Fun and interesting facts about cryptocurrency. Part 1.
Cryptocurrency is a mysterious thing to most people. The general public doesn’t know much about it. While cryptocurrency may seem difficult to understand, it doesn’t have to be. So, let’s go over some fun and interesting facts about cryptocurrency so you can learn something new today.
1 Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Satoshi Nakamoto is largely the father (or mother) of cryptocurrency. This person invented the blockchain algorithm and crypto mining process that made cryptocurrency possible. Satoshi Nakamoto’s claim to fame is BitCoin.
Very little is known about Satoshi, though. This person’s true identity has never been discovered. Numerous media outlets have claimed to solve this puzzle, but every hit piece has been debunked. The rumors swirling around the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto are juicer than the JFK assassination conspiracy theories. The fact is we may never learn the true identity of this person.
2 A pizza bought in 2010 with Bitcoin is now worth more than $179m.
In 2010, Papa John’s, a popular pizza chain in the United States, offered a deal for its customers to pay for pizza in Bitcoin. Someone took Papa John’s up on that offer and paid a staggering 10,000 Bitcoin for a single pizza. At the height of the Bitcoin boom, that coinage was worth an estimated $179 million. That’s an expensive pizza!
The reason this fact is so interesting is that it demonstrates the volatility of the cryptocurrency market. In 2010, 10,000 Bitcoin was worth about the price of a pizza (maybe a tad more). Within 7 years, the value of that Bitcoin inflated quicker than the value of any tech business in the world. There’s a reason that investors stay away from cryptomarkets. The crypto market swings wildly in value and has become too volatile for even Wall Street to touch.
3 China is the largest miner of cryptocurrencies.
Why is China the largest crypto miner? The answer is more nuanced than you might think.
In the early days of crypto mining, any person could mine for Bitcoin on their home PC. A lot of resources weren’t needed. Cryptocurrency is designed to get significantly harder to mine as more of it is ‘dug up’. Because of that, faster and specialized computers are now required to dig through the encryption chain to earn some cryptocurrency. You need a lot of these computers, too.
These specialized PCs aren’t cheap to run, though. Crypto farms are specifically built in areas with renewable energy or very cheap power to reduce operating costs enough to make a return. Mining cryptocurrency worldwide uses more energy than most small countries.
The Chinese government is largely known to subsidize Chinese businesses. This includes paying for hardware and electricity. This gives Chinese miners a leg up since most of the crypto mining is backed by the Chinese government reducing the costs for the crypto farm to operate.
4 No one owns cryptocurrencies.
All cryptocurrencies are much like a fiat currency except that it’s not government-backed. Cryptocurrencies aren’t largely backed by banks either. This means that the value of a given cryptocurrency is based on the consensus of the community. If you think about it though, most government-backed fiat currencies aren’t very different, though. The US dollar hasn’t been backed by gold for a long time. The difference between cryptocurrency and the local dollar is that cryptocurrency’s value is at least recognized globally (Ie. it doesn’t change value country to country). This has been one of the driving forces behind cryptocurrencies, too.
5 Cryptocurrency is like cash. If you lose it, it’s gone.
Cryptocurrency is stored in a digital file called your wallet. It’s up to you to save and backup this digital file. If it becomes corrupt, or you delete it, your money is gone forever.
Learn from other’s mistakes. A fellow by the name of James Howells from Wales accidentally disposed of a computer drive with an old wallet saved on it. That wallet was worth more than $75 million. James subsequently tried to launch a campaign to pay people to go find the drive in the dump. Sadly, there were no takers on that offer.
Cloud wallet services do exist that will backup your wallet online. With the current state of cryptocurrency security, be careful about which cloud wallet service you use. Crypto exchange markets are big targets for hackers, and the last thing you want is your wallet stolen. Make sure to choose a reputable vendor.
6 A few numbers.
The first operation with a bitcoin was on 21 January, 2009. 21 million bitcoins at all can be produced to mining step by step due to the complexity of the extraction process. The last coin will be mined in 2140. More than half of mined bitcoins belong to 1000 people. Most of bitcoin wallets (~90%) keep 0,1 BTC. The highest bitcoin rate, fixed at the time of writing this article, was $ 20,042. That was in December 2017. Then the coin quotes came the strongest fall. The biggest dynamic of bitcoin growth-fall rate was showed in April 2013 when it dropped by 80% within only 1 day.
7 Grandma’S gift made a teenager a millionaire
Erik Finman, the first teenager in the world who had become a millionaire due to bitcoins, shared his history. His grandmother gifted 1000 dollars on the birthday. Erik decided not to spend money on toys or entertainment and wanted to listen to brother`s advice of investment in bitcoins. So, this choice made Erik Finman a millionaire, helped to create and launch his own startup and settle in Silicon Valley. Also, now Finman lectures and explains how to invest in cryptocurrency better.
What would you like to know about cryptocurrency?
