I first heard about Bitcoin in October 2013 when the founder of that illegal trafficking website Silk Road was arrested - that trial coverage was the first time I recall the term "Bitcoin" started appearing in online news articles. Interestingly, if you look at the price chart going back to 2013, that trial/website/news was the best thing to ever happen to Bitcoin (price at end of Sept 2013: $118, price in November 2013: $950) I did not buy it despite watching the price runup - my thought at the time was that it sounded gimmicky, likely to be restricted by governments, and that Bitcoin was likely to be the AOL of cryptocurrency (first on the scene, but eventually displaced by better alternative competitor coins). My opinion on Bitcoin today hasn't really changed much since then, despite the massive runup in price.
I read about it on Slashdot in 2010, downloaded the software, and mined a little bit on an old laptop.
I first heard about Bitcoin in early 2011 when two friends were debating about it. After long debate...one joked that he owns the moon and can sell it to the other guy (one defending Bitcoin) for a cheap price of 5k. We all laughed about it. Then mid 2011 someone from ET was talking about it and I remember a few ET members gave him a very hard time about buying Bitcoins. Later, I was watching a TV show and the episode was about a lawyer (Good Wife) defending someone involved with Bitcoins. I only watched about 10 minutes of the show and quickly got bored and then went to play indoor soccer at a nearby stadium with the kids that were bored. I do remember checking the price of Bitcoin and it was around $3.45 and I then had this thought...maybe I should do some research into this. I lost interested in 2012 after I read a news story about something big being "hacked" and then I saw some negative posts here at ET about bitcoins after the hack. I think it was around $5.00 at that time. I soon forgot about it until a friend told me he heard several computer companies will soon allow payment via Bitcoin. Once again, it didn't really register with me until I was at the hospital (payment office) to pay for an overnight stay at the hospital for my son because I requested a private room...usually the hospital is free except for single rooms. There was a guy in line asking the woman at the desk if he could pay with Bitcoins. The woman at the desk joked with him and said...sure...that'll be 50 Bitcoins. He laughed and payed with his credit card but then said to the woman that a day will come that people can pay for services at hospital with Bitcoins. I checked the price of Bitcoin again and it was around $13.50 for each bitcoin. Quick math in my head...that's a $10 increase from the last time I did some research. I told friends about it that have a strong interest in exotic forex currencies. I thought at the time they are the types of people that may be interested in Bitcoins. A week later they purchased about 1000 Bitcoins @ $13.75 for each bitcoin. I was shocked but they've done similar crazy stock investments with very little research. I have other friends that bought some and spent some but one friend stated he and his wife still own their Bitcoins from several years back even though recently they asked me if they should sell... I said YES. They sold about 1/2 and still think it can go higher for their remainder...making them rich. Lucky dogs. P.S. I think I'm waiting for the story involving someone meeting a home owner heavy into Bitcoins that just happens to be selling their house. They then use Bitcoin as a payment method from a buyer of their home.