Back in 2011, my friend Carlos stumbled upon an obscure forum post about something called Bitcoin. Intrigued, he decided to invest $50, which bought him around 2500 Bitcoins at the time. Fast forward to 2013, when Bitcoin started making headlines, Carlos suddenly remembered his investment. He scrambled to find his old laptop, covered in dust in the back of his closet, and after several failed attempts, finally managed to recall the password. As he logged in and saw the current value, his jaw dropped. His $50 investment had turned into a small fortune.

Carlos, always the pragmatist, cashed out a portion and treated himself to a modest car and a trip to Japan, where he paid for everything in Bitcoin just for the novelty of it. The rest he kept as a long-term investment. While the market has had its ups and downs, Carlos' early dabble into the world of cryptocurrencies remains one of his favorite stories to share at gatherings, a testament to the unpredictable nature of technology and finance.