Bitcoin is the “internet of money”. The internet is here to stay and so is the internet of money.
Even the most tech-savvy among us can get overwhelmed by the barrage of information, technical details about Bitcoin.
Unless you live under a rock (clearly you don’t if you’re reading this article), you probably have heard of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
As of this writing, there are more than 2090 cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap, with a total market cap of $216 billion.
Out of all the cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has the biggest market cap value at $112.
Bitcoin, the Father of cryptocurrencies inevitably becomes a hot topic of conversation and a frequent point of discussion among traders, investors, entrepreneurs and startups.
But…
Many people still don’t know about Bitcoin.
Well, you don’t have to spend hours to learn about all the complicated blockchain or cryptography.
To see the potential of cryptocurrencies, you need to understand at a basic level what they are.
Thus, we’ve dedicated a site (drop by to say hello) to help you better understand about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
For today, let’s check out 10 interesting facts that you should know about Bitcoin. Hopefully ,this awesome facts will help you to impress your non-crypto-savvy friends and spark an interesting conversation in no time.
Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Bitcoin
1. Birth of Bitcoin: It all started with a 9-page white paper
The Bitcoin white paper was then sent to a cryptographic mailing list that consisted of people who believed in cryptography and decentralization.
Jan 3 is the official birthday of Bitcoin when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first 50 Bitcoins.
Nakamoto made the Bitcoin software as open source code so anyone can use it, update it and even fork it.
And in 2010, Nakamoto left the project and disappeared.
But groups of renowned developers continued to work on it.
2. The creator of Bitcoin is a mystery.
We don’t even know whether Nakamoto is a person or a group of people.
Based solely on the name, it’s believed that he was a Japanese man. But the Bitcoin’s white paper was written in impeccable English, which quickly raises doubt about this assumption.
In 2014, Newsweek claimed they have found Bitcoin’s inventor. A 64-year old ex-engineer and developer, named Dorian Prentice who’s living in Temple City, California. But he vehemently denied the claim.
In 2015, Craig Wright, an Australia entrepreneur publicly announced he was the creator of Bitcoin. But he failed to provide any relevant evidence to support his claim.
Some crypto-enthusiast think cryptographer experts, Nick Szabos and Hal Finney might be the real Satoshi Nakamoto.
But Nick Szabos never accepted the claim. While Hal Finney was clear from speculation after showing his email conversation with Nakamoto.
Although Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity still remained a mystery, there’s one thing we can know for certain- he is very rich!
It’s estimated that the bitcoin’s creator has mined and owned 1 million Bitcoin, which is equivalent to $6.5 billion at the time of this writing.
3. The first real-world bitcoin transaction was used to buy two pizzas.
On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for two Papa John’s Pizzas.
At that time, 10,000 bitcoins were worth about $41.
As of Dec 1, 2018, that 10,000bitcoins were worth a whopping $64 million.
In honor of that first recorded purchase of goods using bitcoins, crypto-enthusiasts from all over the world celebrates Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22.
4. The FBI owns one of the largest Bitcoin wallets.
In Oct 2013, the FBI shut down the Silk Road. A darknet site where Bitcoin was commonly used for transactions involving criminal activities, illegal drugs, illicit goods and services.
All bitcoin wallets owned by the site were taken over by the US government. One of the wallets contained more than 144,000 bitcoins.
Even though the government then auctioned off some of the bitcoins, they still own 1.5% of the world’s bitcoin as of October.
6. Bitcoin isn’t completely anonymous.
Bitcoin is anonymous in the sense that you don’t have to provide any of your personal details like name, email, ID, phone number etc.
All you need to make a Bitcoin transaction is the address and private key.
But…
The Bitcoin blockchain is a general ledger that operates completely in the public view.
This means Every single transaction happened in the network will be recorded permanently online and available for everyone to view.
If someone knows your bitcoin public address or manage to link your identity to a transaction over time, they can see your bitcoin balance, when and what transactions you’ve made.
This is how Kim Nilsson, a Swedish software engineer was able to find the culprit of the Mt Gox attack, the largest cryptocurrency heist at that time.
This is also how the FBI was able to arrest the owner of Silk Road.
To help you achieve greater privacy, you can use tools like Bitcoin Mixers. By breaking the connection between a Bitcoin sending address and receiving address, it’ll be harder to track the users, albeit not impossible.
7. There will be only 21 million bitcoins.
Unlike traditional fiat money, people can’t keep on creating bitcoin.
Bitcoin has a limited and finite supply of total 21 million.
Currently, there are over 17.3 million bitcoins in circulation. And the last bitcoin will be mined in 2140.
No more new bitcoin can be created after reaching this 21million cap.
8. If you lose your private key, you lose your Bitcoin.
In a traditional bank, if you forget your password, you can easily retrieve your money by contacting the bank and proving your identity with an ID card.
However, in the crypto space, if you lose your private keys, you will lose all of your funds.
Private keys are the critical component in the ownership of bitcoins.
In 2013, James Howells, an IT worker lost 7,500 Bitcoins which was worth about $130 at the time. He claimed that he accidentally threw away a hard disk, which contained the bitcoin private keys he has mined since 2010.
Today, that 7,500 BTC is worth $48 million!
Here’s another case worth mentioning…
After spending $3000 to buy 7.4 bitcoins in Jan 2016, Mark Frauenfelder forgot his Pin code needed to access his Trezor hardware wallet.
Luckily, he managed to recover all his BTC after paying a hefty price to a hacker almost two years later.
It’s estimated around 2 million bitcoins are stolen and 4 million bitcoins are lost to date.
9. Bitcoin is not created out of thin air.
It’s an integral process where new coin activities are issued and transactions are confirmed in a blockchain network.
Mining requires lots of energy, specialized hardware and bandwidth.
If you’re trying to mine BTC using your computer, be prepared to pay for exorbitant electricity bills. In most cases, you can’t even cover your cost with the value of bitcoins you mine in the short term.
According to Power Compare, bitcoin mining consumes more electricity than 159 countries including the United States, Ireland and Australia.
10. Bitcoin cannot be banned.
There’s never short of news about governments try to ban bitcoin in their respective countries.
However, bitcoin is designed in such a way it can’t be banned.
With bitcoin nodes distributed across the globe, no government can ever shut off this entire decentralized network.
And all bitcoin transactions are irreversible.
That said, no one including governments or banks could stop you from sending or receiving bitcoins with anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.
In fact, people still continue to trade Bitcoin even though it’s deemed illegal in certain countries like Morocco, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
While other countries like Japan, Australia, Venezuela, Switzerland and Singapore are fully embracing blockchain technology, recognizing bitcoin as legal tender and regulating it.
According to Coin.dance, 110 of 251 countries including Saudi Arabia, China and India remain uncertain about their official policy regarding cryptocurrencies.
Conclusion
When you throw a disruptive technology in the middle of the most powerful organizations on earth, they don’t like it.
Rather than working together towards a better future, they use their power to stop the technological progress. Simply because they see it as a threat to the structure power in finance, governance and banking.
Right now, we’re early in the days of crypto.
With each passing day, the technology becomes more reliable, trustworthy and secure.
“Currency is only the first application, If you truly understand this, you can look beyond the price, the volatility and the fad. At its core, bitcoin is a revolutionary technology that’ll change the world forever.” Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Are you ready to be part of this revolution?
Do you have any awesome facts about bitcoin that I didn’t mention in this post? Do share with us in the comment below.
And lastly, if you liked this post, don’t forget to share it on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
I’ve handpicked a few guides for you to read next:
- What is Bitcoin and why all the fuss with Cryptocurrency?
- 8 Legit Ways to Earn Free Bitcoin (#3 is My Favorite)
- What is Satoshi?
- How to earn Bitcoin in less than 1 minute
P.S: This Bitcoin resource is One of – if not the most – comprehensive resources for learning about Bitcoin with over 20 categories ranging from history to buying BTC, setting up a wallet, technical information, mining, security, and trading. Enjoy!