“Four years ago Norwegian student Kristoffer Koch spent 150 kroner ($26.60) on a little-known internet currency called bitcoin. It was 2009 and he was working on his thesis about encryption when he came across the mysterious currency. He bought some for fun, then forgot about it.  Fast-forward to April 2013, when the value of bitcoins started to soar.  He cashed in about one fifth of his bitcoins, and it was enough for him to buy an apartment in Toyen, one of the richer parts of Norway’s capital Oslo.  His partner was initially sceptical about him spending ‘real money’ on ‘fake money’. She has since changed her tune.”