Surprise and mystery seem to surround bitcoin now as much as it did when it came to the forefront in 2009. Even the owner Satoshi Nakamoto is an absolute mystery. There is absolutely no information about this person or the group of persons.
With the ever-growing success of bitcoin, more and more people are showing an interest in crypto trading. The overwhelming popularity and the quirky vibe are bound to intrigue customers. If you are eager to know about some interesting facts related to bitcoin visit Bitqs website, we are here to help. Take a look at our list and be awed by these bitcoin facts.
1. The first-ever bitcoin transaction was over buying two pizzas.
Laszlo will forever have a place in the industry of cryptocurrency for bringing the first-ever bitcoin transaction into existence. He bought two pizzas from the famous Papa John’s priced at 25 USD for 10,000 BTC. Can you imagine it? In today’s age, its worth is almost 114 million USD.
But, how could he even begin to predict such a hike in the price of the cryptocurrency? Years later and Laszlo still doesn’t regret a bit over his spendings. Many may call him a fool, but he knows that he will always have a spot in the history of cryptocurrency. And, maybe that’s enough for him!
2. If you thought Satoshi was the smallest unit of Bitcoin, you are wrong.
It comes as an absolute surprise, but Satoshi is, in fact, not the smallest denomination of the bitcoin. You may form arguments against it. But, the matter of fact is that Satoshi is still divisible. Satoshi can further be divided into Millisatoshi. 1 Satoshi equals to 1000 Millisatoshi. Wow, right?
3. Investigation of the Silk Road was reportedly derailed by FBI agents.
Acclaimed as the first darknet market, Silk Road gathered huge buzz back when it was under investigation. The website was created by Ross William Ulbricht in 2011 and used bitcoin for illegal transactions. It was said that you could purchase anything here – drugs to guns. However, before the site could really take off, the owner was arrested in the year 2013.
But, the main surprise was the role of the FBI agents that were involved with the case. Apparently, they were guilty of money laundering and case obstruction and were eventually jailed.
4. Bitcoin does not enjoy the title of the “first cryptocurrency”
While the credit of attaining the maximum spotlight goes to bitcoin, it is not the first cryptocurrency to come into existence. In the year 1989, crypto enthusiast, David Chaum, founded DigiCash. It can most certainly be termed as the ancestor of the now-prevalent bitcoin.
DigiCash was considered a great victory in the field of the electronic system of payment. It did fail a few years later, but that’s another story! After all, the model used by Chaum, was years later used by Satoshi to develop bitcoin.
5. Previously, the bitcoin faucet was given at 5 bitcoins per user
To market the concept of bitcoins and make it more popular, Gavin Andersen developed a website where he gave bitcoins for free. Every user could get up to 5 bitcoins. It may come as ridiculous given its valuation now, but it was not worth much in the year 2010 when Andersen employed this tactic.
Nowadays, the scenario of bitcoin faucets is entirely different. Some websites do give out Satoshis, but when you think real hard, it is actually a minuscule amount.
6. The incident that led to the introduction of bitcoin 0.3.10
On the 74638 bitcoin block, an error took place. It generated almost 184 billion bitcoins. Even though the issues were solved within a mere 5 hours and a new version developed, still, the incidence was termed as the “value of overflow”. To make things right, the community accepted the error and chose to remedy it. The extra bitcoins generated in this time-frame were eliminated from the blockchain.
7. Hacking into bitcoin private keys is almost impossible.
The bitcoin private keys can be any integers from 1 to 10 to the power of 77. That’s a lot! Even with the fastest computer, it will take years before you can even think of hacking it. It is why the security of bitcoin is never in question. You cannot steal something that is basically a virtual fortress. Maybe in the future quantum computers might be able to. But, that is a reach for now.
These are some of the most surprising facts about bitcoin. As the world of cryptocurrency enlarges, there will be more facts and figures that will simply blow your mind away.
