Marc P. Bernegger was our guest on the Relai Bitcoin Session. Marc is a Swiss entrepreneur and co-founder of the internet companies usgang.ch and amiando, with which he celebrated successful exits. Since 2010, he has been active as an investor with a focus on fintech. Since 2012, he has also been involved with Bitcoin.

We sat down with Marc to discuss the early days of Bitcoin.

You can view the podcast episode here.

Alternatively, you can listen in on the conversation here.

The Main Takeaways

Marc P. Bernegger first heard about Bitcoin in 2011 when he was looking into the future of payments. At this point, he read an article about Bitcoin and then proceeded to read the Bitcoin whitepaper. Since then, he has been fascinated by the whole idea behind Bitcoin.

Getting into Bitcoin in 2012

Marc first purchased bitcoin in 2012 when the price was at around $10 but not necessarily as an investment but more as an experiment and to start using the technology.

He later sold or transferred most of his bitcoin when the price hit around $30, mainly because he did not see Bitcoin as an investment but more of an exciting experiment. A few years later, Marc changed his view on Bitcoin and moved more into this space from a business and an investment point of view.

Marc also attended many of the first meet-ups and conferences, which were more geeky and more anarchist than today’s Bitcoin conferences. It was as an exciting time when everyone in the space was very accessible without all of today’s social media noise.

How People Should Explore Bitcoin

When asked about what he recommends to people when they ask him whether it is a good time to get into Bitcoin or not, Marc responds with “yes,” and advises them to start by learning about Bitcoin first, and then buying some so that they understand the technology better and know what they are investing in and why.

“I think you should read the white paper and understand the vision and idea behind [Bitcoin]. Then, you should perhaps get a little bit deeper into the whole ecosystem and understand what the advantage of a computer-based decentralized system is compared to the status quo.”

Zoom Out to See Bitcoin’s Long-Term Positive Price Trend

Marc thinks that it’s important not to focus on short-term speculation and, instead, zoom out and look at bitcoin’s price development over time, which really has only gone in one direction.

“If you buy bitcoin and look at the screen every day in the hope that the number goes up, it’s quite a speculative approach. But if you look at it as a long-term asset for diversification, then it makes sense to extend your exposure to digital assets.”

In the next ten years, Marc believes that Bitcoin will continue its positive growth trajectory and cites that the historical price development in the early years was already impressive. So, this could continue in the future.

To start your Bitcoin journey, download the Relai app today and buy your first bitcoin.