Bitcoin News and Finance
Out of Thousands of MIT Students That Got Free Bitcoin in 2014 – 6 Year Holders Saw 13,000% Gains Skip to main content

Out of Thousands of MIT Students That Got Free Bitcoin in 2014 – 6 Year Holders Saw 13,000% Gains

Out of the Thousands of MIT Students That Got Free Bitcoin in 2014 - 6 Year Holders Saw 13,000% Gains

Over six years ago, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a couple of scholars distributed $100 in bitcoin to 3,100 students. According to testimony from a few participants who held the leading crypto asset since then, the students netted 13,000% in profit.

MIT Grad Who Made 13,000%: ‘Most of Us Thought It Was a Bit of a Joke’

For a very long time now, MIT has been experimenting and supporting bitcoin (BTC), the leading crypto asset in terms of market capitalization. In 2014, two computer science students Dan Elitzer and Jeremy Rubin distributed $100 worth of BTC to thousands of MIT undergraduates. After Rubin and Elitzer left MIT, they continued working in the cryptocurrency space. On Friday, a few of the students who held the BTC for over six years explained that they saw significant gains.

One particular student, Mary Spanjers, told Bloomberg that she still has the BTC and has kept it tucked away. Spanjers said that the $100 worth of BTC before the May market rout could have fetched her around $20,000 or around 13,000% in profit. At first, Spanjers said many students thought it was just a joke. “It’s truly remarkable,” Spanjers detailed during her interview. “Most of us thought it was a bit of a joke.”

The MBA student that started the free bitcoin initiative, Elitzer also founded the school’s Bitcoin Club but he and Rubin do not know how many people kept or sold the BTC. However, if every MIT student kept the digital asset, they would have netted around $60 million total. One student who works for a crypto firm called Ontology, Erick Pinos, ended up selling his free bitcoin. Today, however, Pinos said he keeps all of his funds in the crypto economy and further stressed:

I’m all about cryptocurrencies.

An Uknown Number of Former MIT Students Sold

A former MIT student who created an application called Fireflies, Sam Udotong, eventually sold the digital asset. “If I had held on to that bitcoin, it would have been more like $300 to $400 per delivery,” Udotong remarked. Former MIT student Marilynn Bach ended up keeping her crypto and said “Sometimes if my friends or co-workers talk about cryptocurrency, I’ll be, like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s the thing I have.’”

A robotics engineer at Pendar Technologies, Selam Gano, said she sold her BTC for $300 worth of food when it increased 3x in value. “It was free money, I don’t have any regrets,” Gano said during her interview. “I got an MIT degree, which is the most important thing to me,” Gano added.

Two years later, an article published in the Boston Globe noted that after the bitcoin experiment, only “14%” were still “actively using it.” When the MIT Bitcoin Club started and distributed the bitcoin a few years later the MIT COOP, a store for the public, students and faculty stopped accepting BTC for purchases. The Liberty Teller brand bitcoin ATM located inside the COOP was also removed from the building a few years later.

What do you think about the MIT students who kept their bitcoin and those who sold the asset not too long after they got the free coin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory