Bitcoin (BTC) is leading the whole crypto market. Since its creation in 2009, the most dominant cryptocurrency has grown in popularity and is being adopted worldwide.
As more and more people start utilizing bitcoin in everyday life, they are getting exposed to various information about the coin’s future, use cases, and so on. While can learning about Bitcoin can be a bit complex, there are a plenty of online resources, such as cryptocurrencyhelp.com, which break down the intricacies of the coin, including its history, potential developments, and trading options.
In this article, we will explore 13 facts about Bitcoin from its mysterious creator to a dedicated Bitcoin Pizza Day. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
1. Bitcoin’s creator is unknown.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto. They allegedly started working on the concept of Bitcoin back in 2007, registering for the domain ‘bitcoin.org’ in 2008. Bitcoin was created with the purpose of being a digital currency and alternative payment system, allowing users to have full ownership of their funds and make transfers effortlessly.
As a reference to its creator, the smallest unit of a bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC) is known as a ‘satoshi’. While there are many theories circulating about who Satoshi could be, their true identity is still not known to this day. Satoshi disappeared in 2010 and has not been active on forums or seen ever since.
2. There’s Bitcoin Pizza Day.
Yes, we know this sounds a little random, but there’s officially a Bitcoin Pizza Day! Back in May 22, 2010, a man named Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas from Papa John’s. 10,000 BTC would not only be an absurdly ridiculous amount now, but this day was the first time Bitcoin was ever used in a proper commercial transaction.
3. Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency in the market.
This should be rather obvious, but bitcoin is the largest crypto in the market by far with a market cap of over 500 billion! Currently the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is just over $1 trillion. BTC had an all-time high (ATH) of nearly $69,000 in 2021, but has since decreased in price along with most NFTs and tokens, which encapsulates the intricacies of crypto trading.
4. A ‘Bitcoin halving’ happens every four years.
A bitcoin halving is when the rewards for Bitcoin mining are cut in half, and this takes place every four years. According to basic demand and supply theory, this should theoretically increase bitcoin’s price. In fact, there has been a clear trend in the past where bitcoin’s price would rise after its halving. The next Bitcoin halving is set to take place in April of 2024.
5. Bitcoin was used in one of the online largest black markets.
Silkroad was a huge online darknet market launched in 2011 that sold drugs illegally, run by Ross Ulbricht with the infamous username “Dread Pirate Roberts”. The site had a total of almost 10,000,000 BTC in sales and was hosted on the Tor network.
It was shut down three years later in 2013 by the police. Having run an illegal marketplace and even issued assassinations on people, Ulbricht was given two life sentences after his arrest.
6. There is only 21 million BTC in the world.
Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million BTC, unlike other cryptos that can ‘mint’ new tokens and increase their maximum supply. This makes bitcoin inherently more valuable since there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins.
7. A Bitcoin faucet used to give you 5 BTC a day.
Although it’s no longer up and running, the website “freebitcoins.appspot.com” was an online faucet that used to give 5 BTC daily for solving CAPTCHAs. 5 BTC is now over $100,000! Can you imagine getting 5 BTC a day now?
8. El Salvaldor was the first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender.
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country to recognize bitcoin as legal tender, enforcing a law that made businesses have to accept BTC as a form of payment. To incentivize Bitcoin to be used more, El Salvador encouraged the public to download ‘Chivo Wallet’, a dedicated app that gave $30 in rewards to users that downloaded it.
8. Bitcoin versus bitcoin.
Would you believe that there’s actually a difference between Bitcoin and bitcoin? Bitcoin (uppercase) is the blockchain, while bitcoin (lowercase) is the currency that operates on this network.
9. Bitcoin transactions cannot be reverted.
Unlike traditional payment methods like PayPal, you cannot revert or refund Bitcoin transactions. In fact, any crypto transaction is irreversible. This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, sending payments is extremely fast and easy since you don’t need to go through any verification process or wait for approvals. On the other hand, you cannot get your money back if scammed or a seller doesn’t deliver.
10. One of the largest bitcoin exchanges collapsed.
Mt Gox was one of the largest bitcoin exchanges from the years 2010 to 2014. Unfortunately, leading up to 2014, there were increasingly more cases of people having difficulties with their accounts before withdrawals were ultimately halted.
According to reports, 850,000 BTC (at most) was lost from the Mt Gox collapse. This caused a huge collaOnly 200,000 BTC has been recovered to this day.
11. The FBI owns one of the largest bitcoin wallets.
The FBI actually has their own bitcoin wallet, where they store assets that they’ve obtained from cases such as Silk Road. To this day the FBI has one of the largest bitcoin wallets in the space!
12. Every Bitcoin wallet is unique.
Every single Bitcoin wallet has its own wallet address and backup phrase/private key. A wallet address is a random string of numbers and letters. If you want to send funds to another wallet, you just need to copy and paste their unique wallet address. It’s important to always write down your backup phrase somewhere, since if you lose access to your wallet and don’t have the phrase, you won’t be able to get your bitcoin back!
13. You can earn bitcoin.
Apart from buying bitcoin from exchanges, you can also earn bitcoin yourself through mining! You can use both your CPU or GPU to mine bitcoin and earn rewards. Bitcoin mining is what helps validate all the transactions made on the Bitcoin network.
