16 Fascinating Facts About Bitcoin That You Probably Didn’t Know

Bitcoin has risen in popularity as the king of cryptocurrencies in the last few years. While some individuals use Bitcoin for their daily transactions and investment purposes, there is very little known about Bitcoin.

Fortunately, there are some very interesting facts about Bitcoin that even you might not know. Some of these facts include:

1. The First Time Someone Used Bitcoin Was to Purchase a Pizza

On May 22, 2012, a computer programmer known as Laszlo Hanyecz from Florida used 10,000 Bitcoin to purchase two pizzas from Papa John’s Pizza. At the time, the 10,000 Bitcoin was worth around $41. This marked the first official purchase of Bitcoin.

2. May 22nd Is Bitcoin Pizza Day

Before May 22nd, 2012, Bitcoin was a virtually worthless currency. It cost a few cents to purchase BTC, and retailers were not accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for goods. However, this all changed when Laszlo Hanyecz successfully used BTC to buy two pizzas, marking May 22nd as world Bitcoin Pizza Day.

3. It’s Not Known Who Created Bitcoin

This is one of the most unique facts about Bitcoin; no one knows who created Bitcoin. Most people believe that Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin. However, there are speculations that this is a pseudonym of a person or a group of people who were working on the idea of creating a virtual currency.

Unfortunately, no one has seen or heard from Satoshi Nakamoto since 2011, meaning they disappeared from the internet, leaving no traces of who they might be.

4. The FBI Owns the Largest Bitcoin Wallet  

The FBI owns around 1.5% of all the Bitcoin in the world. They acquired this amount from the Silk Road, a big black market website using Bitcoin to purchase different goods.

5. If You Lose Your Bitcoin Wallet Key and Password, You Also Lose All You Bitcoins 

Do you store your Bitcoin in digital wallets? Ensure you are careful when storing the key and password you use to access your online wallet. Once you lose this key, you will not have access to your bitcoin.

6. Bitcoin Transactions Are Not Reversible

This is also another interesting fact about Bitcoin. Once you make a transaction, you can’t reverse it, unlike in traditional payment methods where you can track the transaction and even reverse if need be. Ensure you double-check the address before sending the funds.

7. Bitcoin Computing Is More Powerful Than Supercomputers

According to experts, the Bitcoin computing power is around 2,046,364 Pflop/s. This is more powerful than the computing power of over 3 million computers. To help you better understand how much power this is, consider that 500 supercomputers have a combined computing power of 274 Pflop/s.

8. Bitcoin Has Been to Space

Bitcoin was the first currency to make it out to space. In 2016, Genesis Mining, a cloud provider, tied a 3D model of Bitcoin and a paper wallet to a weather balloon and used a GoPro to check its progress.

9. Satoshi Byte Is a Small Unit of Bitcoin

Just like pounds are divided into pence and dollars to cents, Bitcoin also has its smaller denomination called the Satoshi byte. 1 Satoshi byte is equivalent to 0.00000001 Bitcoin.

10. Transactions Using Bitcoins Cost Almost Nothing

Traditional currency transactions require service and transactional fees. However, Individuals can carry out Bitcoin transactions almost for free. This is because there is no broker to increase transactional fees.

11. The Receiver and Sender Details Are Always Hidden

A Bitcoin address is a long thread created with 34 alphanumeric characters. Using these addresses makes it impossible to know who the sender or recipient is. Thus, most criminals like using Bitcoin due to this anonymity. 

12. It’s Difficult for Countries to Ban Bitcoin

Countries such as Vietnam, Bolivia, Thailand, and Bangladesh have tried banning the use of Bitcoin to no success. That’s because no law states that owning and trading in Bitcoin is illegal. The nature of virtual currencies makes it impossible to ban their use; thus, countries prefer regulating them instead.

13. Bitcoin Is a Volatile Currency

Bitcoin is very volatile and has generated significant returns for numerous investors. Unfortunately, the volatile nature of Bitcoin is the main reason why it doesn’t function like other conventional currencies.  

Bitcoin’s volatile nature is attributed to wealth inequality, market size, regulation, news events, and low liquidity. Experts have also predicted that if Bitcoin continues in its current path, it may fall soon.

14. You Can Now Use Bitcoin to Buy Some Goods

Thanks to its anonymity, Bitcoin is a popular currency in the black market. However, today companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Expedia, and Overstock.com accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

Other street chains such as KFC and Subway in Canada also accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Some individuals in third-world countries also use Bitcoin to do business online, especially if they don’t have access to bank accounts.

15. Bitcoin Is Generated Through Mining

The process of Bitcoin creation is known as mining. The core technology behind mining is known as blockchain technology which depends on a network of nodes to ensure transactional integrity by attaining consensus.

The Bitcoin mining procedure helps create new Bitcoins and facilitates the processing of Bitcoin transactions on the network. To learn more about Bitcoin units, check out this article.

16. Bitcoin Is Considered a Capital Asset

The American Government declared cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin capital assets. This means you have to account for Bitcoin when filing your taxes. While the government regulations for Bitcoin are still being created, the U.S. considers Bitcoins to be just like stocks and bonds.

Remember that if you do not account for the Bitcoins in your possession when filing your taxes, the IRS could fine you for tax evasion. Ensure you check the laws in your country regarding Bitcoin before making a purchase.

Facts About Bitcoin: Now You Know

Did the above cool Bitcoin facts blow your mind? With cryptocurrencies being the newest buzz on the internet, it’s essential to know about their origin and journey to becoming acceptable online currencies.

With the above interesting facts about Bitcoin, you can showcase your knowledge to your friends and family. For more cool facts, check out other posts on our website.