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Bitcoin is back there. On Thursday, the cryptocurrency rose to a high, surpassing the $ 48,000 level, according to CoinDesk data.
While the asset has been highly volatile, those who have held it long-term have made incredible gains.
For example, if you invested in bitcoin when it was first launched in 2009, your returns could be infinite, as the initial value of the asset was $ 0.
“Theoretically, you could get unlimited bitcoins and then you would have infinite dollars,” said Daniel Polotsky, CEO of CoinFlip, one of the largest bitcoin ATM companies in the United States.
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“It’s the best-performing asset of the last decade for sure,” he said.
If you bought Bitcoin a little later and held the asset through the ups and downs, you will still see remarkable returns on your initial investment.
Millions of profits
Suppose you came into the game when a bitcoin was 10 cents, around October 2010. If you invested $ 100, you could have bought about 1,000 Bitcoin.
The highest Thursday of all time, these 1,000 Bitcoin would have been worth more than $ 48 million, regardless of the composition and assuming you bought and kept the asset all the time.
Of course, this is a long time to keep a highly volatile asset, that is, the group of people who invested in bitcoin so early and have largely kept their investments is small, Polotsky said.
And while there are many stories of extreme earnings from cryptocurrency investors, there are also many who have lost so much money buying and selling the spicy asset at the wrong time.
In addition, investors who have held bitcoin for so long have had trouble collecting their incredible profits due to technical issues – some have forgotten the passwords of their digital wallets, meaning they have only tried to access the funds before. to block them. out forever.
Still, Bitcoin has had an incredible track record that has surpassed other investments. So far in 2021 alone, the cryptocurrency has risen more than 63%, after quadrupling in value in 2020.
What is driving these returns
More recently, the price of bitcoin has been driven by high-profile support. On Thursday, Bank of New York Mellon said it would provide digital asset custody services, citing growing customer demand.
Earlier in the week, Mastercard also said it would begin offering cryptocurrency support on its network this year. And on Monday, Tesla announced that it had bought $ 1.5 billion in bitcoins and would soon begin accepting the currency as payment.
And while cryptocurrency has also shown its trademark volatility in recent weeks, long-standing bitcoin bowls have even more returns in the future of the asset.
Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital and well-known cryptocurrency bull, said in November that bitcoin will rise to $ 55,000 or $ 60,000 by the end of 2021 as it continues to replace gold. Tyler Winklevoss, another bitcoin bitcoin and co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, said he could see the asset reach $ 500,000 per coin a day.
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Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors Glans.