Campbell Simpson, an editor at Gizmodo Australia, recently shared his story with the rest of the world. He missed out on becoming a millionaire because he unknowingly threw out a hard drive that contained a total of 1400 bitcoins in it – equivalent to over $4 million nowadays.
The man bought the bitcoins back in 2010 when it was still possible to buy these at an extremely cheap price, as they were virtually worthless at the time. At the time, he paid 1,5 cents for one bitcoin, and bought $25 worth. He then stored the bitcoins in a hard drive in which he also had pirated tv shows and music, as well a portfolio of his work and university assignments.
When moving from one home to another, Campbell Simpson threw out the hard drive, as he didn’t care about the worth of what was stored in it. A few months later, he checked the hard drive and realized he has $4,000 worth of bitcoin. Annoying, but bearable.
Recently, he checked the price once more and saw that he would now be a millionaire, if only he had held on to his $25. The story reminded the community of that of James Howell, the man who mined 7,500 bitcoins in 2009 and then threw away the hard drive they were stored in without remembering it had bitcoins in them.
