The price of Bitcoin is currently $42.4K at the time of writing. This price is quite extraordinary for hard money invented just over 13 years ago. Yet many are disappointed, as they still expect more from Bitcoin. This is the price to pay for a monetary revolution as incredible as Bitcoin. The goals are always raised a little higher.
This is where it's important to step back and see how far we've already come. In doing so, I was reminded that just 11 years ago, on February 9, 2011, Bitcoin reached parity with the US dollar for the first time in its history:
At the time, it was already a pretty incredible milestone. Of course, this was only the beginning of the adventure for Bitcoin, as its price has risen by +4,240,000% since February 9, 2011. Something unique in the history of investing.
Many are wasting their time today thinking, “If I could have bought Bitcoin back then, then ...”. I often read such messages. I'll reassure you right away that the vast majority of people who bought, or rather got for free, Bitcoin back then haven't been around for very long.
These early BTC HODLers had a unique opportunity in front of them, and they blew it for at least two main reasons. Two mistakes you should not make today when the price of Bitcoin is $42.4K.
1. Lack of confidence in the Bitcoin revolution
These Bitcoin innovators were facing an incredible monetary revolution, but most of them did not realize it. They realized the potential of Bitcoin but thought that seeing Bitcoin achieve the success it has today was just a pipe dream. Their lack of confidence in the Bitcoin revolution caused them to sell large amounts of BTC, usually obtained for free or by mining with their personal computers.
The most resistant probably sold in December 2013 when the price of Bitcoin reached $1,000 for the first time in its history. Of course, these people got some nice profits. I'm thinking here in particular of Martti Malmi, one of the last people to have been in contact with Satoshi Nakamoto on the Internet in early 2011.
I had already told you the story of Martti Malmi at the end of the year 2020. If he confessed to having no regrets, he could still have had some given that he sold more than 55,000 BTC (obtained by mining between 2009 and 2010) during 2011 and early 2012. Today, Martti Malmi is said to be at the head of a BTC fortune equivalent to $2.3 billion. Lack of confidence in the Bitcoin revolution is something that always pays off sooner or later as history has always proven to us so far.
I can well imagine that we will read the same kind of story in 10 years about people who could have bought BTC at $42.4K and preferred to wait to buy it at $37K... Just imagine if the price of Bitcoin was then higher than $500K. These people might also have major regrets.
2. Giving in to greed
I don't know if greed is the right word here, but I think it's deliberately provocative. Those who sold their Bitcoin at the time made a profit. Big profits, even. It is often said that it is never a bad idea to sell an asset for a profit. However, with Bitcoin, history shows us that it is a mistake that you always end up regretting.
Bitcoin is not just another asset, but a monetary revolution with incredible potential for the future. You need to take the right time horizon: the long term. Selling Bitcoin for profit is akin to giving in to greed.
Unless you need the money in fiat currency, the best thing to do is to be patient, because the price of Bitcoin will go much higher in the future. Those who owned Bitcoin before 2013 can only agree. Don't give in to greed, and always keep your eyes on the long term.
Bonus: Don't try to understand the incredible potential of Bitcoin
The early users of the Bitcoin network, or those who were able to discover Bitcoin in the first half of the 2010s, had a unique opportunity. Some took it, but others chose to move on. I was one of those who made the mistake of not trying to understand the incredible potential of Bitcoin at the time.
When I discovered Bitcoin in 2014, only the technical side interested me. Being a developer, I had fun coding my own Bitcoin-like blockchain in the Java programming language. Just for the challenge and fun of it. I was impressed by the technical prowess of putting together all these technological components that had already been around for a while
But then I didn't make the effort to go any further. The fact that Bitcoin had the potential to change the world of the future escaped me. I didn't know how the current monetary and financial system works to get more interested. It wasn't until the beginning of 2017 that things started to change for me, and I made the decisive effort to deepen my knowledge to see how Bitcoin was revolutionary.
I then started writing about Bitcoin, and never stopped as you can see. So one piece of advice: don't make the mistake of underestimating the incredible potential of Bitcoin as I did in 2014. I don't have any regrets, as I explain that you should always leave the past where it is and focus on the present, but I just feel that I have lost time. Something I now avoid.
Final Thoughts
The distance Bitcoin has come since its inception is phenomenal. Just 11 years ago, Bitcoin reached parity with the US dollar, and today, one Bitcoin is worth $42.4K. That's incredible, but what's even more incredible is that the potential for the future of Bitcoin is even greater. To take advantage of this, you'll need to avoid making the same mistakes that the early BTC HODLers and I did during 2014.
It's up to you to make the right choices.
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