With 10 years officially under Bitcoin’s belt (soon to be 11), the digital asset we know and love has evolved so much throughout the years. Despite that, there are still a lot of people who don’t know much about it. Some just know the bare minimum: how to buy and sell bitcoin.
But there’s so much more to Bitcoin than just buying and selling. Obviously, it’s impossible to go over everything, but to start, here are 5 fun facts you should know about bitcoin:
The First Bitcoin Purchase
When bitcoin was created in 2009 and its white paper released to a cryptography mailing list, a lot of people seemed skeptical about the idea of a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.” It took a while before it received its first exchange rate but believe it or not, the first-ever bitcoin purchase was for 2 Papa John’s pizzas.
The trade-off came out to a whopping 10,000 bitcoin for those two pizzas. The transaction happened on May 22, 2010, and now, May 22 is regarded by the cryptocurrency community as Bitcoin Pizza Day. At that time, the equivalent of 10,000 bitcoins was $41—which makes sense for 2 Pizzas… at that time. With bitcoin’s price surge, it might have been a life-changing transaction that changes a person’s life.
At the time of writing (Oct 14, 2019), the equivalent of 10,000 bitcoin would be at around $83.1 million USD.
Bitcoin’s Finity
Unlike the fiat currencies we’re used to, bitcoin actually has a limited supply of 21 million. At this time, there are around 17 million bitcoins in circulation—meaning that there are only ~4 million bitcoins left to be mined. Many have found similarities before between bitcoin and gold, but this is by far the biggest one. Gold cannot be created out of thin air in arbitrary amounts, it’s extracted from our Earth and put into circulation. The market then dictates the price.
This has posed a big question to bitcoin enthusiasts around the world—what will happen when all the bitcoins are mined? The speculations have ranged from apocalyptic to serendipitous but one thing’s for sure: the miners are going to lose their block rewards. This will, in turn, cause miners to rely solely on transaction fees as their income—making mining very unaffordable unless transaction fees rise to a level that’s adequate for mining profitability.
If all the bitcoins are mined and everyone starts using bitcoin as a medium of exchange, then who knows? Transaction fees might not have into increase and it might be able to sustain the profitability of miners.
Using Bitcoin as a Means of Passive Income
The greatest thing about bitcoin evolving in the last 10 years is that people are starting to find new ways to make a profit with it. One of which is to make use of a bitcoin affiliate program.
Each Bitcoin exchange/peer-to-peer marketplace has its own program, with some obviously better than the others. The best programs out there should really allow you to make a steady passive income, allowing you to make money just by having friends that like to trade.
To give you an example of how you can do so, let’s use Paxful’s affiliate program. Paxful is one of the leading peer-to-peer marketplaces in the world and they have a great affiliate program. Their program has two tiers: the first tier is made up of people who signed up on Paxful directly using your affiliate link; the second tier is made up of people who signed up using your tier 1’s affiliate link. From all successful trades made by your tier 1 affiliates, you get 50% of Paxful’s escrow fee. From your tier 2 affiliates, you get 10% of the escrow fee. With these two tiers, you have the ability to generate a passive income if your affiliates remain active.
Bitcoin’s Mysterious Creator
If you don’t know the identity of Bitcoin’s creator, it’s okay. We don’t know it as well. Surprisingly, Bitcoin’s creator has stayed anonymous in an extremely-digital environment. The creator went by the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto—and although most people think that he’s a man, many people have speculated that it could be a woman or even a bot named Robosatoshi.
Satoshi claimed to have written the bitcoin code in 2007. The white paper was then published in 2008, with the first block—the Genesis Block—being mined in 2009. Later that year, the Bitcoin website was created and Satoshi began collaborating with other developers to help evolve the Bitcoin software. In 2010, Satoshi stepped down and left bitcoin in the hands of his/her/its successor—Gavin Andersen. Satoshi returned in 2011 to leave one last message, saying that he/she/it had “moved on to other things” and that Bitcoin was in the good hands of Gavin Andersen.
Since then, there have been many theories to who Satoshi Nakamoto could possibly be. However, there is still no definite answer to the question—and who knows if we’ll ever get one.
Not as Ostracized as Before
We’ve spoken a lot about how Bitcoin has evolved over the years and there is evidence of that out there. Nowadays, more and more businesses are starting to accept bitcoin as a payment method and that shows that more people are starting to trust the digital asset. People no longer just invest in bitcoin, but they now also have the ability to spend on whatever they like.
The businesses that accept bitcoin as a payment method vary from extravagant and flamboyant things like 2-person submarines, replica wooly mammoth tusks, and tickets to space to more practical things such as paying your taxes, having food delivered, and online furniture shopping. Businesses nowadays are starting to see how practical bitcoin can be to their internal economy and how it can simplify payments for both sides.
More Than You Know
We’ve only covered a limited scope of what a lot of people don’t know about bitcoin. There is still a lot more to learn (even for us) and it’s extremely interesting to think about where this digital asset is going in the future.
There are exciting times ahead of us, very exciting times indeed.