Crypto Giggle
There has certainly been a lot published about Bitcoin over the years, but a lot of Bitcoin’s history gets lost in the shuffle. Over the past ten plus years some crazy and quirky things have taken place in BTC and we though it may be time to put some cool facts on display.
Check out this list of rare Bitcoin facts and never lose a Bitcoin trivia night again!
Contents
#1 Bitcoin in space? Literally!
A popular catch phrase in the Bitcoin community is, "to the moon!". Well Bitcoin is one step closer to literally achieving this objective now that a company called SpaceChain has transacted Bitcoin from space to our boring old planet earth.
SpaceChain's space station installed a hardware wallet that is currently orbiting in space and has the ability to receive and spend Bitcoin. Pretty cool!
#2 Bitcoin’s energy consumption is a hot topic of late
You may have heard the rumblings lately about how negative the impact of Bitcoin mining is on the environment. Recently, Elon Musk penned a Tweet saying that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for the purchase of their vehicles. They stated that Tesla was concerned about the "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining."
This segues into our next fact about Bitcoin. Bitcoin currently consumes more electricity that the entire country of Argentina.
According to Cambridge research, Bitcoin uses 121 terawatt-hours per year, which is more than Argentina. (If you know what terawatts are, bully for you)
#3 You used to be able to receive 5 whole Bitcoins for FREE!
In the early days of Bitcoin, devices known as "faucets" were pretty popular. Faucets were a way to receive free Bitcoin (or portions of Bitcoin) for free. You simply entered your BTC address, filled out a captcha and bam free Bitcoin.
Back when Bitcoin needed exposure, faucets were a neat way to distribute some coins to curious potential investors and let them own and transact in the space for free.
While many faucets just provided small fractions of Bitcoin, one famous Bitcoin faucet once was giving away 5 whole Bitcoins for free.
If you have a time machine laying around, head back to 2010 and claim your 5 free Bitcoins, today worth 250k.
#4 You can pay for citizenship with Bitcoin
Scroll your Google maps out to the South Pacific Ocean and find the beautiful island of Vanuatu.
Wikipedia lists Vanuatu as a great location for scuba diving, underwater cavern exploration and some neat WW2 era relics.
But even cooler than all that is the fact that you can now apply for their citizen investment program using Bitcoin to pay your 180k application fee.
While we feel the need to point out that you can't directly pay with Bitcoin, but there are third party infrastructures that will facilitate the transaction.
#5 You can pay for college using Bitcoin
Got some spare Bitcoin? Looking to further your high education?
Now you can pay for your college tuition using Bitcoin at Kings College in New York City.
The private, liberal arts college began accepting Bitcoin for tuition payments in 2014 and at the time became the first US-based, accredited college to do so.
While the most recent article we can find confirming this is from 2019, you may want to email the admissions team before submitting your application.
#6 The first Bitcoin ATM was in Canada
Back in 2013, history was made when the very first Bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada.
A now-defunct company called Robocoin set the record in for the world's first Bitcoin ATM, however the first US-based ATM was setup in a cigar bar in New Mexico.
Bitcoin ATMs allow you to purchase Bitcoin in-person using cash or debit card. The kiosks look like traditional ATMs and function fairly similar. Generally you are asked to submit some information about yourself and many times even scan your face and your ID.
Bitcoin ATMs have dwindled in popularity lately with the convenience of monster companies like Coinbase and Gemini, but they definitely represent a significant milestone in Bitcoin history.
Comments
Loading…