Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) trading today (April 25) between $27,000 and $28,000, and has shown an impressive increase in value since its inception in 2009. For those who caught the Bitcoin wave early, the returns have been nothing short of astronomical.
In this article, Benzinga takes a trip down memory lane to examine how much you would have now if you had invested $1 in Bitcoin back in 2012.
In 2012, Bitcoin was still in its infancy, having been launched three years earlier by the mysterious and still unidentified Satoshi Nakamoto.
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At the time, digital currency was relatively unknown and seen by many as an obscure experiment. Despite its uncertain beginnings, Bitcoin’s value has grown exponentially over the past decade, providing investors who had the foresight to invest early with massive returns.
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How much $1 Bitcoin in 2012 is worth in 2023: To assess the value of a $1 investment in Bitcoin back in 2012, we use an average price for that year.
In 2012, the price of a single Bitcoin fluctuated between $4.72 and $13.51, with an average price of $8.90. Thus, an investment of $1 in Bitcoin would have bought approximately 0.1124 BTC.
Fast forward to 2023 with Bitcoin trading most consistently today at around $27,700 and the initial investment of 0.1124 BTC would now be worth $3,113.98. T
This represents a return on investment (ROI) of over 311,000% in just 11 years.
To put this into perspective, the S&P 500, a popular measure of the overall performance of the US stock market, has averaged an annual return of about 10% over the past century. Compared to the returns on Bitcoin, traditional investments seem almost charming.
What if one person invested more? If we extrapolate the returns from our initial $1 investment example, the results for a $100 investment and a $1000 investment in Bitcoin back in 2012 are equally astounding.
With an investment of $100 at an average price of $8.90 per Bitcoin, you would have purchased approximately 11.24 BTC. Today, that investment would be worth an incredible $311,398.
If you had invested $1000 in Bitcoin in 2012, you would have bought about 112.4 BTC. Fast forward to today’s Bitcoin price of $27,700 and that $1,000 investment would now be worth $3,113,980.
These returns demonstrate the enormous potential of Bitcoin as an investment over the past decade.
It is important to keep in mind that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance, and investing in cryptocurrencies still carries inherent risk and volatility.
See also: “How stupid was I?”: Legendary investor Peter Lynch missed out on Apple, Nvidia – Is crypto his next mistake
This illustration by “Satoshi Nakamoto” was generated using artificial intelligence via MidJourney, content was partially edited using AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
