Once upon a very recent time say, around 2024 there lived a guy named Mario. Not the plumber, not the kart racer, just Mario: a quiet, clever, slightly paranoid man who happened to hold a treasure more fabled than any gold coin in the Mushroom Kingdom .
10,000 Bitcoin.
Yes, thatâs ten thousand. For those doing the math (and Mario did the math constantly), at Bitcoinâs current price hovering around $75,000 his stash was worth $750 million.
How did he get it? Thatâs the best part.
The Accidental Millionaire đ
In 2010, Mario was a 23 year old computer science student who stumbled upon Bitcoin on a tech forum. âDigital moneyâïž Cool,â he thought. Curious, he mined some on his clunky desktop back when you could mine hundreds in a day with just a regular CPU. Over a few months, he stacked up 10,000 BTC. At the time, they were worth maybe $100. Then school got hectic. He forgot about them.
Fast forward to 2020. A crypto news headline: Bitcoin hits $20,000. Mario's stomach dropped. Could he⊠still have those coinsâïž
He rummaged through old hard drives like a treasure hunter with a metal detector. After days of anxiety, panic, and data recovery, he found the wallet. The coins were there. Unmoved. Untouched. His.
Rich, But Rattled đ€
By 2025, Mario lived in a small apartment in Lisbon, pretending to be a normal guy. He wasnât on social media. He didnât flash wealth. His friends knew he worked âin IT,â and that was enough for them. But Mario had a secret:
He was a Bitcoin whale a digital king in a decentralized world.
Yet Mario faced a bizarre problem: he didnât know if he could ever spend his Bitcoin.
Sure, technically he could. He had access to his wallet. He had the keys. But every time he considered moving even a fraction of a coin, a thought haunted him:
âWhat if I regret itâïžâ
What if Bitcoin hits $1 millionâïž What if a pizza today costs me a mansion tomorrowâïž
Heâd read the stories: the guy who bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010. The early miners who sold at $100, thinking they were geniuses, only to watch the price skyrocket years later.
Mario wasnât greedy. He was just... frozen.
The Temptation đ«
One day, a close friend invited Mario to a party at a villa in Cascais. The place was breathtaking ocean view, infinity pool, the whole billionaire aesthetic.
âCome on, man,â his friend said, handing him a drink. âYouâre smart, youâve been saving forever. When are you gonna enjoy your money?â
Mario smiled politely. If only they knew.
He walked out to the balcony and stared at the Atlantic, his mind somewhere in blockchain space.
Could he afford this life âïžAbsolutely.
Could he emotionally afford to spend even one coin?
That night, he dreamt of his wallet being empty, Bitcoin hitting $1 million, and him working at a desk job again, explaining to his future kids how he had it all and let it go.
The Plan đ
A week later, Mario made a decision. Not impulsively. Not carelessly. A plan.
He divided his 10,000 BTC into three categories:
âą Never Touch (6,000 BTC): His sacred stash. His digital Excalibur. This was his âjust in case the world melts downâ fund.
âą Future Me (3,000 BTC): Locked in cold storage with multi sig security. Only accessible in five years, unless absolutely necessary.
âą Life Fund (1,000 BTC): This was the kicker. A spending wallet. A test. A leash.
With 1,000 BTC to spend or around $65 million Mario allowed himself the luxury of living.
But even here, he set rules. He couldnât spend more than 10 BTC per year. Enough for comfort, not for crazy.
Learning to Spend đ€
The first thing he bought was a small house not a mansion, but a modern, solar-powered gem tucked in the hills outside Sintra. He paid in crypto, through a broker who dealt discreetly. No headlines. No Twitter buzz. Just keys and contracts.
Then, he took his mom on a trip to Kyoto. First class. Ryokan stay. Sushi. She cried. He didnât explain why he could afford it now, but she knew something had changed.
He invested in a few startups he believed in clean energy, decentralized education. He made anonymous donations to open source projects and privacy nonprofits.
And slowly, Mario learned a profound lesson:
Spending money isnât wasteful if it builds a life, not just a lifestyle.
A New Kind of Wealthâšïž
By 2025, Bitcoin dancing around $110,000. Marioâs wealth ballooned. But he didnât change much. His house was still modest. His clothes still plain. He took more walks, read more books, and taught coding at a local community center.
He became a ghost benefactor in the crypto world supporting devs, helping with security audits, even bailing out a few friends during a bear market. He never sought credit. That was part of the point.
Mario hadnât sold out. Heâd grown in.
Will He Ever Spend It All âïž
Probably not.
Mario still wakes up some nights thinking about price charts. But now, the fear is smaller than the joy. Heâs not chasing Lambos. Heâs nurturing freedom the kind that canât be printed or mined.
He doesnât want to sell it all. He doesnât want to hoard it all either.
He wants to use it to live wisely, to help quietly, and to remember that value isnât just numbers on a ledger.
Itâs the people you bring along for the ride.
Last thoughts đ
If you had 10,000 BTC today, would you spend it?
Maybe youâd say yes.
Maybe youâd say never.
But perhaps the better question is: How would you live differently if you knew you already had enoughâïž
Just ask Mario đ
