Hi everyone,let's talk about Bitcoin.
There are 7 Interesting Facts About Bitcoin.
Say, you have 10,000 bitcoins.
What’s the best thing you can buy?
Will you spend them on pizza, for instance?
Initially, when bitcoins were mined they were virtually worthless as it cost literally cents to buy a BTC.
But it was until 22 May 2010, when someone purchased something with bitcoins.
Seven years ago on this day, someone bought Pizzas with bitcoins and this purchase was a big deal because no retailer was accepting bitcoins at that time for goods and services.
On 22 May 2010, two Papa John’s Pizzas were exchanged by Laszlo Hanyecz for 10,000 BTC. This was the first official documented purchase of goods using bitcoins.
At that time, the worth of 10,000 BTC was $41.
At the time of writing this article, the worth of 10,000 BTC is around $25.8 million.
2.The inventor of Bitcoin is a mystery.
Yes, that’s correct! The inventor of Bitcoin is still unknown.
Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2009, there have been several speculations about who the father of Bitcoin is.
The Bitcoin whitepaper was made open to the public under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. The identity of “Satoshi” is still a mystery yet to be solved.
Amidst this confusion, there are some people like Craig Wright, an Australian entrepreneur, who in May 2016 claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin. However, this guy, later on, turned out to be just another scammer.
He with his partner tried to pump a forked version of Bitcoin called Bitcoin cash and made a lot of innocent users lose their hard earned money. None the less, he bought a Limbo with all the scam money:
James Howells, an IT guy, lost 7,500 bitcoins in November 2013. While he was cleaning his desk at home, he threw away his hard disk containing the private keys of bitcoins which he had mined in 2010.
The realization dawned on him when he read the news of a Norweigan man who made a fortune by buying BTC at a low price.
He searched and searched, but could not find his hard disk.
At present, the worth of 7,500 BTC is approximately $19.4 million.
Without the private key, the funds are lost forever no one can use them.
Until this point in time, it is estimated that around 25% of all bitcoins have been forever lost.
People always ask what you can buy with bitcoins.
But the real question should be:
What can’t you buy with bitcoins?
Here are just a few of the goods and services offered:
Coffee at Starbucks
Funeral items in the US
Space travel with Virgin Galatic
Order food with Bitcoin
E-commerce with Purse.io
Book a flight for BTC
Buy a Tesla Car...Even a house.
Due to the nature of Bitcoin, there is constant talk about “banning” it. This hostility towards Bitcoin is because it works outside the jurisdiction of the traditional banking system.
However, the fundamental design is such that it can’t be banned, only regulated. As long as you have an internet connection and a Bitcoin wallet, you can engage in Bitcoin.
Nevertheless, many countries have tried to ban it, like Bangladesh, Bolivia, Thailand, and Vietnam (among many others). But there are some countries like Australia, Russia, Japan, and Venezuela which have made Bitcoin an official legal tender and are regulating it.
However, some countries like India and even the USA are unclear of their official policy regarding cryptocurrencies.
Try as they might, Bitcoin can’t be pushed away just because it threatens the financial power structure. This is the real beauty of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has enabled 43 472 379 transactions since its creation through its network. However, you will be certainly interested by knowing who initiated the first transaction.
It is no one else but Satoshi Nakamoto, the fantastic Bitcoin and underlying technology creator, who sent 100 bitcoins to Hal Finney on January 12th, 2009.
In 2013, the FBI shut down an online drug market place called Silk Road that was said to be holding 26,000 bitcoins. Meanwhile, the owner of the site, Ross Ulbricht, was thought to be keeping 600,000 bitcoins.
The FBI was able to seize Ulbricht and his belongings – but not his bitcoins because Ulbricht’s keys were needed to gain access to the hundred-thousand worth of crypto coins.
