In 2009, A Norwegian Student Spent $27 On Bitcoin For A School Project And Forgot About It. Four Years Later, Kristoffer Koch Discovered The Wallet Was Worth $886,000. He Used 20% To Buy An Oslo Apartment. If He Still Holds The Rest, It's Worth More Th

A Norwegian grad student bought Bitcoin in 2009 as a footnote to his thesis, forgot it existed, and stumbled back to find the wallet years later transformed by a price surge that made him face a decision most people will…

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In 2009, Kristoffer Koch was a Norwegian graduate student researching encryption for his master’s thesis. PBS NewsHour reports that he spent 150 Norwegian kroner on Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC). PBS NewsHour put that at about $27, using the exchange rate cited in its later coverage, which we have not checked independently. According to PBS NewsHour, the purchase got him 5,000 BTC, and then he forgot about it entirely.

A Forgotten Wallet Turns Up Worth $886,000, according to PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour reported on October 29, 2013 that, with Bitcoin’s price surge all over the news, Koch remembered the old wallet and found it was worth $886,000. The outlet called that a gain of more than 3,000,000% in four years, according to PBS NewsHour.

One Fifth Became a Home in Oslo

Per PBS NewsHour, Koch used one fifth of the holding, 1,000 BTC, to buy an apartment in Oslo.