Think You Know Everything About Bitcoin? Here Are A Few Facts That Might Surprise You

As the world’s first established cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has set many Guiness-worthy records since its inception. Not only is Bitcoin the oldest crypto in the market, but it’s also the first crypto to be recognized as a legal tender in El Salvador in 2021, and it remains to this day the leading digital currency by market capitalization, value, number of users and sheer popularity.

There are very few people in the world who haven’t heard about it, so if there’s one cryptocurrency out there that doesn’t need much introduction, that’s Bitcoin. Whether you’re a crypto enthusiast or skeptic, you have to admit that Bitcoin has become a household name, which is a huge achievement for something that started out as an obscure and bizarre technology that no one didn’t pay much attention to.

The More You Know, The More You Realize You Don’t Know

The fact that Bitcoin has been so widely discussed in recent years gives many people the false impression they know everything there is to know about this one-of-a-kind digital currency. But while many are familiar with Bitcoin’s uses and characteristics and understand the advantages it provides as well as the risk associated with Bitcoin trading, there are certain facts about this famous coin that escape even the most experienced crypto buffs.

Part of Bitcoin’s appeal stems from its complexity. Besides, Bitcoin is also the longest-running crypto, and although it’s only been around for a little over a decade, a lot of things have happened in this period of time, which means there’s an awful lot to unreal. Even if you’ve been navigating the crypto space for a while and you have no problem analyzing a Bitcoin price chart or understanding how blockchain technology works, it doesn’t mean you’re done learning.

So, if you want to test and expand your crypto knowledge and dive deeper into the fascinating world of Bitcoin, here are a few interesting facts about this revolutionary cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin’s Creator Remains Unknown

You’ll find that a lot of articles about Bitcoin name Satoshi Nakamoto as its creator. However, no one really knows who hides behind this name. There have been many theories circulating about the person or group of people who introduced the concept of cryptocurrency to the world back in 2009, but none of them has been confirmed so far.

Bitcoin’s origin story remains shrouded in mystery, which adds to its overall appeal. It’s difficult to understand how the creator of one of the greatest innovations of the modern world managed to remain anonymous, but it seems that Nakamoto found a way to keep his identity unknown. No one has ever seen him in person, as he only communicated via email in the early years of Bitcoin, and by 2011 he had ceased all contact with developers, transferring the management of the project to a software developer named Gavin Andresen. By all accounts, Satoshi Nakamoto can be considered a ghost.

The Satoshi – Bitcoin’s Smallest Unit

Even if Bitcoin’s creator remains anonymous, the Bitcoin community pays tribute to him in many ways. As some of you may know, Bitcoin is a divisible asset, and its smallest unit is known as a satoshi, after the name of its infamous inventor. One Bitcoin is made of 100 million satoshis, which means the value of a satoshi is extremely low. That’s why a lot of people have never heard about it because no one calculates their Bitcoin trades in satoshis. This is, however, a nice homage brought to the person who made this historical innovation possible.

A statue of Satoshi has been erected in Budapest, Hungary’s capital. You may wonder how that is possible since no one really knows how Nakamoto looks. Well, leave it to the artists to solve an unsolvable dilemma. The statue’s head is made of a special bronze-aluminum composite which has reflective properties, so everyone who looks at the statue’s face sees their own reflection in it. As you may have guessed, the idea is that we are all Satoshi, reminding us of the coin’s decentralized nature.

The Forever-Lost Bitcoins

Although Bitcoin has a large circulating supply and a lot more coins will be mined in the future, a large number of Bitcoins are forever lost – 20% of them, to be more precise. But how can so many Bitcoins disappear into thin air like they never existed? A simple calculation can provide the answer.

First of all, it is estimated that Bitcoin’s founder mined approximately 1.1 million BTC in the first couple of years since the project’s emergence. Since he has gone MIA, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see these Bitcoins again. Then there’s a large number of Bitcoin holders who either died without sharing the password to their wallets with anyone else or lost their private keys, which means no one can ever access these Bitcoins. If you have Bitcoins in your wallet, this should serve as a reminder to keep your keys safe if you don’t want to be locked out of your crypto wallet forever.

All Bitcoins will be Mined by 2140

Just like diamonds, Bitcoins are forever, or so they say, but Bitcoin supply is far from being infinite. Bitcoin has a maximum supply cap of 21 million, so at one point, there will be no more coins entering circulation. Bitcoin was purposely designed that way in order to eliminate inflation and maintain a supply-demand balance. It is estimated that approximately 90% of the total supply has already been mined, amounting to roughly 18.8 million BTC.

So, when will we reach the bottom of the Bitcoin barrel? According to specialists’ calculations, this might happen around 2140. Unfortunately, none of us will be around to see if this prediction is accurate, but what we do know for sure is that Bitcoin mining will not last forever.

There’s definitely more to Bitcoin than meets the eye, so if you find the topic interesting, we encourage you to do your own research and see what other interesting facts you can discover about this innovative technology.