Forget socks and scented candles.
A Christmas gift of cryptocurrency a decade ago would today be worth enough to buy a house, a sports car, or maybe a lifetime of festive dinners.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, now household names in global markets, were still relatively obscure experiments in 2015.
Being gifted ten tokens back then may have felt like a novelty gift from your financially mad uncle or grandma, but a decade later, it would have become clear it was a truly life-changing investment.
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Ten Bitcoin In 2015
In 2015, Bitcoin traded in a wide range, hitting a low of $165.07 and a high of $430.08 during the year.
A gift of ten Bitcoin at the 2015 low would have cost just over $1,650, rising to around $4,300 at the year’s peak.
With Bitcoin trading at roughly $87,686 at the time of reporting, those same ten coins would now be worth about $876,860.
Measured from the 2015 low, that represents a gain of roughly 53,000%.
Ten Ethereum In Your 2015 Stocking
Ethereum, which launched in 2015, traded at around $1.36 in its early days, making it one of the cheapest ways at the time to gain exposure to blockchain technology beyond Bitcoin.
A gift of ten Ethereum would have cost just $13.60.
Today, with Ethereum priced near $2,957, those ten tokens would be worth roughly $29,570.
However, if someone was to spend the same amount of money as buying ten Bitcoin at their 2015 low, the price becomes ever wilder.
Spending $1,650 would have allowed someone to buy around 1,213 ether, at prices of around $1.36 at the time.
At current prices of roughly $2,957 per token, that holding would now be worth close to $3.6 million, dwarfing the return from the equivalent outlay in Bitcoin.
Ethereum may be a contender for the greatest Christmas gift you could have received in 2015.
100 Bitcoin and 100 Ethereum on Christmas Day
In 2015, a gift of 100 Bitcoin would have cost between roughly $16,500 and $43,000, depending on when during the year the tokens were purchased.
At today’s prices of about $87,686 per coin, that holding would now be worth close to $8.77 million.
Alongside it, 100 Ethereum bought in 2015 at prices of around $1.36 would have cost just $136.
With Ethereum trading near $2,957, those same tokens are now worth roughly $296,000
Taken together, a combined gift of 100 Bitcoin and 100 Ethereum in 2015 would today be worth just over $9 million.
Festive hindsight is a damn fine thing.
