Man forgot he invested $22 in Bitcoin and came back to mind-blowing amount when he remembered years later
Published on Sep 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Sep 25, 2025 at 11:26 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A man who invested $22 in Bitcoin when it was newly launched forgot about the investment for years, only to later discover it was worth a fortune.
Kristoffer Koch, from Norway, was a very early adopter of Bitcoin.
Back in 2009, when he was just 25, he bought 5,000 Bitcoins for $22.
Over the next few years, he forgot all about the investment, but it was rapidly growing in the background.
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His original investment grew into a fortune
Plenty of folks were quick to get involved when Bitcoin was launched, like Erik Finman, who bought around $1,400 worth of the cryptocurrency when he was 12 and is now a multimillionaire.
Over in Norway, Kristoffer Koch invested $22 in Bitcoin, purchasing 5,000 coins.
Fast-forward four years, and Koch had pretty much forgotten all about his crypto wallet, but its value had quietly skyrocketed.
He eventually logged back into his account and was left reeling after seeing what it was worth.
Now, if you’ve ever discovered some forgotten cash in the pocket of a coat you haven’t worn for a while, you can sort of imagine how Koch must have felt.
But rather than finding a crumpled $10 note, he discovered that four years after he invested $22 in Bitcoin, it was now worth a whopping $850,000.
“Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that they would have soared like this,” he told local media in 2013.
“It’s bizarre, these psychological reflexes that make us attach a value to something that doesn’t have any in itself.”
Koch sold around a fifth of his Bitcoins and was able to buy himself a flat in Oslo.
According to reports at the time, he kept hold of the rest in his crypto wallet, meaning there’s a good chance he’s earned a lot more since, particularly with Bitcoin hitting a record high recently.
Not everyone has been quite so lucky when it comes to crypto
While Koch is undeniably a Bitcoin winner, the same can’t be said for everyone who dabbled in cryptocurrency.
Swiss businessman Stefan Thomas got his hands on some Bitcoin back in 2011.
Since then, its value has soared, and it’s now worth $790 million.
Sounds ideal, right?
Except poor Stefan has forgotten the password to get back into his wallet, and after eight unsuccessful guesses, he now has just two attempts left before he’s locked out for good.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
