Very few. In more/most it's just taxable.
>> They also endured 90% drops in value from early peaks to troughs. Bitcoin could have gone to zero at any point if the system had failed. (It still could)
OK, sure, but again not a massive risk if your initial stake was tiny.
And it was a stake rather than an investment - it's not really an investment as you're not investing in a productive endeavour. More like buying and holding an asset.
From your perspective, isn't it a massive risk not to sell at this all time high value?
If they hold or sell, do they deserve whatever outcome?
Not really, if you didn't tie up significant proportions of your net worth in the initial buy.
> If they hold or sell, do they deserve whatever outcome?
Deserve is a worryingly moral word to apply there.
My only dispute is that early adopters took a lot of risk. It's not like they sunk their life savings into opening a small business.
They also endured 90% drops in value from early peaks to troughs. Bitcoin could have gone to zero at any point if the system had failed. (It still could)
Some invested time learning about new technology that could've gone nowhere.