As of now, you might have heard about bitcoin. Bitcoin is a world-famous cryptocurrency that was created in 2009.
You might have heard the opinions of crypto experts, the rapid rise in the price of bitcoin, it’s highly-volatile price swings, and multiple other things, but there’s still a plethora of things that you don’t know.
With that in mind, we’ve gathered some facts and figures about bitcoin that will provide you a clearer picture of this world-famous blockchain-based digital currency.
The developer remains anonymous
Everyone is aware that bitcoin was created by an individual with the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.” But do you know who Satoshi is? Where does he live? Satoshi is the real developer of bitcoin, but no one knows his real identity. Since the introduction of bitcoin, no one has heard from Satoshi; no one knows where he belongs and whether he is dead or alive. There are many rumors about him, and it is said that in 2009 he even communicated with a few investors of the bitcoin community through forums and emails.
Satoshi suddenly vanished from the internet in 2009, and his digital wallet has 980,000 bitcoins which means that he is one of the wealthiest persons on the planet. He left the entire bitcoin network in the hands of other developers and disappeared. The developer of bitcoin is a mystery, and no one even knows whether he is a single person or a group of individuals or any company.
Bitcoin can be divided
Most young and new investors think that they can’t afford to invest in bitcoin. In reality, bitcoin can be divided into multiple units, and as a sweet gesture, the bitcoin community has named bitcoin’s smallest unit the satoshi. One satoshi is currently equivalent to about 0.00005 US dollars which is quite low, and you can invest any amount of money in bitcoin. Around one hundred million satoshis are required to make a bitcoin. So, if you are looking to invest in bitcoin, keep in mind that it is divisible, and you can invest according to your budget or savings. In fact, by joining a trading app you can help make your trading experience as smooth as possible.
It requires massive processing power
Mining bitcoin requires the use of high processing power computers which is quite expensive. The miners have to pay a lot of attention, money and time in the mining process. The entire work of verifying and validating the transactions is done on servers for specific purposes. With high processing power, the computers process data faster, and with increased speed, the blocks can be added to the distributed ledger. With faster speed, miners get rewarded for block faster.
Bitcoins can be easily lost
Private keys allow users to access and transfer bitcoins from the bitcoin wallet. Losing private keys means losing the secret keys or unique identification of your wallet. This results in the loss of bitcoins from the wallet. A survey has been done, and it has been found that around 60% of bitcoin addresses are unknown, which means many people have lost their private keys and have no access to their wallets.
There’s a limited supply
Most people are unaware of the fact that the supply of bitcoin is limited. It is a computer code, and no one can increase or decrease the supply of bitcoin. There are only 21 million bitcoins that could ever exist in the crypto space, out of which around 19 million digital coins are in circulation already. This indicates that around 2 million bitcoins are yet to be mined, and others are already mined. It is a guesstimate that by the end of 2140, all bitcoins will be mined. The current mining reward is 6.25 bitcoins for each block, and the reward will reduce further after every four years. The next halving process will occur in 2024.
Bitcoin is banned in some countries
Many countries across the globe have enthusiastically accepted bitcoin as a legal tender, but not all countries have started accepting bitcoins. Countries like America, Canada and more have accepted bitcoin, whereas countries like Ecuador, Iceland, Bolivia and Bangladesh have banned acceptance or bitcoin usage. Countries like Iran, India and Thailand haven’t accepted bitcoin as legal currency but haven’t put a ban. Instead, they have warned their residents to be vigilant when using cryptocurrencies.
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I knew all of these facts except the last one. I must be pretty smart!
Also, my opinion is Bitcoins isn’t a store of value or a good investment. It is a chance to speculate on making some quick cash though.
Or losing some quick cash.
I wonder how many people feel the way I feel about cryptocurrency
If someone gifted me $1,000.00 I still wouldnt invest in cryptocurrency. Maybe I should get a magic 8 ball to change my mind!
“Satoshi” is most likely the CIA.
Like conspiracy theories? Maybe Bitcoin was developed by the USG to track the flow of illegal money transfers.
If only the feds were that smart. But if they were, that might be scarier still…