Martti Malmi was one of the very first people to mine cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) in the world. Back when it first launched, miners often earned generous rewards like 50 Bitcoin for each task they completed. Malmi handled tons of those tasks.
Between 2009 and 2010, Malmi easily mined over 55,000 Bitcoin. But the unfortunate part is he never expected Bitcoin to become as valuable as it is today. On January 15th, Bitcoin briefly hit over $39,000 per coin.
Back in 2009, Bitcoin was almost free, and Malmi sold 5,050 Bitcoin for just $5. That means he sold coins worth $200 million today for the price of a Starbucks coffee! Sadly, that was only a small fraction of what he missed out on.
Giving away tens of thousands of dollars almost for free
In 2010, he ran bitcoinexchange.com. Despite the name, it wasn’t a trading platform but a Bitcoin “faucet.” This was a rewards system on websites or apps where visitors earned satoshi (Bitcoin’s smallest unit) by completing tasks like watching videos, leaving comments, or sharing posts.
In total, Malmi gave away about 30,000 Bitcoin through this platform without making much profit. A year later, things started to change.
From zero dollars, Bitcoin’s price jumped to between $15 and $30, inspiring Malmi to cash in some of his coins. He sold 10,000 Bitcoin and bought a luxury apartment near Helsinki.
This success pushed him to aim higher. In 2011, he bought a one-way ticket to Japan, the birthplace of Bitcoin. Besides learning Japanese, he visited Mt. Gox, the world’s leading Bitcoin exchange at the time. He planned to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible.
Unfortunately, luck didn’t stay on Malmi’s side.
In 2012, Malmi ran out of cash and decided to look for a job. The job hunt took longer than expected, forcing him to sell most of his remaining Bitcoin at just $5 per coin.
So far, Malmi has “lost” 55,000 Bitcoin worth over $2 billion today! Although he bought a nice apartment and still holds a small amount of Bitcoin in his digital wallet, it’s not enough to make him a millionaire.
In a Twitter post, Malmi said he still feels happy with his modest achievements. He shared some lessons from mining and losing a massive amount of Bitcoin:
“More money is always better than less money”
Malmi wrote: “Whatever you do, money gives you freedom. The more money you have, the freer you are. For me and probably many people worldwide, more money is always better than less.”
“More money is better than less” holds true to a certain extent. Psychologists have tried to pinpoint that point and found that an annual income of $95,000 in the US brings the most happiness and satisfaction. Of course, these numbers vary by person.
You might want more or less. The key is to choose what feels right for you and pursue it. But don’t forget to enjoy life, even the small things, because sometimes you don’t need to be in the top 1% richest people to feel happy and content.
For Malmi, his huge loss also brought valuable lessons. He may not have as much money as he could have, but he’s content with his life now. No one can predict how his life would have changed if he held hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
“Never forget to save money”
In 2012, when Malmi ran out of cash before finding a job, he still “sat on” 10,000 Bitcoin. That’s about $400 million today. But it vanished when he sold at a rock-bottom price.
One of the most important lessons Malmi learned is to always save money for tough times. Investment legend Warren Buffett once advised: “Don’t save what’s left after spending, spend what’s left after saving.”
Source: Compiled
