The new buzz which has been making the rounds for some years now is Bitcoin and Criptocurrency.
Little knowledge abound about these symbols of digital currency but experts speculate that this type of e-currency will soon take over the digi-market and become the new face of modern business transactions all over the world.
I was however able to dig up a tremendously overwhelming amount of information on this and I must tell you, even my blog space cannot exhaust the wealth of resource contained in this trend, touted as a potential mine to become wealthy.
Do you hope to know more about Bitcoin? Want to invest in it? Or you just need some tabulated answers to questions bugging your mind, here is a compilation of super amazing facts about the rave of digital currency...
* Bitcoin is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently from banks. Here is a comprehensive list of interesting Bitcoin Facts, including stats on Coinbase, prices and more.
These cryptocurrencies, digital currencies with encryptions to maintain security and validity, feature a real value and can be exchanged for USD, GBP, or any other type of physical currency through online options.
* It all started 10 years ago with a so called Satoshi Nakamoto publishing the infamous white paper (Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System) in November 2008. This was the theoretical idea which went on to create the pioneer Cryptocurrency known as the Bitcoin.
* We however have no idea whatsoever if there’s a single person or a whole group of people behind the pseudonym. The thing is, the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto never claimed the ownership of the original code, which means that it belongs to everyone… and no-one.
* However, the public bitcoin transaction log shows that Nakamoto's known addresses contain roughly one million bitcoins. At bitcoin's peak in December 2017, this was worth over US$19 billion, making Nakamoto possibly the 44th richest person in the world at the time.
* Interestingly enough this happened right at the time of last major financial meltdown in global markets.
* The Crypto kingpin has come a long way ever since its inception — with improvements in accessibility, scalability, lower cost of transactions, industry adoption & a host of technological upgrades.
* Bitcoin has seen lots of ups & downs in the 10 year period from major price corrections, volatility spikes, FUD overload, wrath of the skeptics, yet its resilience not only as an alternative form of digital payment but more importantly as the torch-bearer of a major paradigm shift has kept it on the path of improvement, growth & acceptability.
* BTC started trading for $0.03 on the first Bitcoin exchange BitcoinMarket.com (now defunct) in March 2010.
* The smallest unit of Bitcoin is called Satoshi — named after its creator and the smallest unit is measured in 0.00000001 or one-hundred-millionth of a coin.
* While Bitcoin is seeing historically low volatility currently of the past 18 months, there was a period between Sep-Oct 2016 when the 30 day price change was a mere 0.81% marking the lowest volatile period of its lifespan.
* As you may or may not know that Bitcoin has a limit of only having 21 million coins in circulation, however a bizzare event took place on in August 2010 also known as the “value overflow incident” when a code vulnerability allowed someone to conduct a transaction which created 184 billion bitcoins — 184,467,440,737.09551616 coins, to be exact! The error was taken care of right away and the network returned to its normal operation with the specified limit of 21 million bitcoins.
* The biggest loss for Bitcoin came in the form of a massive security breach of the Japan-based Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox in 2014 resulting in a loss of 850,000 coins amounting to $473 million at the time.
* Bitcoin was not the first attempt to make a P2P digital currency, Wei Dai’s B-Money, Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold, Adam Back’s Hashcash & David Chaum’s DigiCash were precursors to Bitcoin, but they failed to gain traction due to the centralization of their proposed systems.
* Although Ethereum platform is synonymous with the functionality of executing smart contracts, Bitcoin also supports this advanced feature although in a limited form.
* “Bitcoin Pizza day” is celebrated on May 22 every year to remember the first Bitcoin transaction when a Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought a couple of Pizzas for 10,000 coins in 2010.
- Other sources write it this way 'on May 22, 2010, a Bitcoin developer paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas he ordered from Papa John’s. Last year, at the height of Bitcoin’s bullish run, that amount would have been worth $179m! It’s hard to believe how far Bitcoin and the market in general have actually come.'
* Extreme Volatility: There are many external factors that may have a direct impact on the value of Crypto money. That’s exactly why the prices of cryptocurrencies are known to be extremely volatile. Here’s a perfect example: in 2009, 1 bitcoin was worth $0.003; by the end of 2017, its value was $17,900 and still rising.
* According to other sources, Bitcoin’s crypto cap is currently worth staggering $111,956,326,512.
* The extreme volatility of Cryptos is also one of the reasons why many investors choose to steer away from the Crypto-verse. If the value can swing dramatically, it means that you can potentially make large profits, but also large losses.
* If You Lose Your Crypto Wallet, You Lose Your Money: The importance of private keys that keep your crypto money safe has been often emphasised. There’s actually no way back if you lose your private key. Once lost, your digital funds will disappear into the giant Crypto-void. Unless hacked, which is virtually impossible considering the structure of blockchain technology, your abandoned e-wallet will be lingering out there somewhere.
* Worst Crypto Wallet Fail: James Howells of Newport, Wales threw away a hard drive containing bitcoins worth a mind-blowing $75m. He has been desperately trying to get it back, and is even planning to dig-up the landfill site that it was supposedly transported to, but no luck so far. Talk about a treasure-hunt! What an epic fail!
* China is the Largest Miner: China remains the biggest player when it comes to cryptocurrency mining, maintaining around 75% of the Bitcoin mining network.
* Countries That Have Banned Cryptos: No matter the worldwide hype, there are six countries that have officially banned the use of blockchain currency. They are:
Algeria
Bolivia
Ecuador
Bangladesh
Nepal
Cambodia
- Bitcoin is also illegal in Iceland, Ecuador, Vietnam, Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, and Thailand.
* The Largest ICO in History: Filecoin, a blockchain-based storage network and cryptocurrency, is the largest ICO in the history of FinTech. In 2017, this startup raised an incredible $257m! They collected the first $200m in just 30 minutes.
* Crypto is Even Good for Games: Did you know about Cryptokitties, the first game built using Ethereum technology? In just a week after the launch, the Ethereum blockchain registered a 10% increase in purchases.
* Just 21 Million Bitcoin and Not a Coin More: It’s not possible to mine bitcoins infinitely as the total supply is already known. The game will be over in 2140, at which point all 21 million units will have finally been mined.
* Anyone Can Create a Crypto: One of the most fascinating and challenging facts on our Crypto list is that any John Doe or Joe Bloggs can create their own coin or token. Of course, there is a difference. A new coin requires a new blockchain to be created, but a new token can be created on an existing blockchain, like Ethereum.
* Bitcoin is Physically Unbannable: This is the ‘lucky’ fact and definitely something you didn’t know! We all hear news about governments trying to ban Bitcoin. Bitcoin allows people to send/receive money without any intermediary – i.e., a bank – thus operating independently.
It can be regulated, yes. Realistically, anyone can get a Bitcoin wallet and an Internet connection and embark on their Crypto-journey!
* Bitcoins have no inherent or set value: If you look at a dollar bill, you know that it is simply a piece of paper with a number on it and some fancy pictures saying that it is “worth” $1. It, in fact, only has value because we say it does. Bitcoins are the same way. Those little digital pieces of code are only worth money because people say they are and want to trade real goods/services for them.
* You can see all transactions: The unique thing about Bitcoin is that it is completely transparent. Not with personal data, no, but instead with transactions and amounts. Everything is able to be seen on the block chain and it’s this complete openness that instills a lot of trust and security amongst the Bitcoin community.
* You can mine bitcoins: Mining bitcoins is a term that actually means you’re using a computer program to solve mathematical problems to verify various transactions around the world. Bitcoin miners then get paid a certain number of bitcoins for solving those problems.
* You cannot reverse a transaction or be forced to pay: One of the most integral features about bitcoins is that you can never be forced to pay, nor can you take back a transaction. If you send a company some bitcoins for a product, you cannot revoke that transaction nor can they repeat bill you and force money to be taken out.
* You can send money with little to no fees: If you want to send money to a friend in Thailand and you were in the United Kingdom, you’d likely have to pay bank transfer fees, currency conversion fees, and more.Additionally, your friend may have to wait a few days before the money is available. With bitcoins, there are little to no transaction fees and the money is available almost instantly!
* Bitcoins are held in digital wallets: Much like when you log into your online bank account and see your balance, you also have a bitcoin wallet that is established when you sign up.
This wallet is like a physical wallet, but much more secure. Additionally, if you know a bitcoin address you can see how many bitcoins other people have.
* You can really buy things with bitcoins: Bitcoins may sound a bit farcical at first, but it’s actually a real currency used to buy real things. There is a variety of merchants who accept bitcoins as payment for items, both online stores and physical stores.
Popular online stores who accept bitcoins include Newegg, Overstock, Microsoft, Dell, and more
In person stores include Reeds Jewelers, One Shot Hotels, Holiday Inn (located in New York), and even local pizza places, restaurants, and more.
You can even use bitcoin to donate to a charity
* Bithumb, the 4th largest Bitcoin exchange was hacked in July 2017.
* Bitcoin has VAT exemption on Belgium.
* There is a baby girl known worldwide as the ‘Bitcoin baby’, her doctor C.Terence Lee accepted his payment through bitcoin.
* Bitcoin reached parity with the US dollar on February 9, 2011, for the first time.
* There are 5 coins derived from Bitcoin forks: Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin XT, Bitcoin Classic, Bitc
1% of the Bitcoin community controls the 99% of the wealth in the world.
* Bitcoin addresses are a long string of 34 alphanumeric characters.
* Genesis Mining, a cloud mining provider, send bitcoin to space in 2016.
* The FBI has the largest bitcoin wallet in the World. When the FBI shut down the operations of the Silk Road, it also seized the owner’s assets. In that process, the FBI also became one of the world’s wealthiest bitcoin owners, A report from the Wired magazine claims that the FBI controls as much as $120 million.
* Bitcoin is accepted to buy a Lamborghini.
* The number of dealers accepting Bitcoins grew from 36,000 to 82,000 in 2014.
*Bitcoin has surged up 162% in 2017 only.
* It’s impossible to know the sender/receiver details
Bitcoin addresses are a long string of 34 alphanumeric characters. Using that address, it’s impossible to tell the recipient. Probably, this is the reason why most of the illegal transactions are carried out using bitcoins. To protect the privacy even further, most wallet programs assign the users a portfolio ID, which is also used as a username.
* Bitcoin network is much powerful than supercomputers: According to the experts, Bitcoin networks has a computing power of 2,046,364 Pflop/s. This is my personal favorite fact about bitcoin. If you go ahead and combine the computing power of the 500 most powerful supercomputers, you’ll get a combined fever of 274 Pflop/s.
* Bitcoins are registered to the bitcoin addresses, which can be created within seconds, using a random private key that is valid and then calculating the bitcoin address. But the reverse process, which is finding the valid private key from the bitcoin address, is not possible. So, making the bitcoin address publicly known does not pose a threat to the private key.
* To spend bitcoins, it is required that the owner of the bitcoin knows the private key and also digitally signs the transaction. It is only after the network has verified the signature using the public key that the transaction will be approved.
* Private key, the only proof of ownership: The private key is the only proof of ownership that the bitcoin network recognizes. If in any case, the private key is lost, then the bitcoins will become unusable and it is equivalent to have lost the coin. So, it is important that the private key is kept in a safe, secure place and have a back up of it.
* Huge bitcoin network consumes immense electricity: The mining of bitcoin requires an immense amount of electricity. It is said that the amount of electricity that the bitcoin network consumes is equivalent to the amount of electricity that may power 1.3 million homes.
* In its effort to reduce the electricity usage and also its cost, the bitcoin network has set up places where geothermal energy is cheap, like in Iceland or in places where hydroelectricity power is free, like in Austria, Tibet, to name a few.
* Energy consumption of one bitcoin transaction: Do you know how much energy a bitcoin transaction consumes? Well, it is 3,994 times the energy that a credit card transaction consumes.
* Loads of Money: In the largest Bitcoin transaction, the year 2013 saw bitcoins transactions taking place, worth $147 million. In today's market, the value of the bitcoins stand at $174 million, this is approximately 1.6 percent of the total bitcoins that have been in circulation.
* Ransomware Attacks: The United States Corporations are making efforts to purchase bitcoins. The prime reason behind such efforts is the Ransomeware attacks. The year 2017 saw big corporations facing the Ransomware attack, which affected business and posed threat to the security of confidential data and information. Since the Ransomeware attack required the payments to be made in bitcoins, so, the corporations in the United States started buying bitcoins to bail themselves out in the face of such attacks.
* Illegality aspect of Bitcoins: it is said that the digital cash form of bitcoins remain to be an illegal mode and that it can be used for making the purchase of illegal goods.
* Bitcoin ATM: The first bitcoin ATM was set up in the Canadian city, Vancouver. Moreover, there was a Bitcoin ATM in California too. The Bitcoin ATM was located at the Brea mall and it was operated by ZenBox. However, the ATM is no longer operational.
* Bitcoin ATM worldwide: The total number of Bitcoin ATM worldwide stands at 2,015. It is spread across 61 countries, and it is estimated that these are operated by over 250 operators.
* From $0 to $1000: The value of cryptocurrency has been seeing an upward trend since the time it came into being. Bitcoins came into existence in the year 2009, when its value was nothing but zero. However, with time and with its rising popularity, it has created a place for itself as a prominent digital cash medium. And, today, the value of a bitcoin stands at approximately $1000 or more.
* Jet Li's charity received donation in bitcoins
Popular Chinese actor, Jet Li runs the charitable organization "One Foundation." It became the first Chinese organization to accept bitcoins donations after it published a donation address and it was within two days that $30,000 was received, thereby making it the most successful bitcoin donation.
The Crypto-world is amazing and totally worth the hype created around it. Whether you’re a believer or not, you’re living through a period of incredible global change, driven by the need for more and better-access to more advanced, faster, and more secure financial operations. Exciting times!
You can learn more and more about Bitcoins by visiting these sites...
https://www.boomsbeat.com/amp/articles/284059/20180123/100-interesting-facts-you-need-to-know-about-bitcoin.htm
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