Tell Me Something I Don’t Know About Bitcoin
It’s been 14 years since the Bitcoin whitepaper was released by Satoshi Nakamoto. Now there are a lot of interesting stories about BTC. We’ve listed few interesting facts in this article. Let’s get to know BTC better!
Fact #1. The big secret of the BTC founder
If you google “Who is the founder of Bitcoin?”, you’ll immediately find the answer — Satoshi Nakamoto. But if you ask “Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?”, then many different investigations full of mysteries and assumptions will appear in your search results. The fact is that we know nothing about this person (or even a group of people). We only know that in 2008, the one who hides under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto developed a unique blockchain technology and created the world’s first digital currency called Bitcoin. And on December 12, 2010, he mysteriously disappeared: Satoshi left the network and never appeared online again. The popular assumption is that Satoshi disappeared immediately after the CIA became interested in his person, sending him a letter with an invitation to a personal conversation.
No one knows why the world’s first “crypto daddy” has disappeared. Some are still waiting for him to return. For example, Pete Rizzo, editor of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, tweeted in 2020:
✨10 years ago today, Satoshi made his final post to the #BitcoinTalk forum.
The next day, he logged off, never to return.
pic.twitter.com/jnfgI1fXI6
— Pete Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) December 12, 2020
Fact #2. The first transaction was made without fee
The first transaction in the Bitcoin network took place on January 12, 2009. Satoshi Nakamoto transferred 50 BTC to Hal Finney with zero commission. Finney became known to the world as the developer of the Proof-of-Work mechanism, which is used in the Bitcoin blockchain network.
You can find out more information about the first people who supported Bitcoin in this article.
Fact #3. Pizza for Bitcoin
In May 2010, the most interesting pizza purchase in history took place in the USA. Developer Laszlo Hanich bought two pizzas and paid 10,000 BTC for them plus a commission of 0.99 BTC. At the time of purchase, the value of the cryptocurrency was about $25, and as of October 17, 2022, 10,000 BTC are worth $195 million.
Isn’t it fascinating how the Bitcoin price has changed throughout the years? You can read about its history from the beginning till now here.
Fact #4. The largest commission
Now we are used to cryptocurrencies transaction fees, earlier it was something new, so mistakes were made. In 2016, for instance, a rather unusual transaction was registered. An unknown user made a 0.0001 BTC transaction with 291 BTC ($125,000) fee. The user made a mistake, but the Dutch mining pool BitClub Network received a very nice bonus that day.
Fact #5. The first BTC millionaire
The first Bitcoin millionaire could be the founder himself — Satoshi Nakamoto. According to the analysis, Satoshi has around 1 million Bitcoin, which is 5% of the total number of Bitcoins. So this person has considerable market power on his hands. However, no one knows if he wants to use that power at one point.
Fact #6. Tesla and Bitcoin
In December 2013, a Tesla Model S was sold to an unknown car enthusiast for 91.4 BTC ($104,000 at the time of purchase). In March 2021, Tesla added Bitcoin as a payment option, but after 2 months this decision was canceled. The founders came to the conclusion that environmentally friendly transport cannot be bought with not eco-friendly cryptocurrencies. You can find where you can pay with crypto in this article.
Fact #7. Last Bitcoin
There were 19,184,681 Bitcoins in existence as of August 2022, according to the research. Almost 90% of the total amount of BTC has been mined. There can be only 21 million coins in the world. It seems that the era of observation will soon come to an end, but it is not so simple. According to forecasts, the mining process is becoming more complicated, which means that it won’t be easy to reach the end.
Fact #8. Unlucky crypto investor
James Howells is known as the most unsuccessful owner of cryptocurrency. In 2013, a young British man threw a harddrive into the trash. A harddrive with 8000 BTC on it! The price of the cryptocurrency skyrocketed, but Howells couldn’t go back in time to change what he did. Actually, there are many people who didn’t believe in crypto in the past and now all of them are quite disappointed with the fact that they didn’t safely store their BTC.
Fact #9. The highest price
In November 2021, the price of Bitcoin set a historical record, it was $67,789! There were rumors that the price would increase up to $100,000, but on the contrary it began to fall. Today, in the time of crypto winter it’s hard to believe that BTC went so high. Let’s hope that this coin will soon thrive again.
Fact #10. The dark side of Bitcoin
The first commercial success in the history of Bitcoin was on the Silk Road black market, a platform for the sale of drugs, weapons and other illegal goods. Such popularity was explained by the decentralization and anonymity of the digital currency. There is even a film about the Silk Road, if you are interested.
Fact #11. The most successful crypto investor
Probably, the happiest crypto investor in the world is Christopher Koch. Back in 2009, when the cryptocurrency was just gaining momentum, this young man purchased Bitcoins for $22. At that time, Bitcoin was worth $0.008 per coin. Imagine his surprise when the Bitcoin price rose! One day Mr. Koch just suddenly realized that his 5,000 Bitcoins were worth about $850,000.
Conclusion
Have you already known all of the facts above or were they a surprise for you? Write in the comments what interesting facts you would add to this article!
The easiest way to buy or exchange coins is to use SimpleSwap services.
Cheers!
Originally published on our Publish0x blog.
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