Everyone knows the dilemma. You buy bitcoin and minutes later the price increases by several percent. Should you then sell right back for a profit – or will we all be crypto billionaires in the future? The case of Martti Malmi shows: Hodln pays off. The computer scientist gave up Twitter admit that he would have been a billionaire by now if he hadn’t sold his bitcoin. An unfortunate fate.

Malmi’s story begins when he met a certain Satoshi Nakamoto on the internet while studying computer science. Together with the founder of Bitcoin, the Finnish computer scientist known in the scene as “Sirius” developed the second version of the BTC software on the Linux operating system. The collaboration with Satoshi was so close that Malmi even had administrator rights for Bitcoin.org at one point. As one of the most active miners, he found 55,000 BTC with an ordinary laptop between 2009 and 2011. The Finn owned around 0.25 percent of the total amount in circulation and would be among the 10 richest crypto billionaires today.

5,050 BTC for $5

In several messages, Malmi explains how he spent his fortune. The first sale of around 5,050 BTC took place in 2009 for 5.02 US dollars at the time – today that is the equivalent of 135 million US dollars. A year later, the developer tried to encourage adoption, opening an exchange and dumping another 30,000 Bitcoin. Another 12 months passed and the BTC course picked up speed. When Orange Coin was trading at $30, Malmi sold 10,000 BTC to “buy a fairly comfortable studio apartment near Helsinki.” From today’s perspective, a bad investment. At least he hasn’t lost his sense of humour:

A big deal for a 22-year-old who never had a lot of money. Probably the most expensive studio in the world, but at least I got more than 2 pizzas.

Martti Malmi, Bitcoin co-founder

Then the blockchain pioneer came to the conclusion: “I wanted to hodle my remaining BTC.” However, money worries thwarted this plan. Malmi sold the rest of his holdings and was left empty-handed. There is one fly in the ointment: The computer scientist has reinvested his “little savings” in Bitcoin and has benefited from the “recent developments”. At the time of writing, 55,000 BTC is worth nearly $1.5 billion.

Bitcoin is greater than personal wealth

Malmi has learned his lesson. Although the monetary loss is “regrettable”. As an early Bitcoiner, however, he was able to set something in motion that was greater than personal wealth. The Bitcoin pioneer then shared a piece of wisdom: “I am proud of my contribution to Bitcoin and satisfied with the result. Bitcoin has positively changed my life in many ways. You don’t live forever Striving for something bigger than yourself gives meaning to life.”

After Malmi, following Satoshi’s example, retired from Orange Coin, he turned to other blockchain projects. Sirius is now focusing on the decentralized Twitter alternative Nostr and is working on new solutions – just like he did with Bitcoin.

Martti Malmi

Is Hodln the way to success?

As an investor, there is a strategy to avoid looking at the bitcoins sold in the past with regret: Hodln. A savings plan helps to remain as relaxed as possible. The “Cost Average” strategy consists of making recurring investment decisions within a certain period of time, regardless of the market situation. The advantage of this approach is that the risk of impulse buying is minimized while rational decisions are paramount. At the same time, the investments are distributed in such a way that an average price per unit invested is calculated.

If Malmi had stuck with his bitcoins, he would be pretty rich by now. A fate shared by many early investors. But: would have, would have, bicycle chain. As is well known, you can learn from mistakes and with Bitcoin we are still early on anyway.