Insight: The Scots investors in the Bitcoin boom

By The Newsroom
Published 16th Dec 2017, 23:52 BST
A bitcoin ATM in Glasgows Sauchiehall Street. Picture: John DevlinA bitcoin ATM in Glasgows Sauchiehall Street. Picture: John Devlin
A bitcoin ATM in Glasgows Sauchiehall Street. Picture: John Devlin
Some Scots investors in the cryptocurrency can barely believe their luck, writes Dani Garavelli

Around 18 months ago, Norman, a pensioner from Inverness, was contacted about an investment opportunity: bitcoin. A financial dabbler, he had once been defrauded out of quite a large sum of money, so he was reticent about getting involved. But eventually he was persuaded to take the risk. He bought just over six bitcoins at just under £500 each, through a London-based broker, as well as investing £2,000 in another cryptocurrency – Ethereum.

A few months ago, he sold one of his bitcoins for £4,000, and he is in the process of selling another for somewhere in the region of £13,000. The remaining four, plus the Ethereum (which has also more than doubled in value), he plans to keep to see if the price keeps on rising.

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“I was wary, but I thought, ‘Ach, I’ll give it a whirl’ and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Norman tells me. “It didn’t do much for a while, but then it just took off. When it reached £4,000, I thought, ‘If I sell one, I’ve got my money back so I won’t lose anything’. That was my strategy.

A collectable spin-off from the digital currency, which has no specie or notes. Picture: Dan Kitwood/GettyA collectable spin-off from the digital currency, which has no specie or notes. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty
A collectable spin-off from the digital currency, which has no specie or notes. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty

“Most people are saying I should sell the rest of my bitcoins now, but I am quite curious to see what happens. Some experts are predicting it will go stratospheric and others are saying it will all end in tears. But either way, I will have made a profit.”

For the past few months, the world has been in the grip of a bitcoin goldrush. Though the value fluctuates wildly from day to day (or even from hour to hour), its recent growth has been breathtaking: in April 2013, one bitcoin could be bought for £20; at 10pm on Friday it was worth £13,277. Between 20 November and Tuesday, it doubled in value.