The market for bitcoins has been seeing a surprising amount of attention lately and it is now in the throes of a meteoric rise—as a result, popular media talking heads have come out of the woodwork and none too few who bought into the currency when it was young can now reap amazing rewards. Today, the value of a BTC exceeded $200. It has been a wild and strange ride over the past two weeks watching the charts: only March 21st the value exceeded $70 and April 3rd it exceeded $140.

The value of a coin in the exchanges may not be an indicator of the general health of the cryptocurrency, but it is a sign that people are willing to exchange it for a notable value. Fortunately for BTC, it’s possible to divide one into surprisingly infinitesimal amounts, meaning that a single bitcoin can be valued at a very high amount and still be tradable as a proper currency by holders.

Now curiosity has taken hold and analysts are speculating as to why the sudden popularity (and hoping it means that Bitcoin has reached yet-a-bigger-audience) as well as if this is a bubble and when the market will correct itself.

Bitcoin Millionaires

Not too long ago, a call went out on Reddit asking folks who had bought into Bitcoin earlier if they’d reached “millionaire” status. In fact, noting that only a few months ago the value of BTC hovered around $30 (and before that much lower) there have been more than a few people who own several hundred of them. A few users responded with what they intended to do with their gains.

“Another one of the early ones here. At the current BTCUSD price of $120, I hold just under $10 million in BTC,” says a Redditor, asfdjhasdhviawuer, on a throwaway account. “I still live basically the same life I did before, attend the same university, drive the same car. I have used a small portion of my holdings to buy a small house recently and am paying for a couple close friends to have a lavish spring break this year since it’s going to be our last trip together. I have no plans on cashing out more than necessary to maintain a living (around $60-100k/year) and will hopefully maintain that BTC income investing and mining for the foreseeable future.”

This feeling that many have suggested that they’ll be selling off half of their bitcoin gains over the next month or so seems common. Many are cautious about cashing out now (although at breaking $200 it seems like a good time.)

Reddtior bitcoinmillo echoes this sentiment in another post titled “Today I’m a millionaire” in /r/Bitcoin. “With today’s rise in bitcoin I’m officially a millionaire. I’m gonna cash out over the next 30 days. I’ll keep 50 % in bitcoin gold and silver for long-term and the remaining 50% for a house and vanguard. Thank you bitcoin! You changed my life.” And this was posted April 8th.

Others, like bitcoiner-throaway, feel that they shouldn’t be cashing out and instead continue to use bitcoin as intended (as a currency) so that it stabilizes. Many early adopters got into Bitcoin because of its promise to change the way that the world works and many of them also happen to have a streak of “true believer” that shouldn’t be blithely dismissed.

“I have no intention of cashing out,” Redditor bitcoiner-throwaway writes, “I believe in Bitcoin as the future of money. I do not live a life of luxury, I still live with my family in a small 4mx3m room, I am studying my PhD, and have a very humble lifestyle.”

A tip of the hat to anyone who made a huge bang for their buck in that market.