Bitcoin Is 17 years Old. What surprises you most?

[Hamza2424]

When the US government, through the Genius Act, made provisions for the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve, I was surprised. This was a currency that was associated with criminals, gamblers, and good-for-nothings. Now the most powerful nation in the world has made laws not to sell its Bitcoin and has also made laws to accumulate more.

El Salvador and the Central African Republic's decision to make Bitcoin legal tender also amazed me. I never thought that a time would come when countries would make Bitcoin legal tender.

Bro, the GENIUS Act was not about Bitcoin, it was about stablecoin law, while the Strategic Reserve came from a separate executive order, 14233, which is just an order, not a law. It means the president of the US has signed it, and after him, the next administration can change it. So it's temporary, but that's not what I am correcting. The major difference is you are mixing the GENIUS Act with this strategic executive order.

Speaking of the Central African Republic, bro, they did announce BTC as legal tender in 2022, but in 2023, due to pressure from the IMF, they reversed this decision. So it is not legal tender anymore.

[worldtraveller321]

That in the entire crypto space, majority of all the projects are just fly by night "get rich' scams

the true meaning of crypto or at least BTC which it can be used as an actual money system that could bring some fairness is buried underneath all the lies

[EFS]

I am not part of the people from the early days of Bitcoin. But from the moment I got to know Bitcoin, honestly, I never thought its price could grow this high. When Bitcoin reaches $100k, it is something surprising for me. Because initially, I never thought that could happen. But now everyone will hope for a price much higher than that.

It's interesting that you thought about that. You joined in 2021 and you're surprised by 100k. When we were talking about Bitcoin's future here even back in 2013, 100k was already looking like a very achievable target. At that time Bitcoin had just passed 1k for the first time. That was a big milestone. After that, we knew Bitcoin could go much higher. It's strange to me that you're surprised by these prices despite being relatively new.

I think nothing in Bitcoin is surprising after the first 5 years. Maybe my perspective developed this way because I've been around since the early days. If I hadn't been on this forum back then, maybe I would look at Bitcoin differently.

[UpTober]

After a few months, I saw a good amount of profit from my Bitcoin, from then on I had the idea that undoubtedly this coin is reliable and has potential in the future, so I have to invest in this coin and hold this coin anyway.  Since then, I have been working on holding investments in a long-term plan.

I believe it is the best because it has been around for a long time with market trust. Of course, I am surprised that it is able to last longer because there have been no scams in the past, and I don't think there will be any scams in the future either because now many people in the world have built trust in Bitcoin. And many more large institutions are holding Bitcoin, but those who are whale holders have been holding Bitcoin for a long time.
However, my regret is for those who were not ready to hold this Bitcoin even after seeing it in time, or could not take the risk at the last moment. Those who were not able to buy Bitcoin at that cheap time are still failures to this day.

This class of people always stay away from Bitcoin but when they see that the price of Bitcoin has increased a lot compared to before, they regret it. I have seen many such people in the past who knew about Bitcoin and regularly monitored the Bitcoin market but did not buy Bitcoin with some money risk but when the price of Bitcoin increased a lot later they regretted it. Even now, we may regret the doubts we have in our minds about buying Bitcoin in the future because currently big companies are buying a lot of Bitcoin and the popularity of Bitcoin has gained a lot of wisdom worldwide, so we understand that Bitcoin can break all the records of the past in the future but we are not able to take that risk, so we may regret it in the future why we did not invest when we had the opportunity.

[Obulis]

Bitcoin is indeed full of surprises, from it's inception till date. This headings reminds me of the had I know or regret of not venturing into Bitcoin say 12 years ago at least now that it's 17 years old. Even as Bitcoin investment and it's future is not guaranteed, the potential of Bitcoin staying for the next 20 years looking at the moves now is possible. I am seriously surprise how Bitcoin is every getting ready to hit another all time high.

[Lexandroove]

Bitcoin has been around for 17 years now.

Looking back, what part of Bitcoin’s journey has surprised you the most?

And what do you think someone from 2010 would find hardest to believe about Bitcoin today?

Maybe the price, institutional adoption, countries holding it, the size of the mining industry, or simply how long Bitcoin has survived.

What would you have found hardest to believe back then?

I’d say its security.
From its early years, Bitcoin has always had a strong underlying design, with proof-of-work, decentralised validation, cryptographic signatures, and the longest-chain rule already present from the beginning, but the economic and computational security protecting that model was not.
The current presence of these qualities within its network, in my opinion, has made it possible for several yield-generating layers like Babylon Labs, Stacks, Bitlayer, and Rootstock, amongst others, to thrive while the ingenuity of Bitcoin’s foundational framework stays intact, warranting institutional trust.
This level of security is one I did not foresee at the onset.

[Junii]

Few days ago i was reading a post a guy shared in our local board that first exchange rate of bitcoin was 1 USD = 1309.03btc this price was from 05 oct 2009. Now imagine at that time if someone see bitcoin i do not think so they will think like this coin will hit $125k in the future only the developers or some people that understand the bitcoin will believe in it while most of the people did not think that much  the pizza exchange with bitcoin is the clear example. So bitcoin came too far from that situation now people will recognized this digital gem and the world is ready to adopt it i still remember few years ago our country ban bitcoin but now they again unban it and make a new government regulatory authority.

[PVequalNRT]

Bitcoin is indeed full of surprises, from it's inception till date. This headings reminds me of the had I know or regret of not venturing into Bitcoin say 12 years ago at least now that it's 17 years old. Even as Bitcoin investment and it's future is not guaranteed, the potential of Bitcoin staying for the next 20 years looking at the moves now is possible. I am seriously surprise how Bitcoin is every getting ready to hit another all time high.

This is why many people miss the opportunity. Bitcoin will prank them and act like the price is going to drop and the next few months it does wonderfully more than they expected the price, Bitcoin is more than what many people think. The way the price is looking now, some people will think that the price is not going pass here or they don't expect it to go higher, a time will come when our discussion is going to be something of the past when the price will trading 10 times the price.

[hafiztalha]

It's interesting that you thought about that. You joined in 2021 and you're surprised by 100k. When we were talking about Bitcoin's future here even back in 2013, 100k was already looking like a very achievable target. At that time Bitcoin had just passed 1k for the first time. That was a big milestone. After that, we knew Bitcoin could go much higher. It's strange to me that you're surprised by these prices despite being relatively new.

I think nothing in Bitcoin is surprising after the first 5 years. Maybe my perspective developed this way because I've been around since the early days. If I hadn't been on this forum back then, maybe I would look at Bitcoin differently.

Mostly people were sure due to enough negativity on social media, and a few big names were also spreading false flag information about this. I also know a few people; those were really shocked after having news about Bitcoin having a figure of $100K, but those take this early now; they are having big changes in their lives because they are having enough profit.

Bitcoin's features are surely allowing people to have this now in their portfolio because P2P is surely common, but now trading and accumulation are surely giving more security and interest. Now I have expectations that it's going to be the next good step of $500K because it's touching new highs and things are getting more positive.

[Agathamay]

Bitcoin has been around for 17 years now.

Looking back, what part of Bitcoin’s journey has surprised you the most?

And what do you think someone from 2010 would find hardest to believe about Bitcoin today?

Maybe the price, institutional adoption, countries holding it, the size of the mining industry, or simply how long Bitcoin has survived.

What would you have found hardest to believe back then?

Looking back at bitcoin, I typically wouldn't believe for something as amazing as bitcoin would be fought so hard by the government.
Another thing that also amazes me about bitcoin is how much it has rode in price with the past 17 years which is a very commendable one.
Looking back at bitcoin, I didn't expect bitcoin to change the lives of so many people for good than bad and trust me, bitcoin has created so much opportunities for the youths and in most cases, I just wonder what a lot other youths in my country would have become without crypto

[Abiky]

I am not part of the people from the early days of Bitcoin. But from the moment I got to know Bitcoin, honestly, I never thought its price could grow this high. When Bitcoin reaches $100k, it is something surprising for me. Because initially, I never thought that could happen. But now everyone will hope for a price much higher than that.

You haven't seen anything yet. Because I'm sure a $1m BTC market price, would come as a surprise even to the most established bitcoiners like myself. Honestly, I never though Bitcoin would get this far. Going all the way up to almost six figures after being worth nothing, is quite impressive.

If Bitcoin achieved a lot in just 17 years, imagine what it can achieve in another decade. Better buy and "hodl", to prepare yourself for the next big thing.

[Decimetre]

I am not part of the people from the early days of Bitcoin. But from the moment I got to know Bitcoin, honestly, I never thought its price could grow this high. When Bitcoin reaches $100k, it is something surprising for me. Because initially, I never thought that could happen. But now everyone will hope for a price much higher than that.

You haven't seen anything yet. Because I'm sure a $1m BTC market price, would come as a surprise even to the most established bitcoiners like myself. Honestly, I never though Bitcoin would get this far. Going all the way up to almost six figures after being worth nothing, is quite impressive.

If Bitcoin achieved a lot in just 17 years, imagine what it can achieve in another decade. Better buy and "hodl", to prepare yourself for the next big thing.

This is true and even as bitcoin has gone this far, it will still take a level of confidence to believe that bitcoin is still going far, to trust that bitcoin price will still go up from here. Bitcoin has surprised many criticisms and will still do more. Buying to hold is the best bet instead of trading it for cheap gains. When bitcoin starts moving again, some people will still say had I known because it always goes beyond where anyone will even think of. The level of adoption is still on the rise because there are many people who have still not learned about bitcoin and when they learn it, they will still join this wave.

The prediction that bitcoin will reach $1M is becoming more visible, we don't know when it will happen anyway but it is not impossible.

[tread93]

Bitcoin has been around for 17 years now.

Looking back, what part of Bitcoin’s journey has surprised you the most?

And what do you think someone from 2010 would find hardest to believe about Bitcoin today?

Maybe the price, institutional adoption, countries holding it, the size of the mining industry, or simply how long Bitcoin has survived.

What would you have found hardest to believe back then?

I think I am most surprised by how it took so many people so long to accept bitcoin and realize how truly valuable it is and will be. People were distracted by othet haters and also the volatility and neglected to see the longer term picture. I quickly realized how strong the money Bitcoin was and immediately saw the value, but so many of my friends and family did not listen to me even when I pleaded with them to invest

[Z_MBFM]

Bitcoin has been around for 17 years now.

Looking back, what part of Bitcoin’s journey has surprised you the most?

In this long journey of Bitcoin, one thing surprises me that Bitcoin is still running in its same pattern and is constantly hitting new targets. The way people used to talk negatively about Bitcoin, now they are very excited to invest in Bitcoin. These things amaze me how Bitcoin is gradually engaging people all over the world. In the future, it will increase much more because due to inflation and weak banking management in the whole world, people will gradually look for alternatives and then Bitcoin will be the best alternative. The condition of the banking sector in my country is very bad, many banks are on the verge of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, there is no single person or organization to control Bitcoin. As much as Bitcoin is bought, it is completely under their control. This financial freedom will surprise everyone, as it surprises me a lot.

[nelson4lov]

Two things surprises me the most. The first is how much time has past since then. I wasn't too early and even at that, it feels like not a long time has passed. Secondly, I don't think anybody that was among the first set of people that got involved with Bitcoin imagined at the time that it would be the global movement that it is today.

A few months from now, we will be celebrating Bitcoin at 20 and 25.