Interesting things you might not know about bitcoin.

There is a lot of noise going around about bitcoin, and many people adore it. Bitcoin as an international sensation has brought out a massive technological revolution in fintech. Programmers and investors alike are invested in understanding blockchain more deeply, owing to the benefits cryptocurrency reaps for them.

Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency is very prevalent in Australia. A recent Finder survey of 1004 people revealed that 1 in 4 people are planning to invest in cryptocurrency or have already invested. That is equivalent to almost 5 million crypto investors in the country. So, you must have planned to buy bitcoin with AUD.

More people than ever are now investing in cryptocurrency, some are even looking for alternatives, and there are theories that blockchain may help eradicate world poverty.

Popular and trending as it is, there are some interesting facts about bitcoin you did not know. Here are some of the facts that even investors might not know.

1. The mysterious creator

Satoshi Nakamoto is a name given to the people or a person who introduced bitcoin to the world back in 2009. However, the last known activity from the person mentioned earlier or group is from 2010, and then they vanished off the internet. So nobody knows anything about the creator, and the identities are a complete mystery. Moreover, the creator holds the world’s biggest bitcoin wallet with an estimated 980,000 bitcoins, making him one of the wealthiest people.

2. The first bitcoin transaction was to buy pizza.

The first known actual bitcoin transaction was done on May 22, 2010, by a programmer who had invested in 10,000 bitcoins and decided to spend them all on two Papa John’s pizza.

Safe to say, the programmer had the world’s most expensive pizza as this 10,000 bitcoin are worth approximately AUD47 million, as of June 2021.

3. You can lose your bitcoin if you lose your key.

Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrency transactions are done using a public key and a private key. A private key is a link that enables you to keep your Bitcoin wallet safe and confidential. Losing your private key means you can not access your wallet, and thus you lose all your BTC.

Research shows that more than sixty per cent of Bitcoin addresses are ghosts which means many people who have ever bought bitcoins have lost their key.

4. Caused a massive uptick in the mining industry

Bitcoin mining can be profitable and more people are doing it than ever. But there are lots of factors involved and massive upfront investment to start.

To successfully earn profits from mining, one needs to buy and run hardware in bulk simultaneously. Moreover, ensure enough storage and proper infrastructure to keep them running efficiently. This has led to the opening of mining farms.

5. The bitcoin network is the most powerful in the world.

A bit geeky thing here – an Exaflop is a unit of measurement that counts to one quintillion operations per second. A computer with one Exaflop capacity can perform one quintillion, which is 1018 functions in a second.

So, the decentralisation of the blockchain means the users enjoy the computing power of a whole slew of computers worldwide. For example, the bitcoin system currently has the power of 64 exaflops, which is more than 500 supercomputers combined, as their combined computing power is a quarter of an Exaflop.

Many countries are opening up to the concept of cryptocurrencies, which validates this wave and secures its future. There are tons of risk factors too of investing in crypto as the market is highly volatile. If you are one of those 5 million people in Australia and plan to buy Bitcoin with AUD, do your research well not to lose any money in the market.