Looking back, this faucet that donated 5 bitcoins may seem like a missed opportunity. However, it would have been more advantageous to mine or have any job to buy those coins directly.
Bitcoin Faucet. Source: Midjourney.
Charlie Shrem, founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, announced this Sunday (4) that he will be reviving the first Bitcoin 'faucet' in history. Created by Gavin Andresen, the site gave 5 bitcoins to each visitor in 2010.
At that time, each bitcoin was valued at around $0.05. That is, the reward was equivalent to $0.25 (R$ 0.44 at the time's exchange rate) per visit.
However, with the appreciation of Bitcoin, today this prize is equivalent to R$ 2.7 million.
The idea of the project was to increase the adoption of cryptocurrency. After all, Bitcoin still did not have an efficient market and its acquisition was more commonly done through mining, still done with home computers.
"For my first programming project with Bitcoin, I decided to do something that seems really silly: I created a site that distributes bitcoins for free."
"Five bitcoins per person, first come, first served. I put 1,100 bitcoins to start," wrote Andresen in 2010. "I will add more as soon as I am sure everything is working correctly."
Gavin Andresen announcing the first Bitcoin 'faucet'. Source: Bitcointalk.
Later, these tools became extremely popular. The owners of these sites displayed ads on their pages, allowing revenue generation to repurchase the fractions of bitcoins donated to visitors.
As it became increasingly easier to buy Bitcoin, including small fractions, these sites began to disappear.
In any case, they are always remembered by those who experienced that phase. Among the examples is Bruno Perini, from the You Are Rich channel, who accumulated 9 bitcoins with these tools.
First Bitcoin faucet will be revived by investor
Literally translated, 'faucet' means tap. The name is given because it is a tool that 'drips bitcoins' to those who want to experience the uses of cryptocurrency without any cost other than their time to solve CAPTCHAs against bots.
Charlie Shrem, famous Bitcoin investor, stated this Sunday (4) that he will be reviving the first faucet in history, created by Gavin Andresen, the developer who took over the leadership of the project after Satoshi Nakamoto's departure.
"Working to get the bitcoin faucet back up and running at 21million.com," wrote Shrem.
Working on getting the bitcoin faucet going again at https://t.co/mHkgSR6H41
— Charlie Shrem (@CharlieShrem) May 4, 2025
Upon entering the site, the user encounters a replica of the site created by Andresen in 2010, explaining that 'Bitcoin is a new kind of money' that is not controlled by any government.
"What's the catch? No catch — I want Bitcoin to succeed, so I created this little service to give you some coins to get started. — Gavin Andresen in 2010 (continued by Charlie Shrem in 2025)," points out the site.
Charlie Shrem is reviving the first Bitcoin faucet, created by Gavin Andresen. Source: 21million.
At the time of this writing, the site remains inoperative, showing '0 bitcoin available'. Regardless, the community has shown excitement about the project.
The main question is what the reward will be for each user.
Considering that the old prize was equivalent to $0.25 in 2010, this would mean a reward of 0.0000026 BTC (260 satoshis) at the current exchange rate. Although this won't make anyone rich, it may attract new people to enter the world of cryptocurrencies.
Finally, looking back, this faucet that donated 5 bitcoins may seem like a missed opportunity.
However, it would have been more advantageous to mine or have any job to buy those coins directly. In addition, everyone who earned these bitcoins must have sold them for a low price.