{"id":3809,"date":"2023-08-30T14:45:45","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T14:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci02c820e0c000246c"},"modified":"2025-01-28T13:37:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T13:37:47","slug":"30000-bitcoins-sold-for-0-03-each","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/markets\/30000-bitcoins-sold-for-0-03-each","title":{"rendered":"30,000 Bitcoins Sold for $0.03 Each, Now Valued at $800 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the evolving Bitcoin market, stories of missed opportunities and astonishing deals abound \u2013 however, few are as eye-popping as this sale from August 30, 2010. <\/p>\n

Unearthed by Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo<\/a>, a BitcoinTalk thread shows how an early Bitcoin user amassed 30,000 BTC, only to sell them for $0.03 each. <\/p>\n

Then sold below market price, roughly $0.06 at the time, the sale netted $900. The same amount of Bitcoin, if sold today, would be worth over $810,000,000. <\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

While few could have predicted the meteoric rise of Bitcoin to $27,000 in the years to come, it seems the seller in this case might have been motivated by an interest in disproving that the cryptocurrency would work at all. <\/p>\n

Though there is only speculation in the thread, it shows that market participants at the time believed the seller to be William \u201cNenolod\u201d Pitcock<\/a>, a data center employee who is said to have amassed close to 100,000 BTC that he liquidated in 2010. <\/p>\n

Speaking about another sale in July, he discussed his motivation was to spark a \u201cbank rush,\u201d writing: \u201cThe purpose was to demonstrate in two ways that the Bitcoin system can be attacked\u2026 [and] cause speculation in the bitcoin economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While no connection between the events can be substantiated, the thread, buried in the archives of an early Bitcoin user forum, serves as a time capsule, transporting readers back to a moment when the true potential of Bitcoin was still shrouded in uncertainty.<\/p>\n

While some may view it as a painful reminder of missed opportunities, others see it as a testament to the enduring allure that Bitcoin has created over the years.<\/p>\n

Either wary, thanks to the sale, some lucky Bitcoiners were able to get bids filled at once-in-a-lifetime prices.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine looks back at one of the worst sales in Bitcoin market history \u2013\u00a0when in 2010 someone market sold 30,000 BTC for only $0.03 each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2555,"featured_media":3080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets"},"author_data":{"id":2555,"name":"Reed Macdonald Bitcoin","nicename":"reed-macdonald-bitcoin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=robohash&r=g"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/bitcoin-price-market-analysis.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}