Mr. Smith worked at a Silicon Valley tech company when he purchased $3,000 worth of Bitcoin in October 2010. “I had no idea how much to invest, but I was getting paid pretty well at the time, so I decided on $3,000.” Because Bitcoin was worth only $0.15 a piece at the time, his initial investment gave him around 20,000 Bitcoins.

From the very start, Mr. Smith knew that he was playing the long game, deciding to see just how high Bitcoin could go. For the next three years, he hodled his investment, only occasionally checking how Bitcoin is performing. But when Bitcoin hit $350, and then $800 just days later, Mr. Smith knew that it wouldn’t be wise to wait any longer.

He cashed out $2.3 million, quit his job