The online New Liberty Standard Exchange calculated the value of newly-minted Bitcoin using a simple method in October 2009. New Liberty Standard calculated the value by calculating the computer(s)' electricity cost to mine one coin.
In late 2009, New Liberty Standard witnessed the first human exchange of conventional cash for Bitcoin. The transaction involved $5.02 via PayPal and 5,050 Bitcoins. The first documented transaction sold coins for $0.00099, according to some fast calculation.
Bitcoin concluded trading at $104,735.30 per coin at the time of writing. That implies the 5,050 coins bought for $5.02 in late 2009 are worth almost $528 million. Naturally, $100 invested in 2009 would have yielded considerably better results.
Bitcoin's second year saw more exchanges that allowed trading. Investing.com shows that the flagship cryptocurrency traded between $0.10 and $0.30 for most of 2010. That's enormously greater than the first transaction in 2009, but still extraordinarily cheap by modern standards.
In this age, Laszlo Hanyecz, a Bitcoin miner, performed an intriguing transaction. Hanyecz was hungry but didn't want to go home. The programmers mentioned on a Bitcoin forum that they would pay 10,000 bitcoins for two huge pizzas, with some left over for the next day. He may have utilized a pizza size calculator to determine the request.
Papa Johns gave Hanyecz two huge pizzas valued $25. On reflection, such pizzas must be the most expensive. The value of 10,000 Bitcoins is over $1 billion. Yes, billion. A plaque in the Florida store that filled the order commemorates "Bitcoin Pizza Day" on May 22, 2010.
The price climb was choppy. Other Bitcoin valuation milestones include breaking $1 in 2011. 2013 was significant for the most famous cryptocurrency. Because the coin price reached $100 and $1,000 in the same year.
Bitcoin investors experienced its volatility in 2013 after prices soared vertical. The coin's value plummeted to a few hundred dollars and stayed there for years.
Bitcoin didn't reach $1,000 per coin until January 2017. Eight years ago, early investors could buy the first cryptocurrency for ~$1,000 per coin.
From 2017 until present, that investment would have returned 100x+. This is a 10,300% return in 96 months. From January 2017 to January 2025, the S&P 500 climbed from 2278.87 to 6,071.17. This is a 166% gain for stock market investors, but crypto enthusiasts who HODL did better.