[data_mine]

Originally Posted by raised by monkeys

Lol I'm quite rehearsed in research. I prefer to reply on reputable sources though not websites which promote products. Maybe when I know somebody, or have an article sitting in front of me demonstrating real life and substantial rewards; then the sceptic in me will take a back seat.

Well, my real life experience, is as follows.

started with BTC back in 2011 (a little after it initially started), tried it as a gag as the technology interested me, invested ~$1500 in computer gear to mine some. Mined several hundred of them.

Cashed out 100BTC when they were 100AUD/ea. (2012) = 10k, so 8.5k profit (excluding electricity, I haven't tracked that).

I then played around with trading on MtGox, turned 50BTC into over 350BTC, withdrew to my offline waller and kept 50BTC to continue playing with. Then lost that when MtGox went bust/hacked/stolen (whatever actually happened).

My holdings are now worth 24kea, so that's easily 8 digits. I've a nice retirement package. can't count chickens before they're hatched of course - it could all disappear tomorrow, but I've already made my initial investment back 550%. So I am in front.