What happened to the investor who spent all his assets to buy Bitcoin 14 years ago?

(Dan Tri) - In 2011, an American investor spent all his assets to invest in Bitcoin. After 14 years, what is the status of this investor?

More than 10 years ago, the concept of cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in particular was still very vague. In early 2011, the price of Bitcoin only fluctuated between 0.3 and 1 USD, then suddenly skyrocketed to 31.5 USD before returning to the mark of only 2 USD/Bitcoin.

Despite the constant fluctuations in the value of Bitcoin, Roger Keith Ver, an investor living in California, USA, has accepted the risk of investing all of his assets in this cryptocurrency.

Roger Keith Ver was nicknamed “Bitcoin Saint” for his early investment in Bitcoin and efforts to promote this cryptocurrency (Photo: CBG).

Roger Ver was one of the early investors in Bitcoin and was very active in promoting this cryptocurrency, so Ver was nicknamed "Bitcoin Saint" by investors.

In April 2024, Roger Ver was arrested in Spain on a US warrant for mail fraud and filing false tax returns to evade taxes. The US Justice Department accused Ver of underreporting profits from the sale of 70,000 Bitcoins in 2017, worth approximately $240 million.

Roger Ver has been released on bail, but still faces the risk of extradition and conviction in the US. If extradited to the US, Ver would face a sentence of up to 109 years in prison.

As one of the pioneer investors in Bitcoin, Roger Ver does not publicly disclose the amount of cryptocurrency he holds. However, in a 2019 interview, he revealed that he used all of his assets at that time – about $210,000 – to buy Bitcoin in 2011.

Recently, a Bitcoin “whale” (a term used to refer to early investors who own a huge amount of cryptocurrency) suddenly “awakened” after 14 years of silence. With enough assets to cause market fluctuations, every move of the “whale” is closely monitored by the cryptocurrency community.

Specifically, on July 6, an investor transferred all the Bitcoin from 8 e-wallets that had been inactive since 2010 to a new wallet, with a total value of up to 80,000 Bitcoin. It is worth noting that all of these wallets have been "sleeping" for 14 years, coinciding with the time when Roger Ver started participating in the market.

The transaction amount is estimated at $8.6 billion. The cryptocurrency community believes that Roger Ver is the person behind these transactions, which means he is holding at least $8.6 billion worth of Bitcoin, meaning Roger Ver's fortune has increased 41,000 times in the past 14 years.

No one knows why the Bitcoin “whale” suddenly “wakes up” after 14 years of silence, but many believe that Roger Ver is looking to disperse assets in case he is extradited to the US, or is using his huge Bitcoin block to make a deal with the US government to avoid extradition and not have to go to jail.

Roger Ver is not the only one who invested early in Bitcoin and reaped the rewards of his faith.

In May 2013, a Chilean YouTuber named Davinci Jeremie shared a video on his personal YouTube channel: "Spend at least 1 USD to buy Bitcoin. Please listen to me!".

Davinci Jeremie advised people to buy Bitcoin in 2013 and also invested early in this cryptocurrency himself (Photo: Pintu).

Davinci himself admits that investing in Bitcoin is like playing the lottery, but can make it easier for people to become millionaires with just a few dollars.

At that time, one Bitcoin was worth about $100, meaning that if you spent $1 to buy Bitcoin, many people would own $1,108 at the present time (1 Bitcoin is currently worth $110,897).

Of course, $1 was the minimum amount Davinci recommended people spend to buy Bitcoin in 2013. If they spent more money at that time and still held Bitcoin today, many people could have owned a larger amount.

Davinci himself invested in Bitcoin very early, when the value of this cryptocurrency was not as "crazy" as in recent years. Since 2013 until now, the value of Bitcoin has increased by 86,300%, which has helped Davinci own a huge fortune.

It is estimated that Davinci Jeremie owns a fortune of 10 million USD thanks to early investments in Bitcoin.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/nha-dau-tu-dung-het-tai-san-de-mua-bitcoin-cach-day-14-nam-gio-ra-sao-20250710194940547.htm