I deposited $60 into a Bitcoin ATM and forgot about it - It’s now worth $800
A few years ago, I had missed the Bitcoin boat. In late 2012 or early 2013, I remember trying to get my account verified on a number of virtual currency exchanges. Due to some complications with account creation, I decided it was too much of a hassle and I gave up not thinking too much of it.
A year or so later, Bitcoin exploded, and I was bummed that I had missed the boat. The spike went up, then it went down. On December 4, 2013, the price of Bitcoin reached an all time high of $1314 CAD. Had I bought even $100 of Bitcoin when I had originally wanted to, that would have returned in over $800 in late 2013. Never did I think that would ever happen again.
One day in July 2015, I was at a bar in Ottawa that had a Bitcoin ATM machine where you could deposit cash and send it to your Bitcoin wallet. So on my way to the bathroom, I thought “what the hell” and deposited $60 Canadian into my BTC wallet for the fun of it. At the time, I thought nothing of it and Bitcoin was worth $323 CAD.
I mostly forgot about it, checking it only every once in a while. All of a sudden, a few weeks ago, I saw all the headlines about BTC being at an all time high. Like a kid at Christmas, I popped over to my Bitcoin wallet only to find that my measly 0.17415 Bitcoin was now worth $412.98 CAD. Woah cool!
So I thought for a bit and found myself with a decision to make: Do I keep it, sell it, or buy more?
Seeing a big spike like this, I thought it was unlikely that it would go up too much more before dipping again, so I decided to sell and instead find a way to convert my Bitcoin into the newer and less inflated Ethereum.
I quickly found out that selling my Bitcoin was trickier than I would have thought so I asked for some advice on Twitter!
After asking around, a friend recommended I try a site called Quadriga, where I’d be able to sell my BTC and buy ETH.
Trading Bitcoin for Ethereum
After opening an account on Quadriga, I happily sold my 0.17415 BTC (worth $412) for 3.36558 ETH (same price, less a small fee). I was excited to sell the over-inflated Bitcoin for my exciting newer Ethereum.
Ethereum was initially created under 2 years ago in July 2015. So I reasoned that prices are still comparatively much much lower than Bitcoin and I thought there would be a much higher potential for me to start lower and sell higher than if I bought more of an already-expensive Bitcoin.
My Bitcoin vs. Ethereum Decision
What happened to the price of Bitcoin you ask? Well it continued to rise. If I had kept my 0.17415 BTC, today it would be worth $522 CAD (up from $412).
Within that same span of time, the price of Ethereum on the other hand went from $123 CAD to $237 CAD. So the 3.36558 ETH I bought for $412, turned nearly $800!
On top of that when I initially bought my Ethereum, I bought another $200 worth of ETH over the span of the next 2 weeks, so my $412 became $612 CAD. That is now worth $1032.77.
Bitcoin today is still going up, but if you think about it in terms of proportions, even if you buy a lot now, Bitcoin would need to go up a very significant amount for you to profit a lot. Ethereum on the other hand is going up very quickly and because the price is still comparatively very low, doesn’t need to go up nearly as much for you to make a large profit.
What’s the Goal Now?
My goal now is to buy another $1000 or so in Ethereum, and let it sit until it hits a predetermined mark that I set (still deciding what that mark is). The rule of thumb for me here is, no matter what, if it hits that mark, I must sell.
Equally, I’m not allowed to sell until it does hit that mark, which could prove to be a much longer game.
My goal here is to be as successful with Ethereum, as I wished I was with Bitcoin during the big spike I missed out on.
How Do I Start?
The way cryptocurrencies work is you will have a digital wallet somewhere, where you can use a QR code or a long, complicated string of characters called your “wallet address”, where you can receive funds.
The easiest way in today, I’d say is to try an app called Coinbase (<= this is a referral link). On Coinbase you can easily buy Bitcoin and/or Ethereum directly from a Credit Card. It also acts as your wallet.
Is it safe to publish these online? According to Coinbase, you address “can safely be shared with anyone, anytime without presenting any risk to the security of your funds.
You should be aware though, that once someone knows that an address belongs to you, they can view the full history of send and receive transactions to that address.”
I hope this was useful! I’m by no means an expert but I really enjoyed the process so I thought I’d share my learnings. Would love some feedback and comments from people on what has worked for them, and advice on what can be done better!
Continue the discussion in the comments or on Twitter.
About Izzy
Iskender Piyale-Sheard (aka Izzy) is the Community Manager at Lighthouse Labs, a coding bootcamp in Toronto. In his spare time, he likes to write about career development, teach himself to code and work on fun community projects.
Find him at: izzydoesizzy.com
