With so many new investors and individuals working towards learning more about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, I wrote this piece to share some exciting facts about BTC! Whether you're a long-standing bitcoin holder or brand new to the scene, hopefully, one of these facts is unique and exciting for you.
The creator of bitcoin is still unknown to this day. Theories have been brought forward on the person or group that could have created BTC, but nothing has been proven. However, this individual or group goes by the alias "Satoshi Nakamoto." Whoever the creator is, it is thought that this individual holds at least 1 million of the BTC supply. If this is true, they would be within the top 40th wealthiest individuals in the world with the current prices.
Although the exact number is unclear, it is thought that about 3-4 million bitcoins are lost forever. If an individual loses their keys for their bitcoin wallet, there is no possible way for them to unlock it. This has resulted in millions being removed from the circulating supply. This can arguably be good for the price of bitcoin as it increases the already limited supply. However, if you asked one of the individuals who couldn't get into their wallet, I'm sure they would disagree.
Speaking of lost bitcoins, did you know that there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins in existence? Currently, there are over 18.6 million bitcoins, with just under 2.4 million to be mined. Taking our facts from before, if we subtract Satoshi Nakamoto's believed wallet sum and the sum of the lost bitcoin, we can assume that there is around 15 million in circulation.
These bitcoins are created through the process called "mining." This is where individuals called, you guessed it, miners, are rewarded for their work as auditors. This process is done to validate the transactions on the bitcoin blockchain to ensure everything is working correctly and to avoid the "double-spend" issue. Once miners have verified a specific amount known as a "block", they can then be rewarded for their service. However, it is not guaranteed that an individual will receive a reward. This largely depends on their ability to be the first one to solve the block correctly before everyone else and the computing power available. Once completed, taking only 10 minutes, the process starts all over. This is an overly simplified idea that will be further explained in a future article.
This reward initially was 50 bitcoins at launch. If this seems like a lot, that's because it is. The bitcoin reward system works because it undergoes a "halving" roughly every 4 years. For example, in 2009, the reward was 50 BTC for each additional block, but by 2012 it would be just 25, and at the time of writing, only 6.25.
It is estimated that the last bitcoin will be mined in the year 2140. At this point, it is thought that miners would transition to making their money from fees for processing the bitcoin network.
Have you ever heard of a "fork" in crypto? The basic concept is that all miners need to agree on what is happening with the blockchain. However, if there are disagreements and individuals want to change the rules, they can cause a "fork." This is how many things like bitcoin gold and bitcoin cash began. Although these projects can share similar names and aspects, no bitcoin forks have proven to be better than the original. And with over 100 forks of bitcoin, it is clear that this is not changing anytime soon.
The first-ever real-world purchase with bitcoin was made in 2010 by a man named Laszlo Hanyecz, who paid around 10,000 bitcoin for 2 pizzas. At the time, that 10,000 bitcoin was worth about $40 USD. Even after a massive correction, going from the current price, it would be worth over $300 million. I hope it was some good pizza!
With how much negative news we have seen related to cryptocurrency and bitcoin, I hope this gave you some needed enjoyment. Many more exciting facts were not included, so make sure to follow for future posts. As always, thanks for reading.
