The most innovative, disruptive, and progressive invention of the century came to us in the form of a digital currency. In the year 2008, Bitcoin was introduced to the world. None of us, at the time, could’ve predicted the extent of the global impact that it has today. Take a look below for 20 amazing and interesting facts about bitcoin.
1. Bitcoin is the original decentralised cryptocurrency and remains the largest among all other digital currencies.
2. The founder of Bitcoin is still unknown. They use the name Satoshi Nakamoto as an alias to hide their true identity.
3. Bitcoin is created through mining on the Blockchain.
4. It was nothing ‘special’ at its launch. At the time of its birth, 1 BTC was valued at $0.003(USD). Today, it stands at $9,485 (USD).
5. May 22 is annually celebrated as the Bitcoin Pizza Day. The first purchase that was made with Bitcoin was for pizza by Laszlo Hanyecz. He paid 10,000 BTC (today that’s worth an eye-watering $96 million USD) in exchange for two Papa John’s pizzas. The most expensive food order transaction ever, for sure!
6. There have been hundreds of theories that have attempted to solve the mystery of Bitcoin’s originator. Considering the name Satoshi Nakamoto, some claim that Motorola, Samsung, Nakamichi, and Toshiba have created it together: Samsung, Toshiba, Nakamichi, Motorola.
7. The smallest monetary unit of Bitcoin is known as ‘satoshi’. (cent/dollar, paisa/rupee) However, a satoshi can be further divided up to 8 zeros.
8. Bitcoin is not infinite. Around 80 percent of total Bitcoin that will ever exist have already been mined. Its believed the currency will be exhausted by the year 2140.
9. In an unfortunate overflowing incident following an error on one of the block numbers, a few hackers managed to generate about 184 billion BTC. Soon after, the mishap was taken care of with an updated version of Bitcoin.
10. Bitcoin is now widely accepted around the world. From getting yourself a Starbucks coffee to buying a Lamborghini, you can do it all with Bitcoin.
11. All BTC transactions can be seen on the Blockchain and none of them can ever be reversed or refunded.
12. Bitcoin is secured in a digital wallet. If you lose the key to your wallet, you can end up losing all your BTC.
13. Bitcoin can’t be banned because it functions independent of the jurisdiction of regular banks. It can be regulated and policies regarding BTC often differ from country to country.
14. Bitcoin addresses contain 34 alphanumeric characters. In a transaction, the identities of the payer and the receiver remain hidden.
15. Sometimes, Bitcoin is used for illegal transactions. Countries such as Bolivia and Thailand have made several attempts to ban the currency.
16. In the record-breaking year 2017, Bitcoin doubled in value.
17. The largest Bitcoin transaction has been reported to be 194,993 BTC which is worth around $200 million USD today.
18. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States owns 1.5% of the world’s BTC.
19. Bitcoin is super-powerful! The computing power of the Bitcoin network is 8,000 times stronger than the world’s top 500 supercomputers.
20. There are actual Bitcoin ATM’s worldwide. The U.S. alone has over 2000 Bitcoin machines where you can purchase BTC using a debit card or cash.
