have 3 allocations of funds
one i call my hoard.. many addresses of 85% of total. which has not really moved in atleast 9 years
(funds have been added to it within that time but not moved out) -  this is my retirement fund style of investing
(that said i did use small amounts to buy asics in 2013 era. but not noteworthy)

one i call the cycle wallet.. many addresses of about 10% of total. which moves a couple times per 4 year cycle
funds in and out over the years, accumulating and when over 10% i move into hoard -  this is the tidal wave investment
ATH -> correction shorting

one i call my 'dont care, play money' many addresses. 3-5% can move daily or quarterly. its another accumulator and what i would dip into for yearly expenses and if accumulating after expenses id put into my hoard

[Samlucky O]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"

The answers you seek has been already answered but I still think that most people who aquare bitcoin on early stage has no idea what they have in there wallet probably no boody has told them about bitcoin after they might have kept it in there wallet. Some lost the device which was use to aquare the bitcoin and if you Lost your mobile phone which was used to store your bitcoin probably you have lost access to it.
Many people who received there bitcoin never knew the word " Not your key not your coin" they never knew private key was a root access to their bitcoin. Many are Dead just like others have already said.

some have sold some fractions of it, and still awaiting the ATH, or sees it as not a necessity to sell now since others are accumulating.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

OP, you should be aware that in the crypto space, once you lose access to your crypto wallet, you cannot possibly get back access to your wallet, and the reason why some people have Bitcoin early investors might still have their coin in the old wallet is probably because they can't access the wallet again; maybe they have lost their private key or wallet phrase. Some people, too, are holding intentionally because they have targets that they want to sell, probably when Bitcoin has gotten to $500k.

[romero121]

Many had lost their keys and another reason is they invested long back without knowing what it is, and now they don't remember what they had invested. This seems to be the prime reason according to me. The person who had bought bitcoin knowing its ability have been holding it for the right price to be reached, so that they can use it and make themselves one among the richest with bitcoin.

[sheenshane]

Sounds great, but I wanted to know how many times you transferred your Bitcoin to a different address.

one i call my hoard.. many addresses of 85% of total. which has not really moved in atleast 9 years
(funds have been added to it within that time but not moved out) -  this is my retirement fund style of investing

That's good to hear a Bitcoin hoarder like you can able to hold that long, it might you've a rich family didn't you?
9 years it seems I'm afraid of losing my credentials to access my Bitcoin and it might be you're using a hardware wallet or an air-gapped wallet to store all your Bitcoin.  How can you manage to keep your private key safe until now?  Are those non-custodial wallets pretty common those days back in 9 years?

Thank you for hearing your story, Frank.
I understand now the reason why you keep participating in the forum even without wearing signature ads for paid.

[Webetcoins]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"

Those who hold these addresses may all be believers

Well, some of them must be, but that isn't the only reason why the coins in all the early addresses haven't moved. Most of them must have abandoned their wallets and lost access to them because they didn't expect Bitcoin to become this much popular, and some might have passed away while holding and the remaining ones are the ones who are still holding their coins till the date and didn't even sell when the price touched $69k in 2021.

I believe that Satoshi still exists, just for an ID, Satoshi can come out again to create a new Bitcoin? Or give me a little bitcoin, and I'll change my life

We can't know if he is still alive or not because no one has ever known him and there has never been any updates about him and his whereabouts. However, even if he shows up, he doesn't need to create or generate new Bitcoins just to make the existing coins lose value which wouldn't make sense because the supply is enough. There are other issues that he can deal with like the scalability and high transaction fees from time to time.

[AndrewWeb]

"Why haven't the earliest participants sold their Bitcoin, and some haven't even touched the coins in their addresses, considering the high price of Bitcoin?"

Because they don't have the private keys. Bitcoin 0.1, Bitcoin 0.2, Bitcoin 0.3 did not have any export private key or backup wallet option, only generate and send coins. They just participated in an experiment, a testing phase.