There have been numerous investment opportunities over the past few decades. Especially where technology companies are concerned, the returns have been quite spectacular at times. Even so, almost none of those returns can hold a candle to the gains enjoyed by investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Even Apple’s stock doesn’t come anywhere close to the actual year-by-year performance of Bitcoin.

Apple Stock Is a Minor Investment

A recent article on CNBC.com explained how people could have gotten rich by buying Apple stock ten years ago. While the company still had a lot to prove back then, these investments have proven to be relatively successful in the long run. A $1,000 investment in 2008 would net you $7,111 today. That’s a more than respectable amount, especially when compared to dealing with other investment opportunities such as CDs.

While a $6,111 return is pretty good, the big investors buying hundreds, if not thousands of times more stock made bank in the process. Warren Buffett’s company currently owns 240.3 million Apple shares and expects that number to keep growing as long as the company remains profitable. This is an interesting fact, considering Buffett initially rejected the idea that Apple would become a successful company.

As is always the case, the media makes the Apple stock investment seem like the best option for consumers. While no one can deny that a 600% profit is pretty impressive, there are plenty of other market opportunities to take advantage of. Those opportunities are as much of a gamble as buying Apple shares was back in 2008, even though the payoff can be a lot higher. It takes money and risk to make big money, after all.

Comparing Apple’s gains to the Bitcoin price appreciation, it’s evident that Bitcoin represents a much better investment opportunity. More specifically, Bitcoin’s value has risen from zero to $9,400 at the time of writing. 

Putting that same $1,000 into Bitcoin in the early days would have netted an investor at least 10,000 BTC, or $94 million today. That’s nearly a 9,400,000% increase in value, which is far superior to a measly 600% gain. Even so, such an investment could have easily backfired and resulted in a net $1,000 loss. The same applies to AAPL, of course, but a lot of people trust technology companies over cryptocurrencies these days.

While there is still a lot of room for growth left for both Apple and Bitcoin, it will be interesting to see how both markets evolve. There is a very real chance the Bitcoin price will yield higher returns compared to Apple shares, although the jury is still out on that one. Both options are still worth investing in, yet the numbers above show that one should only do so with a long-term plan in mind.