Missing Out on Bitcoin: The Regret That Haunts Non-Buyers
200 euros in Bitcoin in 2012 was said to be enough to pay off a mortgage, car and boat in cash. The regret that haunts those who didn't buy.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Missing Bitcoin in 2010: The Lament of Those Who Didn't Buy
How much did you need to put into Bitcoin in 2012 to pay for everything? The conversation drags on for years and doesn't give a prudent figure: 200 euros invested then was said to be enough to pay off a mortgage, car and boat in cash before turning 40. The opportunity was open for years, they say. And those who missed out didn't do so for lack of warnings, but for not believing them.
The matter doesn't start with a news story. It starts with a bitter review of a decade. Bitcoin closed 2017 with a rocket, then plummeted to $3,000 — a moment when mockery rained down on those who held on — and later surpassed $13,000 again. The argument didn't move. The price did.
From $3,000 to $13,000: The Rally That Didn't Change the Argument
When the coin hit $3,000, the judgment was unanimous among skeptics: anyone who had bought in was a fool. When it surpassed $13,000, the laments appeared: oh, I should have invested. That sequence — contempt at the bottom, regret at the peak — is the pattern that repeats in every cycle.
The defense of the convinced is simple: it's never too late. Those who sat waiting for the perfect moment are still waiting. When someone asks if it's worth putting something in today, the answer they get is to put in a thousand euros and come back in five years. The mantra has been repeated since 2009 with the same words.
The 10,000 Bitcoin Pizza That Would Be Worth a Fortune Today
The anecdote everyone cites is the pizzas. According to one version, someone paid two pizzas with 10,000 bitcoin in 2010, which at current prices would be about $65 million per pizza. Another reconstruction moves the episode to 2011 and raises the bill to 50,000 bitcoin, handed not to a delivery driver but to another enthusiast who used his card to order them. It was, they say, the first commercial purchase with this currency.
It doesn't matter which figure you accept. Both serve the same story: an everyday payment that today would be equivalent to a building. It's the kind of fact that turns any family dinner into an interrogation.
The One Who Bought in 2017 and Is Already Up 500%
Not all stories are of regret. Some bought at the 2017 peak, saw the value plummet and didn't sell; they didn't sell on the rebound either. Now they claim to have accumulated a revaluation of nearly 500% and maintain that bitcoin will reach six figures before the end of the year. Their conclusion: those who endured the fall shouldn't consider exiting now either.
On the other side, the cold calculation. Small savers are told that the reward no longer compensates for the risk: going from a thousand to two thousand euros and then watching it drop doesn't justify the shock. Those looking for a quick kill are too late.
Institutional Money Flows In While Gold Stagnates
One of the most highlighted shifts is the institutional landing. Gold funds see flat capital inflows while a cryptocurrency investment vehicle, Grayscale, receives a huge amount of institutional money, according to the data being handled. The reading: bitcoin ceases to be a hobbyist's thing and becomes a safe-haven asset.
That changes the buyer profile. It's no longer just someone who wants to move opaque money, but the investor looking to protect themselves from monetary issuance. Some argue that in 2020 about 20% of all existing dollars were created, an argument that pushes people to seek refuges outside traditional money.
The Mining Thesis That Eats Up Value
The most critical don't dispute the price: they dispute where it comes from. It's argued that about 80% of bitcoin's value comes from mining expenditure and only 20% from real money inflow. Add to that electricity consumption, the physical weight of the infrastructure — bulkier, it's said, than all the gold — and the cost the network drags along. Hence the most repeated label: Ponzi scheme.
The accusation is far from unanimous. Some dismiss it entirely, and others only concede that the value is speculative. The usual rebuttal refers to gold and the markets themselves: they too are worth by consensus, not by what they weigh.
How Much Does the Tax Office Take from Crypto Profits?
Here a doubt arises that stops more than one. The question is whether bitcoin is taxed as a capital gain in the IRPF rather than as savings income, with rates that take between 37% and 45% of the profit and without being able to offset losses from other years. The conclusion of the asker: the biggest tax scam. The answer they get, short, is that it doesn't work that way.
Two opposing readings on a detail that decides net profitability.
Why the Poor Don't Take Risks and the Rich Wait with a Daiquiri
The most uncomfortable analysis is about class. Those who have experienced hardship don't risk the little money they have; antiestéticar prevents them, and that same caution that protects them closes doors. Meanwhile, those who can throw a thousand euros at an experiment and wait years, win. The thesis defended: there are only poor in mind, and laziness weighs more than lack of capital.
The reply is bitter. Those who have been cold on the street don't gamble with what they need to eat. The courage to invest is a luxury of those who already have a full stomach.
Ethereum, NFT and the Electric Vehicle: The Cars That Haven't Left Yet
For those who arrive late to bitcoin, the relay would have a name. Ethereum, with its version 2.0 and decentralized finance, would aspire to dispute first place by market cap. NFTs are presented as the next golden goose, and the electric vehicle, with Tesla at the helm, as the disruptive technology that will repeat the 2010 pattern.
It's the same promise with another label. The big potential has already been reaped, admit the convinced themselves; what remains is to exploit the next one. If bitcoin already exceeds $13,000, others argue, other cryptocurrencies can still take the leap.
That the granddaughter asks the grandfather how he didn't buy bitcoin seeing the internet from a modem has no good answer. There's only one currency that keeps rising, a mortgage that, they say, could be paid with 200 euros, and a line of people still waiting for the perfect moment. A daiquiri and on to the next thing.
How much did you need to put into Bitcoin in 2012 to pay for everything? The conversation drags on for years and doesn't give a prudent figure: 200 euros invested then was said to be enough to pay off a mortgage, car and boat in cash before turning 40. The opportunity was open for years, they say. And those who missed out didn't do so for lack of warnings, but for not believing them.
The matter doesn't start with a news story. It starts with a bitter review of a decade. Bitcoin closed 2017 with a rocket, then plummeted to $3,000 — a moment when mockery rained down on those who held on — and later surpassed $13,000 again. The argument didn't move. The price did.
From $3,000 to $13,000: The Rally That Didn't Change the Argument
When the coin hit $3,000, the judgment was unanimous among skeptics: anyone who had bought in was a fool. When it surpassed $13,000, the laments appeared: oh, I should have invested. That sequence — contempt at the bottom, regret at the peak — is the pattern that repeats in every cycle.
The defense of the convinced is simple: it's never too late. Those who sat waiting for the perfect moment are still waiting. When someone asks if it's worth putting something in today, the answer they get is to put in a thousand euros and come back in five years. The mantra has been repeated since 2009 with the same words.
The 10,000 Bitcoin Pizza That Would Be Worth a Fortune Today
The anecdote everyone cites is the pizzas. According to one version, someone paid two pizzas with 10,000 bitcoin in 2010, which at current prices would be about $65 million per pizza. Another reconstruction moves the episode to 2011 and raises the bill to 50,000 bitcoin, handed not to a delivery driver but to another enthusiast who used his card to order them. It was, they say, the first commercial purchase with this currency.
It doesn't matter which figure you accept. Both serve the same story: an everyday payment that today would be equivalent to a building. It's the kind of fact that turns any family dinner into an interrogation.
The One Who Bought in 2017 and Is Already Up 500%
Not all stories are of regret. Some bought at the 2017 peak, saw the value plummet and didn't sell; they didn't sell on the rebound either. Now they claim to have accumulated a revaluation of nearly 500% and maintain that bitcoin will reach six figures before the end of the year. Their conclusion: those who endured the fall shouldn't consider exiting now either.
On the other side, the cold calculation. Small savers are told that the reward no longer compensates for the risk: going from a thousand to two thousand euros and then watching it drop doesn't justify the shock. Those looking for a quick kill are too late.
Institutional Money Flows In While Gold Stagnates
One of the most highlighted shifts is the institutional landing. Gold funds see flat capital inflows while a cryptocurrency investment vehicle, Grayscale, receives a huge amount of institutional money, according to the data being handled. The reading: bitcoin ceases to be a hobbyist's thing and becomes a safe-haven asset.
That changes the buyer profile. It's no longer just someone who wants to move opaque money, but the investor looking to protect themselves from monetary issuance. Some argue that in 2020 about 20% of all existing dollars were created, an argument that pushes people to seek refuges outside traditional money.
The Mining Thesis That Eats Up Value
The most critical don't dispute the price: they dispute where it comes from. It's argued that about 80% of bitcoin's value comes from mining expenditure and only 20% from real money inflow. Add to that electricity consumption, the physical weight of the infrastructure — bulkier, it's said, than all the gold — and the cost the network drags along. Hence the most repeated label: Ponzi scheme.
The accusation is far from unanimous. Some dismiss it entirely, and others only concede that the value is speculative. The usual rebuttal refers to gold and the markets themselves: they too are worth by consensus, not by what they weigh.
How Much Does the Tax Office Take from Crypto Profits?
Here a doubt arises that stops more than one. The question is whether bitcoin is taxed as a capital gain in the IRPF rather than as savings income, with rates that take between 37% and 45% of the profit and without being able to offset losses from other years. The conclusion of the asker: the biggest tax scam. The answer they get, short, is that it doesn't work that way.
Two opposing readings on a detail that decides net profitability.
Why the Poor Don't Take Risks and the Rich Wait with a Daiquiri
The most uncomfortable analysis is about class. Those who have experienced hardship don't risk the little money they have; antiestéticar prevents them, and that same caution that protects them closes doors. Meanwhile, those who can throw a thousand euros at an experiment and wait years, win. The thesis defended: there are only poor in mind, and laziness weighs more than lack of capital.
The reply is bitter. Those who have been cold on the street don't gamble with what they need to eat. The courage to invest is a luxury of those who already have a full stomach.
Ethereum, NFT and the Electric Vehicle: The Cars That Haven't Left Yet
For those who arrive late to bitcoin, the relay would have a name. Ethereum, with its version 2.0 and decentralized finance, would aspire to dispute first place by market cap. NFTs are presented as the next golden goose, and the electric vehicle, with Tesla at the helm, as the disruptive technology that will repeat the 2010 pattern.
It's the same promise with another label. The big potential has already been reaped, admit the convinced themselves; what remains is to exploit the next one. If bitcoin already exceeds $13,000, others argue, other cryptocurrencies can still take the leap.
That the granddaughter asks the grandfather how he didn't buy bitcoin seeing the internet from a modem has no good answer. There's only one currency that keeps rising, a mortgage that, they say, could be paid with 200 euros, and a line of people still waiting for the perfect moment. A daiquiri and on to the next thing.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (546 replies).
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