什么样的投资能在7年内实现8.8万倍的收益？

七年前，1枚比特币值0.25美分；而今，其价值已经超过2200美元。

本周一是现实中有记录的首次比特币交易七周年。2010年以来，比特币的价值在这七年里增长了879999倍。如果当时有投资者决定用5美元买2000枚比特币，到今天其价值将达到440万美元；如果用1200美元购买48万枚比特币，这位投资者如今将至少坐拥11亿美元。

2017年头几个月比特币上涨得尤其迅猛。年初以来，随着在日本等国取得合法身份，这种加密货币的价值持续飙升。投资者已经将比特币视为避险资产，原因是地缘政治局势紧张，近几个月的欧洲和美国都是如此。

那么比特币的第一笔交易是怎么回事呢？当时，在比特币技术交流论坛Bitcoin Talk上，一位署名拉斯洛·汉耶兹的程序员提出用1万枚比特币换两个比萨饼。此后至少三天都没有人做出回应。汉耶兹在论坛上留言说：“这么说没人愿意给我买比萨了？我出的比特币太少了吗？”

最后，一位用户给他买了两个比萨，付了大约25美元。按现在的比特币价格计算，这两个比萨花了汉耶兹2200万美元。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审稿：夏林

Seven years ago, the value of a single bitcoin was worth a quarter-of-a-cent. Today, that single bitcoin is worth upwards of $2,200.

Monday marked the seventh anniversary of what is said to be the first recorded instance of bitcoin used in a real world transaction. Over the course of seven years, bitcoin's value has multiplied 879,999 times over since 2010. If an investor had decided to spend five dollars back then on about 2,000 bitcoins, that stake would be worth $4.4 million today. With $1,200 spent on some 480,000 bitcoins, the investor would be worth at least $1.1 billion today.

The early months of 2017 have been particularly heady days for bitcoin. Since the beginning of the year, the value of the cryptocurrency has surged as it gains legitimacy in countries like Japan. Investors have also come to see the currency as something of a safe haven asset amid geopolitical turmoil — and there's been plenty of that in recent months, in both Europe and the United States.

And that first transaction? A software programmer on "Bitcoin Talk" known as Lazlo Hanyecz offered to 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas. For a least three days, no one took bite of the offer, with Hanyecz writing: "So nobody wants to buy me pizza? Is the bitcoin amount I'm offering too low?"

A user eventually paid about $25 for two pizzas. In today's bitcoins, those pizzas cost Hanyecz $22 million.