I mined early on as well.  Was generating 50btc every other day on a macbook pro in late 2009, and expanded with a dedicated video card setup a little too late.  I've seen all the ups and downs.  I have also spent many coins in the past to acquire things for my life that helped it improve.  I still have some, and I carry no regrets about decisions of the past in selling (I'm talking about selling lots at $3 each).  When I started they where worth $0.15 each.

There was an article that a wheel chair bound comp sci professor wrote that was published in maybe Wired?!?! <-- help would be nice

He went on about working with Santoshi early on and taking part in the startup of the block chain (it was restarted quite a few times because of bugs etc.), he contributed code and was there when it went it took off.  He said he's left all his early coins in trust to his kids.  He said that he never met Santoshi but communicated with him via email often.

I think the estimates for what he holds land around 40% of current and 15% of future total (or more).


peace