When Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin’s software in January 2009, there were only two ways to obtain bitcoin — by mining it yourself or arranging a peer-to-peer (P2P) trade via a forum like Bitcointalk, which Nakamoto founded to host Bitcoin-related discussions. In those days, mining required far less computing power than it does currently and could be done on a personal computer. At the time, bitcoin was more accessible to those who were interested, but getting it still required some technical knowledge.I was in my freshman physics class (in the mid 2000s) when a fellow CS major wouldn't shut up about bitcoin. He said he bought ten and that it was going to be the future of money.
I didn't listen to him.