What motivated those who invested in bitcoin in 2012? fate or foresight?

[Hamza2424]

i am curious to know just as you.
what was the motivating force that made the early adopters of bitcoin to invest in it?

was it due to fate which we can call luck or they had good judgment or foresight to know that it was a good project or they were just risk takers?
i really want to know what was going on in their mind

Bro, some will say they just gambled their money on a technology which they thought was going to change the financial world, and it did. But unfortunately, the institutions made their own blockchains. It would be even more unfortunate if they used the BTC blockchain because congestion would be so high that we won't be able to make one transaction without paying a very high amount, but it would be the best season/time for the miners haha.

I call it luck, their better judgement, and foresight because they believed in something and they did not hesitate like those who are hesitating now. They knew in order to make something, they had to take risks, and they did.

[Churchillvv]

For me who was never part of those investor I personally understand driving force of many which is innovative minds and those seeking where to gamble funds that could be dealt without or are willing to loss money but take risk, some didn’t even see this level of progress coming they just expected the smallest profits but up their greatest surprise it’s not just the small profits anymore it’s now way bigger.

[ejikeme24]

For me who was never part of those investor I personally understand driving force of many which is innovative minds and those seeking where to gamble funds that could be dealt without or are willing to loss money but take risk, some didn’t even see this level of progress coming they just expected the smallest profits but up their greatest surprise it’s not just the small profits anymore it’s now way bigger.

Surely, those early investors didn't know that bitcoin will grow bigger in the future. Their initial plan is just to trial Thier luck and see how it goes just as most of us like risking a little portion of our money in a newly launched project that look promising. And then hold on to it maybe for 4-5 years or longer, Maybe after holding it for some years they began to see improvement in the value of Bitcoin then they decided to extend Thier target maybe if Thier initial plan is to HODL for 2 years but due to the changes they saw in bitcoin made them to extend Thier target to 4-5 years while some are extending from 5-10 years and that's how Thier profit keep compounding.

[Ndabagi01]

i am curious to know just as you.
what was the motivating force that made the early adopters of bitcoin to invest in it?

was it due to fate which we can call luck or they had good judgment or foresight to know that it was a good project or they were just risk takers?
i really want to know what was going on in their mind

Most of the early investors in bitcoin never got the chance to actually think about bitcoin in a positive perspective, they were mostly just accepting it as it come and hoping that something good could come out from it. New investors now are the ones that are investing into bitcoin because of the future of it they’ve looked into to actually give them good profits in the long run.

These new investors are very careful and calculative as they invest in bitcoin, they’re not just investing blindly without target of anticipated quantity they want to hold and the time they wish to take profit from the investment. All those that got to hold bitcoin then were just lucky and most of them just hold on to it without having to even bother what will become of the coin in the future.

[MRY]

For me who was never part of those investor I personally understand driving force of many which is innovative minds and those seeking where to gamble funds that could be dealt without or are willing to loss money but take risk, some didn’t even see this level of progress coming they just expected the smallest profits but up their greatest surprise it’s not just the small profits anymore it’s now way bigger.

Surely, those early investors didn't know that bitcoin will grow bigger in the future. Their initial plan is just to trial Thier luck and see how it goes just as most of us like risking a little portion of our money in a newly launched project that look promising. And then hold on to it maybe for 4-5 years or longer, Maybe after holding it for some years they began to see improvement in the value of Bitcoin then they decided to extend Thier target maybe if Thier initial plan is to HODL for 2 years but due to the changes they saw in bitcoin made them to extend Thier target to 4-5 years while some are extending from 5-10 years and that's how Thier profit keep compounding.

Most of the initial investors go on the journey just to get an opportunity to win or lose with something different. When one keeps holding the assets over a long period of time, then that original intention will yield a lot of profit. I feel that it is continuous insisting on digital coins that will make you successful. Long term investors will be able to wait and have their asset increase in value over the years.

[Publictalk792]

Early bitcoin was very specific group of people, cypherpunks who believed that it was matter of principle to use decentralized money. Libertarians who, after the 2008 financial crisis, had distrust of banks. Tech geeks who were simply curious about new and the weird. And yes, some gamblers looking to bet on something weird and new.

Interesting thing about future-planning category is that most early adopters did not see $100k+ Bitcoin, they saw technology that was worth betting on and idea that was worth backing. Hal Finney knew code-security consequences well, after receiving the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi. It is not chance, it is an educated guess.

Risk takers are not given enough credit, however. During 2010–2012 (three years), no one could guarantee the survival of Bitcoin. It was getting hacked every other exchange, it could have been outlawed by governments, and rest of the world was thinking it was a joke. In looking back it was buying at right time, but it was real gamble on something that was ignored by most.

[Outhue]

i am curious to know just as you.
what was the motivating force that made the early adopters of bitcoin to invest in it?

was it due to fate which we can call luck or they had good judgment or foresight to know that it was a good project or they were just risk takers?
i really want to know what was going on in their mind

Bitcoin was very cheap at the time, and they choose to took risks, that's all, what risk are we even talking compare to today? If I can use $50 to buy over 50 Bitcoin it will be one of the simplest and easiest investment ever, if I can use my pentium 4 computer to mine 5-10 Bitcoin per week, I wouldn't even worry myself compare to today, it was extremely easy to buy Bitcoin or mine Bitcoin at the time.

Even if they have less hope on Bitcoin, they aren't risking too much so it goes well with eachother, less risks can make long term holding easier, they won't always have their minds on the money they invest and there won't be any emotional feelings too, I believe this plays a part why many people in the past can't tell how they lost their private keys, if Bitcoin was worth more or very expensive they will be more careful.

[Haunebu]

Who the heck knows? Could have just been straight up dumb luck for some people and tactical decisions by some others. Either way, if they HODLED until it rose drastically, they made fortunes by doing literally nothing, but waiting patiently.

These crazy bull runs are a thing of the past and we might never see them again thanks to the horrendous global economy these days sadly.

[m2017]

i am curious to know just as you.
what was the motivating force that made the early adopters of bitcoin to invest in it?

It seems that there are still some old users here who remember the early days of bitcoin, so we can hear this first-hand.

was it due to fate which we can call luck or they had good judgment or foresight to know that it was a good project or they were just risk takers?

Your vote is missing one more point: "chance", which I would interpret as a random coincidence of events. Because I believe that's the most likely reason. No one could have known back then what bitcoin would become.

i really want to know what was going on in their mind

I suppose they would like to know this themselves.

It's funny that more than 50% of the votes have already been given to "fate", as if we were on a website dedicated to esotericism, mysticism, fortune-telling, and astrology.

[vapourminer]

some of us came from the hardware side rather than the investment side.

i ran folding@home on multigpu rigs back in the day for fun. switching to bitcoin gpu mining in mid 2011 was more as a hobby and for beer money than getting rich.

if anything i am as or more surprised at bitcoins rise as anyone else.

edit: voted foresight not because i knew what bitcoin truly was (i didnt).. its the closest choice to i mined specifically to turn my computer hobby into into extra money.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

i really want to know what was going on in their mind

Well I can't answer for them since I wasn't there with them when they took the decision but if I was to give my reasoning on this I think it is a combination of both fate and foresight. For those that invested when Bitcoin was nothing they probably would have seen the potential that Bitcoin holds just as we currently are seeing the future potential of Bitcoin.

Then there are people that were just fortunate because they love risks and they had all their hope on Bitcoin then being lucky they made profit in the future. There are those that just invested too and forgot about the whole investment and when Bitcoin became mainstream they return back into the industry and met a fortune.

For those that bought in the early stage and still held onto their Bitcoin up to this day, I believe they would have needed a bit of faith and a bit of foresight to be able to continue holding as it would not have been an easy experience hodling through all the ups and down that the market had to offer but still kept on believing because they foresaw in what the future holds.

[EstherBtc]

i am curious to know just as you.
what was the motivating force that made the early adopters of bitcoin to invest in it?

It seems that there are still some old users here who remember the early days of bitcoin, so we can hear this first-hand.

was it due to fate which we can call luck or they had good judgment or foresight to know that it was a good project or they were just risk takers?

Your vote is missing one more point: "chance", which I would interpret as a random coincidence of events. Because I believe that's the most likely reason. No one could have known back then what bitcoin would become.

i really want to know what was going on in their mind

I suppose they would like to know this themselves.

It's funny that more than 50% of the votes have already been given to "fate", as if we were on a website dedicated to esotericism, mysticism, fortune-telling, and astrology.

I will categorize chance as luck because most early bitcoin adopters except the tech gurus had no previous knowledge on a decentralized system. So their judgment wasn't hinged on the knowledge they had most of them were just risk takers who just wanted to invest, boom bitcoin became a big thing.
So, yeah chance and luck for me is intertwined

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

i am curious to know just as you.
what was the motivating force that made the early adopters of bitcoin to invest in it?

was it due to fate which we can call luck or they had good judgment or foresight to know that it was a good project or they were just risk takers?
i really want to know what was going on in their mind

Maybe it was out of curiosity and the urge of wanting to know how the digital currency actually works, that made them invest in Bitcoin back then in 2012. Because for whatever reason, we can't ignore that most of its early investors were already into tech and had a little knowledge about online stuff, and when they happened to have stumbled upon Bitcoin with the claim of being a decentralized digital currency,most of they just wanted to buy, trade and gift out to see how it actually works. Not knowing that it's value will be worth 6 to 7 figures years later.
And many years forward in 2022, what motivated me to get myself involved in Bitcoin, was the ability to have full control over my assets and likewise avoid fiat currency inflation.

[Vaculin]

Regardless of what motivated them to invest in bitcoin, still that won't lose the fact that they end up lucky and profitable now with their investment choice. Bitcoin price today has come so far, far different way back 2012, so if they managed to hold some of their coins until today and sell some, then most probably they must be secret millionaires today. Bitcoin is definitely a gem, a life saver, but not all were able to realized it when it was still cheap and non-valuable coin.

[topbitcoin]

It's hard to know what this is because it would be complicated to look at those in the initial period in terms of intentions but maybe we can group some of these things like trust in a project, just trying to keep up with the hype and just make this a personal gain.

I once asked a friend who was already on in bitcoin from 2012 and the answer they were just trying to make a profit for gaming vouchers was nothing more than that.  But now he is very successful because even though he has a lot of bitcoins that he has wasted but he benefits from the rest of the bitcoins he has so in this case surely some who are in the early period also feel the same way.
There will always be those who make this a good belief from the beginning because of the seriousness with which bitcoin is made and there will be those who just try because they have the feeling that this will be profitable but despite it all they are very good predecessors because they managed to follow bitcoin from the beginning.

[Sonia_123]

Investors are risk takers and so those that invested 2012 are risk takers, they boldly took the risk, since life is all about risk and to get richer also one needs to take risk, they never thought that bitcoin will be so productive and be where it is today, they were not scared of whatever they are investing into bitcoin, they choose lose over gain, just like gambling but to their surprise it never turned out to be gambling but reality of bitcoin existence and reward for a long term.

They also have faith and trust in Bitcoin, so in whatever we do we should always trust and knw that it will be successful.

[EstherBtc]

Do you know what the price of Bitcoin was in its early days? The price was so low that anyone who invested in it did not care much about it, but very less did. That is the reason why many forgot their wallet's seed phrase or security keys, and some even forgot that they had invested in crypto in their early days. This is why a lot of bitcoin supply is dead or locked permanently. That supply can not be recovered until they find their seed phrase.

Besides this, do you know about the pizza story, a guy who paid too many bitcoins just for two pizzas? Do a little research on it then you will come to know how people used to treat Bitcoin in its early days. But with the passage of time bitcoin growth and adoption started to increase widely, and those who were careless today regret that.

First off, people did not lose their bitcoins because they "did not care" or forgot a seed phrase.  seed phrases did not even exist in the early days.  Back then, you had to save a raw wallet.dat file on your actual hard drive.  The reason so much Bitcoin is lost forever is simply because old computers broke, got thrown out, or were wiped.  It was a technical limitation, not just people being lazy.

And as for the pizza guy, Laszlo?  He said over and over that he doesnt regret it at all.  In 2010, Bitcoin was just an internet experiment with zero real value.  By trading 10,000 BTC for those two pizzas, he actually pulled off the first real-world transaction in crypto history.  I dont think he treated it like trash. Quite the opposite - he gave it its very first use case.  Honestly, without people like him proving you could actually buy stuff with it, Bitcoin might never have taken off in the first place.

Whatever his reasons are  throwing off 10,000 btc for 2 boxes of pizza is wild

[EstherBtc]

It's hard to know what this is because it would be complicated to look at those in the initial period in terms of intentions but maybe we can group some of these things like trust in a project, just trying to keep up with the hype and just make this a personal gain.

I once asked a friend who was already on in bitcoin from 2012 and the answer they were just trying to make a profit for gaming vouchers was nothing more than that.  But now he is very successful because even though he has a lot of bitcoins that he has wasted but he benefits from the rest of the bitcoins he has so in this case surely some who are in the early period also feel the same way.
There will always be those who make this a good belief from the beginning because of the seriousness with which bitcoin is made and there will be those who just try because they have the feeling that this will be profitable but despite it all they are very good predecessors because they managed to follow bitcoin from the beginning.

You are right knowing the intentions of people can be tricky but we are just taking a wild guess.

You are lucky though to have someone who is an early adopter of bitcoin.

[Agbe]

Early bitcoin investors were looking for the secure and saved system to keep their money but it was not really a kind of investment but to save their funds as a decentralized system but it was discovered later that the savings became increased and that motivated more people to invest in it. And it is written in the whitepaper clearly that bitcoin is an online coin to buy things and pay for service online. Therefore it is a digital currency fe exchange but because of the store of value, the main purpose of Satoshi Nakamoto creating bitcoin has been forgotten. What really motivated those early bitcoiners were the decentralized nature of bitcoin.

[Chinesebaby]

Whatever his reasons are  throwing off 10,000 btc for 2 boxes of pizza is wild

But if I may ask, how is it wild? Or are you trying to tell us that you aren't buying pizza for $41 or below that amount, or does that also make you wild? Because if i may ask, how much did you think 10,000 BTC was valued in 2010? Because if you may have forgotten that 10,000 BTC was actually valued at just $41 back then in 2010, and spending that 10,000 on pizza was absolutely no different from people who were using the same amount of $41 or more on that same pizza. So I see absolutely nothing wrong with what he did, because right now he remains a legend for haven initiated the commercial use of Bitcoin.