Student's Forgotten 'Fun' Bitcoin Bet From 2009 Delivered A Windfall And A Home In A Posh Neighborhood

2026년 2월 9일 · Unknown · financial · 출처 Yahoo Finance

What if your $24 bet exploded into $850,000 in only four years? Well, that’s exactly what early Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) adopter Kristoffer Koch pulled off.

A $24 Bet That Changed Everything

The year is 2009. Koch, a Norwegian student, was writing his master’s thesis on encryption when he stumbled upon Bitcoin, an unknown online currency at the time.

Kosh said he tossed $24, about 150 Norwegian kroner, on it for “fun,” according to NRK News, a Norwegian news organization. But then his master’s degree and job hunt kept him too busy, and he forgot about the investment.

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The Jackpot Discovery

Years later, in April 2013, the “unknown” currency started getting a lot of media attention, and that’s when Kosh remembered he had a stake in it.

But there was a problem. He had forgotten his private key to the encrypted wallet. After jogging his memory for the next 24 hours, he nailed the right combination.

He had 5,000 BTC, worth 5 million Norwegian kroner. At the time, 1 kroner equaled about 17 cents, making the stash worth roughly $850,000.

See Also: Deloitte's #1 Fastest-Growing Software Company Lets Users Earn Money Just by Scrolling — Accredited Investors Can Still Get In at $0.50/Share.

What If Kosh Hadn’t Sold His BTC?

Kosh said he sold some of his holdings and used the proceeds to buy an apartment in a posh neighbourhood in Oslo, Norway’s capital city.

If you thought that was a stuff of dreams, imagine Kosh resisting the urge to sell and HODLing straight through to now. That 5,000 BTC would be worth $353.54 million.

Photo: Memory Stockphoto / Shutterstock

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