Lesser known facts about Bitcoin: Bitcoin is a term that was under wraps till 2020 and then suddenly everyone knew about it and everyone wanted to talk about it. The past 2 years have been great for Bitcoin. The kind of profits that Bitcoin has made for its investors are more than any stock or cryptocurrency have made in the short span of time they did.
Bitcoin gained popularity due to its extensive use by businesses to make payments. Bitcoin broke the trend of traditional ways to transfer money and made way for faster transactions. The use of blockchain technology allows transactions without a third party being involved in the transactions.
If you are looking to buy Bitcoin in India, then you should head to the most reliable exchange platform CoinSwitch. The easy-to-use interface for beginners and the availability of data analysis and patterns of the rise and fall of coins that experienced investors can use, make this app one of the best ones. Although a lot has already been read and said about Bitcoin, there are a few facts that are still not known to many. These may not affect the price of Bitcoin but one can’t really have too much information about the assets that are taking the world by a storm.
Let us look at a few facts that are not very popular.
- The developer of Bitcoin was not known for a very long time and it was hidden purposely. However, after many attempts, it was found that he is Japanese and is popular as Satoshi Nakamoto. There are debates about whether this information is true or not.
- The first transaction of Bitcoin is believed to be done on May 22nd, when a man paid for his pizza with 10,000 Bitcoins. According to the BTC price today, that man paid about 3158 crores for a pizza. It is said to be the most expensive food order till date.
- Satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin has been adopted by many businesses as means of payment. In India, there are a handful of businesses that accept Bitcoin as payment as well. Outside India, Bitcoin can even buy a trip to outer space.
- We have all heard of ATMs that we use to deposit or withdraw cash. However, there are hundreds of Bitcoin ATMs in the world that give you the option to buy and exchange cryptocurrencies with FIAT currency. These ATMs carry out transactions on the blockchain and send the Bitcoin to your wallet through QR codes.
- Bitcoin has attained the status of “digital gold” or “digital assets”. While it is used to carry out transactions, it can be used as a currency as well as a commodity. Miners need equipment that is sophisticated enough to handle processing the large volume of data during mining. A lot of companies are making a fortune by selling mining hardware.
- Bitcoin wallets are the safest places to store Bitcoins. Otherwise, they may be vulnerable to theft and hacking, or compromising of the exchange platform. Bitcoin wallets are extremely secure and they require authentication from you to access your wallet. If you fail to provide it, then your Bitcoins are locked in and you cannot retrieve them. There is no backup or second chance. Bitcoins worth approximately 252 million dollars have been lost till now due to people accidentally disposing of their cold storage devices or forgetting their passwords.
- The halving rate of Bitcoin is when the reward for mining is cut in half. As a trend, halving for Bitcoin occurs every 4 years. The total supply of Bitcoins is 21 million and it is said that 18 million are already mined. At this rate, the last Bitcoin is expected to be mined in 2140.
- There are a lot of people who believed in Bitcoins way before people invested heavily for profits. There are about 20,000 to 200,000 people who invested in Bitcoins early and became millionaires over time.
- Bitcoins wallets are your personal bank vaults. You have a private key and a public key that you need to carry out Bitcoin transactions. The private key corresponds to your Bitcoin wallet whereas the public key is like your account number at the bank that everyone uses to send you funds.
Bitcoin can be used as an exchange medium or as a long-term investment too. It is a trusted cryptocurrency that is being accepted in all parts of the world and will continue to rise in value. The future of cryptocurrency lies on 2 very important factors and that is demand and perception. As long as Bitcoin is in demand and is circulating as the sought-after cryptocurrency, the value shall remain high.
Bitcoin has made way for the other almost 400 cryptocurrencies in the market that started off where Bitcoin did. Bitcoin gained the confidence of people and gave them a glimpse into the future where cryptocurrency is a part of the global economy and where the applications of cryptocurrencies are the solutions to most problems of the world.