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10 Surprising Facts About Bitcoin You Should Know

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Cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, has gained popularity over the past decade. It has definitely seen ups and downs. However, it is popular enough, and the price of bitcoin has been in the spotlight for quite some time to discuss 10 surprising facts about Bitcoin. So, here are those 10 surprising facts about the instrument.

  1. Bitcoin’s creator is unknown, and the mystery person is known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It was created in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis of this century in 2008. It is unknown whether it was created by a single person or a group. There is a belief that it was developed secretly by four companies in collaboration. Namely, Samsung, Toshiba, Nakamichi, and Motorola. However, there is no proof to substantiate the claim.
  2. The price of Bitcoin has risen phenomenally, evident from the charts. The first purchase with Bitcoin is believed to have been by a programmer in May 2010, when 2 large Papa John’s Pizzas were bought for 10,000 Bitcoins. The current price of Bitcoins would have made those pizzas worth more than AUD 735 million.
  3. The half-life of a block of Bitcoin has been reduced steadily as the volume of Bitcoins has increased in the market. In 2009, when Bitcoin was mined for the first time, 50 Bitcoins were rewarded by mining one block. In 2012, the block was halved, and it would produce a reward of only 25 Bitcoins. It was further reduced to half in 2016 and again in 2020. Now only 6.25 Bitcoins are rewarded on mining of 1 block.
  4. As we know that any cryptocurrency has no physical existence. Bitcoin also exists only in digital form. This has been a reason for loss for many. Out of these, one of the remarkable stories is of James Howell. He is an English citizen from Newport in the United Kingdom. As per his claims, he accidentally threw out a hard disk that contained around 7500 Bitcoins. He was among the earliest miners of Bitcoins. The current value of these Bitcoins will be approximately 5.5 million AUD. He has continued searching the local landfill since 2013 for the hard disk but has not been lucky enough to find it.
  5. There is a fixed market cap on Bitcoin. The value is capped at 21 million coins. Considering that the coins are distributed among the entire population of Australia in an equal manner, each person will receive around 0.0027. The value of this will be approximately 200 AUD.
  6. Bitcoin is very high-value today, and large-volume transactions of the instrument are rare. The record volume of Bitcoins transacted in a single transaction is 500000 Bitcoins. As far as the value of a transaction is concerned, it was 1 billion USD. The fee associated with this massive transaction was a meager $700 only.
  7. Until recently, Bitcoin cash machines were rare. The first Bitcoin ATM or cash machine was set up in Vancouver, Canada.
  8. The Fear of Missing Out, or the FOMO phenomenon, has been noted many times in the case of Bitcoins. The phenomenon happens when a miner or owner of Bitcoins finds a steady and substantial rise in the value of Bitcoins. The product is susceptible to market whims, and there is a chance that the price may reduce. The fear of losing out on the profit forces them to sell off their Bitcoins at prices much lower than what they could earn had they held on to their Bitcoins. For example, Martti Malmi, a Bitcoin developer of the past, had 55000 Bitcoins he had mined in 2009 and 2010. He sold off his entire stock in 2012. Had he held on to those Bitcoins, the value would have been around 4 billion AUD as of date.
  9. The numbers are extraordinary, considering amounts settled in transactions through Bitcoin. Approximately $10 trillion has been completed over the blockchain. In payments, the number is over $ 7.5 trillion. Amazingly all transactions were done without needing a bank.
  10. There have been sad unlucky stories of miners losing Bitcoins by mistake or selling too early. There also have been lucky ones, like the case of a kid who earned 127 Bitcoins in 2011 doing surveys. The kid found the old computer and private keys. After selling the Bitcoins, over $ 4.2 million was made.

Bitcoin continues to leave us spellbound, and the number of users is increasing daily. We hope to find more amazing facts about Bitcoin and its users in the coming time.

Members of the editorial and news staff of the Daily Caller were not involved in the creation of this content.