What Happened to the Entrepreneur Who Sold Everything He Owned for Bitcoin in 2017 (2024)

FAQs

Which family sold everything to invest in Bitcoin? ›

In 2017, a legend emerged in the cryptocurrency circle. It was that a man named Didi Taihuttu from the Netherlands, along with his wife and three children, liquidated all his family property and exchanged it all for Bitcoin.

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, a software firm that has made heavy investments in bitcoin, is now worth an estimated $4.4 billion, compared to $760 million last year. Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, is worth an estimated $11.2 billion, up from just $2.2 billion last year.

If someone truly believes in Bitcoin, it's Didi Taihuttu. Shortly after his father died, Taihuttu had an idea. First, he'd sell his 11-year old business along with everything he owned — from his house all the way down to his children's toys.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ)

Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to charges in the U.S. for money laundering and fraud and was sentenced to four months in prison in May 2024.

Bitcoin was created by an anonymous person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto published a whitepaper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," outlining the concept of a decentralized digital currency.

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to four months in prison for failing to wall off the world's largest digital asset exchange from money launderers, allowing it to become a hub for illicit finance.

NEW YORK (AP) — Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud on hundreds of thousands of customers that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.

Who Owns the Most Bitcoins? Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is believed to own the most bitcoins, with estimates suggesting over 1 million BTC mined in the early days of the network.

"I still own a bunch of dogecoin, and SpaceX owns a bunch of bitcoin," Musk said during an X Spaces broadcast, referring to his rocket company. Musk's electric car company Tesla also holds just over 10,000 bitcoin worth almost $500 million.

Does the US government own Bitcoin? ›

The U.S. government is one of the world's biggest holders of bitcoin, but unlike other crypto whales, it doesn't care if the digital currency goes up or down in value.

Bitcoin's price is primarily affected by its supply, the market's demand, availability, competing cryptocurrencies, and investor sentiment. Bitcoin supply is limited—there is a finite number of bitcoins, and the final coins are projected to be mined in 2140.

Billionaires with largest net worth drop due to global crypto crash in 2022. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (commonly known as CZ) was the crypto billionaire who lost the most money following the crypto crisis of 2022, with a net worth drop amounting to 82 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2012, the Winklevoss twins began investing heavily in Bitcoin, purchasing around 1% (approximately 100,000 BTC) of the total circulating supply at that time. This early investment helped them amass a substantial amount of wealth and become Bitcoin millionaires as the value of the coin skyrocketed.

“Is he a crazyman, a lunatic or there's something there?” In 2017, Father Didi Taihuttu, his wife Romaine and their three young daughters Joli, Juna and Jessa sold all their belongings and put it all into Bitcoin.

Didi Taihuttu, his wife, three kids and their cat bet all they have on bitcoin. The Dutch family of five is in the process of selling pretty much everything they own — from their 2,500-square-foot house, to their shoes – and trading it in for the popular cryptocurrency.

The Taihuttus liquidated their assets in 2016 and now spread their cryptocurrency portfolio across secret vaults on four continents. In 2016, Dutch national Didi Taihuttu, his wife and three daughters sold everything they owned to invest in Bitcoin when it was trading at only $900.

Real Bedford FC (RBFC) received the Bitcoin investment from Winklevoss Capital, an investment firm owned by Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.