Key Takeaways
- Ten coins of Bitcoin or Ethereum bought in 2015 would have been a life-changing Christmas gift.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum’s rise has been dramatic but predictable when looking back this Christmas.
- Ethereum delivered far larger percentage gains.
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.
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.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
