Bitcoins helped a Norwegian man buy a flat in real life (Picture: AP)

A Norwegian man who bought £15 worth of bitcoins in 2009 has bought a flat in one of the world’s most expensive cities after discovering they are now worth an estimated £430,000.

Kristoffer Koch decided to invest in the online currency on a whim four years ago.

He then forgot about it and only remembered his investment in April this year after reading an article about the soaring value of the currency.

Mr Kocch, now 29, discovered his 5,000 bitcoins were worth around £430,000.


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‘Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that they would have soared like this,’ he said.



‘It’s bizarre. These psychological reflexes that make us attach a value to something that doesn’t have any in itself.’

The engineer spent an entire day trying to remember his password to access the fortune and cashed in £116,000 by selling a fifth of it.

After tax deductions of 28 per cent, the money was enough for a deposit and restoration on a flat in a wealthy district in central Oslo.

The virtual cash can be exchanged for real money or used to buy goods and services online as well as some restaurants and shops. It is increasingly being used for internet transactions but its value is volatile and subject to speculation.