To many people cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin is still a mystery. These 27 facts will help you better understand this new technology…
- The person behind the creation of Bitcoin is still a mystery. They used a pseudonym – Satoshi Nakamoto, during the creation process.
- New Bitcoins are “mined” by computers solving complex math problems. This is confusing to people at first, but it is remarkable similar to physical mining in the fact that resources are put into the process (energy in this case), and a valuable commodity is extracted (Bitcoin).
- In May 2010 someone purchased two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. This will go down in history as the most expensive pizza of all time!
- El Salvador is the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender. This was a highly controversial move. Some people think it is a great way to bring new business to the country, others think it is taking a big risk.
- “HODL” is the most popular Bitcoin meme. It means to buy and never sell – it is a misspelling of “hold”. If you HODL’d your bitcoin at any point in the last 10 years you’d have made a great return on your investment.
- The Bitcoin whitepaper was published in October 2008. This is the founding document of the currency and is required reading for anyone looking to better understand the technology.
- Only 2% of all Bitcoin addresses have more than a single Bitcoin.
- Online casinos are a common use for Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin was the main currency of the Silk Road, an online black market that traded on the dark web.
- Bitcoin is not anonymous, but rather pseudonymous. Transaction can be linked to a wallet.
- A Bitcoin transaction is irreversible. This is a critical element of bitcoin that makes it stand out. Governments and other centralized organizations cannot exert control over it.
- The amount of Bitcoin awarded for mining is halved every 4 years.
- There have been 105 total Bitcoin forks. A fork is when the protocol is split into different chains with a new set of rules. Most of these have been irrelevant, but a few have competed with bitcoin for dominance. Some people look at this as a flaw, but crypto enthusiasts will tell you it is survival of the fittest.
- A couple from Ukraine has named their son Bitcoin. Probably not a great decision…
- The smallest unit of Bitcoin is called a Satoshi. One Satoshi is 0.00000001 BTC.
- In 2022 BitMEX is minting a physical Bitcoin that will be delivered to the moon.
- Bitcoin is the fastest asset in history to hit $1 trillion in total market cap.
