When it comes to investments, hindsight can sometimes be 20/20—a lesson that Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi learned the hard way.
“One of my developers from my first company gave me a desktop with Bitcoin that he had mined. This was in 2009, and then I threw it away. I think it was worth maybe $300-$400 million today,” Sethi said in an interview with Crypto Editor Jeff John Roberts at Fortune‘s Brainstorm Tech conference.
Arjun Sethi is the co-CEO of Kraken and the chairman/co-founder of Tribe Capital, known for bridging operating leadership with venture investing across crypto and frontier technology. He became Kraken’s co-CEO in October 2024 after serving on the company’s board since 2021, stepping in to lead alongside David Ripley.
Bitcoin had a value close to $0 when it was first mined, back when Sethi says he was gifted some. Today, each Bitcoin is worth more than $115,000.
Sethi also told Fortune he believes crypto, a notoriously volatile sector, is in the midst of a bubble.
“Are we in a bubble or not? If I look at the overall slope over 15 years, I would say no,” said the Kraken executive. “If you look at it quarter by quarter, the answer is yes, we get into those bubbles all the time.”
Kraken, the crypto exchange he now leads was reportedly last valued at $15 billion.
Investor mistakes
Sethi isn’t the first investor to look back with regret.
James Howells, a U.K. man, says his partner accidentally threw away a hard drive with 7,500 Bitcoin on it. He’s since offered to buy the landfill where he believes the device is buried, and his investment would be worth about $873 million today.
As of mid-March 2024, there are about 1.75 million Bitcoin wallets that have been inactive for ten years or more. It’s hard to say how many of these are dormant versus being lost.
But investor remorse isn’t limited to the crypto industry.
The founders of YouTube, Reddit, and Instagramalso reportedly missed out on billions by cashing out too soon.