Back in 2012, my friend Jake was always talking about this new thing called Bitcoin. At the time, it sounded like some sort of elaborate video game currency. He was so enthusiastic that he convinced me to buy a couple of bitcoins for about $10 each, just for fun. I promptly forgot about them. Fast forward to 2017, during the massive cryptocurrency boom, I received a frantic call from Jake. "Check your Bitcoin wallet!" he yelled. I had to dig through old emails to even find my login details. When I finally accessed my account, I was floored. Those two bitcoins were now worth nearly $40,000! While I didn't become a millionaire overnight, the experience was a wild ride and a lesson in the unpredictable world of cryptocurrencies. Jake, on the other hand, had sold most of his stash for a modest profit years earlier and was kicking himself. The whole episode taught us both the value—and the volatility—of digital currencies.