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« Last post by administrator on September 20, 2020, 04:14:34 PM »
22 Bitcoin interesting facts
1. The first Bitcoin purchase was for guess it
pizza. - May 22 is Bitcoin Pizza Day! Two pizzas were exchanged by Papa Johns for 10,000 BTC, this being the first officially documented purchase using bitcoins. At that time 10,000 BTC was worth only $41! Thats around $25 million in todays value.
2. Bitcoin is untraceable & Bitcoin is NOT untraceable.
When you make any transaction using bitcoin your identity is never used in any form whatsoever. Only your public identity is visible. But there is a but
The blockchain is a ledger in a permanent form, this is transparent so if anyone knows your public address they could see the amount of bitcoins you hold and what transactions you have made. It is said this how the FBI found and captured the owner of Silk Road.
3. Bitcoins do not grow on trees.
Just like money bitcoins do not grow on trees! Of course, unlike money, you can never feel, touch or print bitcoin.
Bitcoins are mined on a network called the blockchain only existing when a miner finds and mines bitcoin blocks. Currently, the mining power of the Bitcoin network is over 300 times more powerful than the 5 top supercomputers of the world combined!
4. 21 million bitcoins there can never be more.
Bitcoins supply is, of course, finite, it has to end somewhere right?
Its true 21 million bitcoins is the limit, there can never ever be any more after that. Currently, around 16 million bitcoins have been mined and are being traded. It is predicted that the very last bitcoin will be mined around 2140. After that, there will be no new bitcoins that can be mined.
5. Bitcoin cannot be banned
Due to the nature of Bitcoin, there is always a talk about banning it. Bitcoin works outside the traditional banking system so attracts a lot of hostility. However, its design ensures that it cannot be banned however it can be regulated. If you have an internet connection and a bitcoin wallet you can invest in bitcoin.
This hasnt stopped many countries trying to ban it. Bolivia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh, for example, have all tried. Other more accommodating countries such as Russia, Japan, Australia and Venezuela have made bitcoin legal tender and regulated it. Finally, some countries like India and the USA are not clear and have not defined an official policy regarding cryptocurrencies yet.
In short, Bitcoin cant be buried or pushed away. That is the real beauty of Bitcoin!
6. You can load of great stuff with Bitcoin.
So what can you buy with bitcoins?
Here are just some of the goods you can buy with Bitcoin : Starbucks coffee, many online food, travel items, flight tickets, funeral items (only in USA), tesla cars, online gambling, luxury items, you even can support charities and many more!
7. Who created it?
Although Satoshi Nakamoto has been credited with developing Bitcoin in 2009, we know that most certainly this is a pseudonym for a single person or a group of people who were working on the idea. Nakamoto vanished from the Internet back in 2011, leaving only a few clues as to who he/they might be.
Over the years, there were many people who have publicly came out as Satoshi. However, most of them failed to support their statements with solid facts.
Dorian Nakamoto from California was given the title of Bitcoin creator by a journalist who thought that there were many similarities between the two Nakamotos. This claim was disproved by Dorian, though.
Probably the most well-known case of someone claiming to be Satoshi is that of Craig S. Wright, an Australian academic. He has tried multiple times to provide evidence, however, hasnt been successful to this day. All the proof turned out to be fabricated.
Many people agree that the creator of the first decentralised currency should probably remain anonymous due to the nature of their creation. After all, removing the one single identity that can be associated with Bitcoin removes every influence on politics, rules and decision-making of the community.
8. The FBI is owning one of the largest Bitcoin wallets
A few years ago, the FBI shut down the Silk Road which was a big black market website where Bitcoin was frequently used to make different purchases. FBI acquired all the Bitcoins that were circulating around the website, which is around 1.5% of all the worlds Bitcoin.
That may not sound like a huge amount but looking at the big picture, 1.5% is considerably a huge amount for one entity to own.
9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, youll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.
It's thought that around 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply is 'lost', primarily due to misplaced or stolen keys, or laptops or computers that have been discarded.
10.Transactions can't be reversed.
More conventional forms of payment, such as bank transfer, can be tracked and, if needed, reversed. This isn't the case with Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading. Once the money has been sent, you can't recoup it. It's vital, therefore, that you double-check the address you're sending the funds to.
11. More powerful than supercomputers
According to some experts, Bitcoin networks have a computing power of over 2,046,364 Pflop/s. To give you a clear idea of how much that is, the computing power of 500 supercomputers would give you around 274 Pflop/s.
12. Bitcoin has been sent to space
In 2016, the cryptocurrency became the first to make it out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space. Cloud provider Genesis Mining tied a Bitcoin paper wallet and a 3D model of Bitcoin to a weather balloon, using a GoPro to track its progress. Successful transactions were carried out at 20 and 34 kilometres altitude.
13. A unit of Bitcoin is called a 'Satoshi byte'
Just as dollars can be divided into cents and pounds into pence, Bitcoins also have their own denominations, but they're much smaller. Named after the mysterious inventor of the cryptocurrency, 1 Satoshi byte is worth 0.00000001 Bitcoin, a tiny amount!
14. Bitcoin transactions cost almost nothing
PayPal and banks require their customers to pay transaction and other types of service fees. The good news is that Bitcoin transactions can be carried out free of charge because there's no middleman! True, some exchanges charge a small fee, but this is simply to pay those who 'mine' Bitcoin and release it into the system.
15. The sender/receiver details are hidden
Bitcoin addresses are a long string composed of 34 alphanumeric characters. Just by using this address its impossible to know whos the recipient. Thats one of the main reasons why Bitcoin is a preferred method of conducting illegal transactions. Most wallet programs also assign each user a portfolio ID, used as a username, to further protect the privacy of the senders/receivers.
16. Bitcoin is very volatile
Bitcoin is highly volatile. The worlds largest digital currency has surely generated a great return for some investors. However, Bitcoin has a highly volatile nature which undermines its ability to function as a proper currency. Predictions have also been made that Bitcoin might fall in the future if it follows its current path.
17. Bitcoin creates a lot of energy
Bitcoin mining is a big business and it requires vast amounts of computer processing power. Various estimates of just how much CO2 it uses equate to around one million transatlantic flights, or the equivalent of the energy output of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Hungary or Peru.
Basically, if Bitcoin miners were a country, they would rank 61st in the world in terms of electricity consumption. It has been said that around 2.5 million people could be powered by Bitcoin mining and this is something we have to consider in the future.
While Bitcoin has undoubtedly disrupted the technology sector in recent years, its incredibly wasteful process needs to be improved.
18. Bitcoin is created through mining
Speaking of mining and energy, lets talk about how Bitcoin is created.
The process is called mining and the core technology behind it is called Blockchain technology. Its dependent on a network of nodes, ensuring the integrity of transaction history by achieving consensus.
One part of the process is called validation.
Once a transaction has been validated, nodes need to race, using trial/error to solve a mathematical puzzle of high difficulty levels, requiring heavy computing resources.
The first computer in the network that manages to solve the equation will be rewarded with Bitcoins. This process is called mining Bitcoins and the protocol is referred to as Proof of Work (PoW).
Bitcoin mining process serves two purposes:
It allows the creation of new Bitcoins
Facilitates the processing of transactions in the network
Bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy, hardware and bandwidth. Therefore, if you plan on doing this at home, the cost of electricity will likely outweigh the value of Bitcoins you will end up mining, so keep that in mind.
19. You have to account for Bitcoin on your taxes
Regulations for Bitcoin are in fact still in the making, however, the U.S. government has declared that Bitcoin - as well as other cryptocurrencies - are in fact capital assets, just like bonds and stocks. Keep in mind that if you dont account for the Bitcoins you are in possession of, you could be on the hook for tax evasion.
Make sure you double-check the laws in your country and follow them correctly.
20. Value overflow incident
Weve already mentioned that Bitcoin has a limit of 21 million in circulation. However, something bizarre happened on August 2010, known as the value overflow incident. A vulnerability in code allowed someone to conduct a transaction, resulting in the creation of over 180 million bitcoins.
The error was taken care of right away and we got our limit of 21 million Bitcoins back.
21. Bitcoin was not the first attempt at making a P2P digital currency.
Many people think that Bitcoin was the first attempt at making a digital currency, Well, its not exactly like that.
Wei Dais B-Money, Nick Szabos Bit Gold, Adam Backs Hashcash and David Chaums DigiCash were the precursors to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, each of those currencies failed to gain traction because of their proposed centralised systems.
22. Not the only one to watch out for
Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading.
Right now, there are over 2,500 cryptocurrencies in total.
Ethereum, for instance, is another popular cryptocurrency that was funded through crowd-funding and went live back in 2014.
There are differences, however. Ethereum exists within its own network and is used more for gambling, investing, dApps (decentralised applications) and smart contracts rather than for everyday purchases.
Reference:
https://trading-education.com/insane-bitcoin-facts-you-should-know
https://brainberries.co/interesting/6-interesting-bitcoin-facts-you-should-know/
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