Bitcoin mining pioneer Wang Chun revealed he sold a condominium in Pattaya, Thailand, for just 7 BTC—far below the 2,900 BTC he originally paid in 2015—underscoring the massive opportunity cost of early crypto spending. The Wang Chun shared the details in a Tuesday post on X.
Chun purchased the North Pattaya apartment when Bitcoin was trading around $270, valuing the deal at roughly $785,000 at the time. At current prices, that same amount of BTC would be worth around $194 million—despite recent volatility—highlighting a dramatic missed upside.
“In 2015, I purchased this Naklua condo in North Pattaya for 2900 BTC. It was the first home I had ever owned… Yesterday, I sold this condo for 7 BTC,” Chun wrote.
Bitcoin later surged to a peak above $126,000 in October 2025 before settling near $67,000 at the time of writing, meaning the original 2,900 BTC would have been worth as much as $365 million at its peak.
The transaction also underscores Bitcoin’s long-term outperformance compared to traditional assets. Over the same period, gold rose from about $1,200 per ounce in 2015 to above $4,500 today, while the S&P 500 delivered cumulative returns of around 284%—significant gains, but far below Bitcoin’s exponential growth.
Early Crypto Real Estate Bets Show Mixed Outcomes
Wang Chun’s experience reflects a broader pattern of early crypto-era real estate decisions, where some investors spent large amounts of Bitcoin on property—while others sold real estate to accumulate BTC.
One early adopter on the Bitcointalk forum famously sold a house for 648 BTC in 2014, while Changpeng Zhao (CZ) took the opposite approach. In a February interview, Zhao said he sold his Shanghai apartment for around $900,000 and used the proceeds to buy Bitcoin at an average price of roughly $600 per coin.
During his time in Pattaya, Wang Chun said he also made significant personal and professional strides. He obtained citizenship in Saint Kitts and Nevis and secured a U.S. visa, while helping build and launch F2Pool’s Zcash mining pool.
“My time in Pattaya gave me my first real experience of living abroad and the courage to explore much farther parts of the world,” Chun said.
