Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency, and it has an interesting history and some fun facts surrounding it. A few of them are listed below.
1. The Mysterious Creator
Bitcoin was created in 2008 by a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Despite the countless efforts to unmask their identity, the real creator remains unknown.
2. Limited Supply
There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins. This cap, coded into Bitcoin's protocol, is designed to emulate the scarcity of precious resources like gold.
3. The First Bitcoin Transaction
In 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world Bitcoin purchase: two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. At today's prices, those pizzas would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars!
4. Bitcoin's Smallest Unit
The smallest unit of Bitcoin is known as satoshi (0.00000001 BTC), and it enables microtransactions, hence making Bitcoin highly divisible.
5. Lost Bitcoins
About 20% of all Bitcoins are presumed to have been lost forever because of forgotten passwords, misplaced wallets, or inaccessible hardware. These cannot be recovered, adding to the scarcity.
