Anyone who has been around the cryptocurrency world for a while must have heard of Bitcoin. However, there are still a lot of people who know little to nothing about it. Here we will discuss 5 facts you didn’t know about Bitcoin and we are sure this article will leave you with some new knowledge and information that you didn’t have before.
Let’s start with the basics. What is Bitcoin? It is a form of digital currency, created and used electronically.
But… Who controls it?
No one. It is completely decentralised, meaning that there is no one person or organisation controlling it. The main notion of currency and money is that it is controlled by a bank, and its value fluctuates depending on the worldwide market. However, all of these are defied by the birth of Bitcoin. It is, in reality, controlled by everyone who uses Bitcoin because the software used for this money monitors and confirms the actions of bitcoins all over the world.
However this does not mean that the value of Bitcoin can’t be impacted by other things. The price can be affected by media attention, market confidence, mining and transaction expenses, as well as regulatory initiatives.
If you ever lose your wallet your bitcoins are gone forever!
While the bitcoins in the wallet may still exist since they were recorded on the blockchain, they cannot be used because the wallet has been lost. These bitcoins have unique keys, and if they are lost with a wallet, they are gone for good.
Then how many Bitcoins are lost?
According to an analysis conducted by Chainalysis, between 2.3 million and 3.7 million Bitcoins have been lost since its birth. This indicates that up to 20% of Bitcoin’s entire quantity has been removed from circulation.
One man wishes to excavate a landfill in order to retrieve his digital wallet.
We’ve already emphasised that if you lose your digital wallet, there’s no turning back. If you also lose a digital wallet stored on a physical hard disc, you may suffer the same fate as James Howells. In 2013, James Howells of Wales, UK, threw away a hard disc containing 7,500 bitcoins. When he understood how much Bitcoin’s value had risen in recent years, he went in search of the drive. He is now attempting to persuade his local city council to allow him to excavate the waste in order to locate the drive.
First bitcoin transaction ever made was for a pizza – probably the most expensive pizza ever!
A guy in Florida spent 10,000 bitcoins (BTC) for two pizzas on May 22, 2010. This is widely acknowledged as the first commercial bitcoin transaction. At the time, 10,000 bitcoins were valued around $40, making one bitcoin worth little under half a penny. You’d be a bitcoin millionaire if you owned that many bitcoins in September 2022. 10,000 bitcoins are worth more than $190 million in the market.
Bitcoin is not going anywhere anytime soon, and it is still a very popular cryptocurrency. Do you know some more trivias about Bitcoin that are not mentioned above? Then share them with us!
