Imagine it’s mid-2010, and you have $15,000 to invest. You’re considering a new digital currency called bitcoin, trading at just 10 cents per coin, or putting your money into promising stocks like Nvidia, Tesla or Netflix.
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I asked ChatGPT to run the numbers on what might be the most expensive investment decision in modern history. The artificial intelligence’s analysis reveals just how dramatically different asset classes can perform (and why timing really is everything when it comes to investing).
To make this comparison fair, ChatGPT set the investment date at mid-2010, when both bitcoin and several now-famous stocks were available. This timing is important because it represents a moment when ordinary investors could realistically have made any of these choices.
The AI selected five investments that seemed promising in 2010:
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Bitcoin, trading at around $0.10 per coin
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Nvidia stock at about $2.50 (split-adjusted)
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Tesla, which had just gone public at $1.17 (split-adjusted)
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Broadcom at approximately $7.30 (adjusted for splits and mergers)
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Netflix at around $8.80 (adjusted for splits)
Each represents $15,000 invested at that moment in time. Here’s what ChatGPT discovered about where that money would be today.
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According to ChatGPT’s calculations, bitcoin’s results are nearly unbelievable. At $0.10 per bitcoin in mid-2010, your $15,000 would have purchased 150,000 coins.
With bitcoin trading at approximately $117,700 today, those 150,000 coins would be worth $17.655 billion.
“Yes, this investment would have made you a multibillionaire,” ChatGPT confirmed, adding that bitcoin is the only asset in this comparison that achieved billionaire status.
This represents a return of over 1,000,000% — turning every dollar invested into more than $1 million.
Nvidia has been the poster child for stock market success in recent years, especially with the AI boom. ChatGPT’s analysis shows it was indeed the best-performing stock in our comparison.
Your $15,000 would have bought 6,000 shares at $2.50 each in 2010. With Nvidia currently trading around $175.50, those shares would be worth $1.053 million today.
“Even accounting for stock splits and exact timing, Nvidia grows to around $5-6.7 million at best,” ChatGPT wrote, acknowledging that different timing within 2010 could have yielded slightly better results.