22 Bitcoin interesting facts

[jademaxsuy]

22 Bitcoin interesting facts

1. The first Bitcoin purchase was for guess it … pizza. - May 22 is Bitcoin Pizza Day! Two pizzas were exchanged by Papa Johns for 10,000 BTC, this being the first officially documented purchase using bitcoins. At that time 10,000 BTC was worth only $41! That’s around $25 million in today’s value.



2. Bitcoin is untraceable & Bitcoin is NOT untraceable.
When you make any transaction using bitcoin your identity is never used in any form whatsoever. Only your ‘public’ identity is visible. But there is a but…The ‘blockchain’ is a ledger in a permanent form, this is transparent so if anyone knows your public address they could see the amount of bitcoins you hold and what transactions you have made. It is said this how the FBI found and captured the owner of Silk Road.



3. Bitcoins do not grow on trees.
Just like money bitcoins do not grow on trees! Of course, unlike money, you can never feel, touch or print bitcoin.
Bitcoins are mined on a network called the blockchain only existing when a miner finds and ‘mines’ bitcoin blocks. Currently, the mining power of the Bitcoin network is over 300 times more powerful than the 5 top supercomputers of the world combined!



4. 21 million bitcoins there can never be more.
Bitcoin’s supply is, of course, finite, it has to end somewhere right?
It’s true 21 million bitcoins is the limit, there can never ever be any more after that. Currently, around 16 million bitcoins have been mined and are being traded. It is predicted that the very last bitcoin will be mined around 2140. After that, there will be no new bitcoins that can be mined.



5. Bitcoin cannot be banned
Due to the nature of Bitcoin, there is always a talk about banning it. Bitcoin works outside the traditional banking system so attracts a lot of hostility. However, its design ensures that it cannot be banned however it can be regulated. If you have an internet connection and a bitcoin wallet you can invest in bitcoin.
This hasn’t stopped many countries trying to ban it. Bolivia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh, for example, have all tried. Other more accommodating countries such as Russia, Japan, Australia and Venezuela have made bitcoin legal tender and regulated it. Finally, some countries like India and the USA are not clear and have not defined an official policy regarding cryptocurrencies yet.
In short, Bitcoin can’t be buried or pushed away. That is the real beauty of Bitcoin!



6. You can load of great stuff with Bitcoin.
So what can you buy with bitcoins?
Here are just some of the goods you can buy with Bitcoin : Starbucks coffee, many online food, travel items, flight tickets, funeral items (only in USA), tesla cars, online gambling, luxury items, you even can support charities and many more!



7. Who created it?
Although Satoshi Nakamoto has been credited with developing Bitcoin in 2009, we know that most certainly this is a pseudonym for a single person or a group of people who were working on the idea. Nakamoto vanished from the Internet back in 2011, leaving only a few clues as to who he/they might be.

Over the years, there were many people who have publicly came out as Satoshi. However, most of them failed to support their statements with solid facts.

Dorian Nakamoto from California was given the title of Bitcoin “creator” by a journalist who thought that there were many similarities between the two Nakamotos. This claim was disproved by Dorian, though.

Probably the most well-known case of someone claiming to be Satoshi is that of Craig S. Wright, an Australian academic. He has tried multiple times to provide evidence, however, hasn’t been successful to this day. All the “proof” turned out to be fabricated.

Many people agree that the creator of the first decentralised currency should probably remain anonymous due to the nature of their creation. After all, removing the one single identity that can be associated with Bitcoin removes every influence on politics, rules and decision-making of the community.

8. The FBI is owning one of the largest Bitcoin wallets
A few years ago, the FBI shut down the Silk Road which was a big black market website where Bitcoin was frequently used to make different purchases. FBI acquired all the Bitcoins that were circulating around the website, which is around 1.5% of all the world’s Bitcoin.

That may not sound like a huge amount but looking at the big picture, 1.5% is considerably a huge amount for one entity to own.

9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, you’ll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.

It's thought that around 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply is 'lost', primarily due to misplaced or stolen keys, or laptops or computers that have been discarded.

10.Transactions can't be reversed.
More conventional forms of payment, such as bank transfer, can be tracked and, if needed, reversed. This isn't the case with Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading. Once the money has been sent, you can't recoup it. It's vital, therefore, that you double-check the address you're sending the funds to.




11. More powerful than supercomputers
According to some experts, Bitcoin networks have a computing power of over 2,046,364 Pflop/s. To give you a clear idea of how much that is, the computing power of 500 supercomputers would give you around 274 Pflop/s.

12. Bitcoin has been sent to space
In 2016, the cryptocurrency became the first to make it out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space. Cloud provider Genesis Mining tied a Bitcoin paper wallet and a 3D model of Bitcoin to a weather balloon, using a GoPro to track its progress. Successful transactions were carried out at 20 and 34 kilometres altitude.

13. A unit of Bitcoin is called a 'Satoshi byte'
Just as dollars can be divided into cents and pounds into pence, Bitcoins also have their own denominations, but they're much smaller. Named after the mysterious inventor of the cryptocurrency, 1 Satoshi byte is worth 0.00000001 Bitcoin, a tiny amount!

14. Bitcoin transactions cost almost nothing
PayPal and banks require their customers to pay transaction and other types of service fees. The good news is that Bitcoin transactions can be carried out free of charge because there's no middleman! True, some exchanges charge a small fee, but this is simply to pay those who 'mine' Bitcoin and release it into the system.



15. The sender/receiver details are hidden
Bitcoin addresses are a long string composed of 34 alphanumeric characters. Just by using this address it’s impossible to know who’s the recipient. That’s one of the main reasons why Bitcoin is a preferred method of conducting illegal transactions. Most wallet programs also assign each user a portfolio ID, used as a username, to further protect the privacy of the senders/receivers.

16. Bitcoin is very volatile
Bitcoin is highly volatile. The world’s largest digital currency has surely generated a great return for some investors. However, Bitcoin has a highly volatile nature which undermines its ability to function as a proper currency. Predictions have also been made that Bitcoin might fall in the future if it follows its current path.

17. Bitcoin creates a lot of energy
Bitcoin mining is a big business and it requires vast amounts of computer processing power. Various estimates of just how much CO2 it uses equate to around one million transatlantic flights, or the equivalent of the energy output of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Hungary or Peru.

Basically, if Bitcoin miners were a country, they would rank 61st in the world in terms of electricity consumption. It has been said that around 2.5 million people could be powered by Bitcoin mining and this is something we have to consider in the future.

While Bitcoin has undoubtedly disrupted the technology sector in recent years, its incredibly wasteful process needs to be improved.

18. Bitcoin is created through mining
Speaking of mining and energy, let’s talk about how Bitcoin is created.

The process is called mining and the core technology behind it is called Blockchain technology. It’s dependent on a network of nodes, ensuring the integrity of transaction history by achieving consensus.

One part of the process is called validation.

Once a transaction has been validated, nodes need to race, using trial/error to solve a mathematical puzzle of high difficulty levels, requiring heavy computing resources.

The first computer in the network that manages to solve the equation will be rewarded with Bitcoins. This process is called “mining Bitcoins” and the protocol is referred to as Proof of Work (PoW).

Bitcoin mining process serves two purposes:

It allows the creation of new Bitcoins
Facilitates the processing of transactions in the network
Bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy, hardware and bandwidth. Therefore, if you plan on doing this at home, the cost of electricity will likely outweigh the value of Bitcoins you will end up mining, so keep that in mind.  



19. You have to account for Bitcoin on your taxes
Regulations for Bitcoin are in fact still in the making, however, the U.S. government has declared that Bitcoin - as well as other cryptocurrencies - are in fact capital assets, just like bonds and stocks. Keep in mind that if you don’t account for the Bitcoins you are in possession of, you could be on the hook for tax evasion.

Make sure you double-check the laws in your country and follow them correctly.

20. Value overflow incident
We’ve already mentioned that Bitcoin has a limit of 21 million in circulation. However, something bizarre happened on August 2010, known as the “value overflow incident”. A vulnerability in code allowed someone to conduct a transaction, resulting in the creation of over 180 million bitcoins.

The error was taken care of right away and we got our limit of 21 million Bitcoins back.
21. Bitcoin was not the first attempt at making a P2P digital currency.
Many people think that Bitcoin was the first attempt at making a digital currency, Well, it’s not exactly like that.

Wei Dai’s B-Money, Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold, Adam Back’s Hashcash and David Chaum’s DigiCash were the precursors to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, each of those currencies failed to gain traction because of their proposed centralised systems.



22. Not the only one to watch out for
Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading.

Right now, there are over 2,500 cryptocurrencies in total.

Ethereum, for instance, is another popular cryptocurrency that was funded through crowd-funding and went live back in 2014.

There are differences, however. Ethereum exists within its own network and is used more for gambling, investing, dApps (decentralised applications) and smart contracts rather than for everyday purchases.


source:

https://trading-education.com/insane-bitcoin-facts-you-should-know
https://brainberries.co/interesting/6-interesting-bitcoin-facts-you-should-know/
 

[20kevin20]

2. Bitcoin is untraceable & Bitcoin is NOT untraceable.
When you make any transaction using bitcoin your identity is never used in any form whatsoever. Only your ‘public’ identity is visible. But there is a but…The ‘blockchain’ is a ledger in a permanent form, this is transparent so if anyone knows your public address they could see the amount of bitcoins you hold and what transactions you have made. It is said this how the FBI found and captured the owner of Silk Road.

Bitcoin is mostly traceable because most people use it without caring about their identity being possibly exposed on the ledger. Being a transparent and public ledger, any little leak stays forever stored in an immutable record. When you make transactions through Bitcoin, you actually leave traces. One of them could be your IP address, which is sometimes more than enough for a bad actor to identify you or other addresses you own.

4. 21 million bitcoins there can never be more.
[/b]Bitcoin’s supply is, of course, finite, it has to end somewhere right?
It’s true 21 million bitcoins is the limit, there can never ever be any more after that. Currently, around 16 million bitcoins have been mined and are being traded. It is predicted that the very last bitcoin will be mined around 2140. After that, there will be no new bitcoins that can be mined.

As a little update (the article seems to be a bit old), there currently are around 18.5M Bitcoins in existence - not 16M. I'd argue that the fact that 18.5M coins exist doesn't mean they're in circulation - in fact, a ton of these coins are dormant or lost.

5. Bitcoin cannot be banned

I mean, theoretically, it can be. India did it and so did other countries. You can still use the network even if the government says you shouldn't, but you can also purchase drugs and guns illegally, can't you? Who'd risk having the FBI or some cops knock at their door for using BTC in an illegal country tho?

14. Bitcoin transactions cost almost nothing

This has unfortunately changed and it's now a bit more expensive to use Bitcoin than some people could afford. This actually helps create Bitcoin a safe haven asset though, as it is quite costly to pay miner fees for everyday transactions - especially if you want them to be quickly confirmed.

15. The sender/receiver details are hidden
Bitcoin addresses are a long string composed of 34 alphanumeric characters. Just by using this address it’s impossible to know who’s the recipient. That’s one of the main reasons why Bitcoin is a preferred method of conducting illegal transactions. Most wallet programs also assign each user a portfolio ID, used as a username, to further protect the privacy of the senders/receivers.

Oh no, not again! I'd bet $100 on the fact that over half of those willing to scam people or commit crimes going for this "my details are hidden" principle mess up and actually leak significant details about themselves but either the victim didn't want the authorities to know they're using BTC or the scam was just way too low for the authorities to make a case out of it at all. We have usernames here as well, and that does not necessarily give us privacy from other members.

While Bitcoin has undoubtedly disrupted the technology sector in recent years, its incredibly wasteful process needs to be improved.

Just imagine how much energy is wasted by most people at least twice a day to charge their smartphones only to double tap Instagram posts and watch porn all day long. Imagine how much waste the governments create by testing out underground or underwater nuclear bombs. If we're talking about energy waste and environmental damages, there are way more significant ones we could reconsider.

Right now, there are over 2,500 cryptocurrencies in total.

Over 7,000 shitcoins on CoinMarketCap and counting. That's insane.

[ILuckyGuyI]

9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, you’ll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.

It's thought that around 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply is 'lost', primarily due to misplaced or stolen keys, or laptops or computers that have been discarded.

This is one of the things that I don't like about Bitcoin. I think that a solution needs to be created for this situation. We should reach our wallets somehow when we accidentally lose our private key.

[jossiel]

21. Right.

In case someone's interested in David Chaum. He has crypto projects that you can also look at but it's your call if you'll support or invest in it. Currently, he has two projects, the Elixxir and Praxxis.

https://xx.network/elixxir
https://xx.network/praxxis

[Charles-Tim]

9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, you’ll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.

You need to know how private key and password are different. Password only give you access to the wallet on your device. If the password is lost, you can still use private key to recover back your wallet on another device. Also know that seed phrase can be used also to recover back the wallet, so far the wallet support BIP39 seed phrase.

17. Bitcoin creates a lot of energy
Bitcoin mining is a big business and it requires vast amounts of computer processing power. Various estimates of just how much CO2 it uses equate to around one million transatlantic flights, or the equivalent of the energy output of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Hungary or Peru.

Basically, if Bitcoin miners were a country, they would rank 61st in the world in terms of electricity consumption. It has been said that around 2.5 million people could be powered by Bitcoin mining and this is something we have to consider in the future.

While Bitcoin has undoubtedly disrupted the technology sector in recent years, its incredibly wasteful process needs to be improved.

You are not fully right, bitcoin consumes electricity but it is not a waste of energy, bitcoin even produce energy. So far the electricity used are legal and are paid for. It is even helping the electricity company to have a service to provide. About it adding to global warming, what about all other human activities that added to global warming. The significant reason that scientists have proven to cause global warming is deforestation not bitcoin mining. You do not talk about Amazon wide fire, or the wide fire in California and in many places of the world that are reducing the trees that makes carbondioxide to trap more heat into the earth. Also, governments and private sectors providing the electricity can move away from sources that produces greenhouse gas and move towards the ones that do not produce greenhouse gas.

14. Bitcoin transactions cost almost nothing
This has unfortunately changed and it's now a bit more expensive to use Bitcoin than some people could afford. This actually helps create Bitcoin a safe haven asset though, as it is quite costly to pay miner fees for everyday transactions - especially if you want them to be quickly confirmed.

I get your point, you are definitely right. But, I still like bitcoin for one thing, I can still make transactions with as low as 15 satoshi per vbyte or even lower. I still make  use of low fee a lot. But, what is now important is to use of low fee but a fast clearance time. Normally, the lower the fee the higher the time before confirmation. Bitcoin transaction scalability need to be truly addressed. But, I noticed OP compared it with PayPal and other normal fiat transaction which have higher fee with constant price, but bitcoin fee is not constant and still lower to such. Only the clearance time is the issue as of now not the fee in we look deep into it.

[rockzvi]

22 Bitcoin interesting facts

1. The first Bitcoin purchase was for guess it … pizza. - May 22 is Bitcoin Pizza Day! Two pizzas were exchanged by Papa Johns for 10,000 BTC, this being the first officially documented purchase using bitcoins. At that time 10,000 BTC was worth only $41! That’s around $25 million in today’s value.
https://img-cdn.brainberries.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Interesting-Bitcoin-Facts-You-Should-Know-1.jpg


2. Bitcoin is untraceable & Bitcoin is NOT untraceable.
When you make any transaction using bitcoin your identity is never used in any form whatsoever. Only your ‘public’ identity is visible. But there is a but…The ‘blockchain’ is a ledger in a permanent form, this is transparent so if anyone knows your public address they could see the amount of bitcoins you hold and what transactions you have made. It is said this how the FBI found and captured the owner of Silk Road.
https://img-cdn.brainberries.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Interesting-Bitcoin-Facts-You-Should-Know-2.png


3. Bitcoins do not grow on trees.
Just like money bitcoins do not grow on trees! Of course, unlike money, you can never feel, touch or print bitcoin.
Bitcoins are mined on a network called the blockchain only existing when a miner finds and ‘mines’ bitcoin blocks. Currently, the mining power of the Bitcoin network is over 300 times more powerful than the 5 top supercomputers of the world combined!
https://img-cdn.brainberries.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Interesting-Bitcoin-Facts-You-Should-Know-3.jpg


4. 21 million bitcoins there can never be more.
Bitcoin’s supply is, of course, finite, it has to end somewhere right?
It’s true 21 million bitcoins is the limit, there can never ever be any more after that. Currently, around 16 million bitcoins have been mined and are being traded. It is predicted that the very last bitcoin will be mined around 2140. After that, there will be no new bitcoins that can be mined.
https://img-cdn.brainberries.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Interesting-Bitcoin-Facts-You-Should-Know-4.jpg


5. Bitcoin cannot be banned
Due to the nature of Bitcoin, there is always a talk about banning it. Bitcoin works outside the traditional banking system so attracts a lot of hostility. However, its design ensures that it cannot be banned however it can be regulated. If you have an internet connection and a bitcoin wallet you can invest in bitcoin.
This hasn’t stopped many countries trying to ban it. Bolivia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh, for example, have all tried. Other more accommodating countries such as Russia, Japan, Australia and Venezuela have made bitcoin legal tender and regulated it. Finally, some countries like India and the USA are not clear and have not defined an official policy regarding cryptocurrencies yet.
In short, Bitcoin can’t be buried or pushed away. That is the real beauty of Bitcoin!
https://img-cdn.brainberries.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Interesting-Bitcoin-Facts-You-Should-Know-5.jpg


6. You can load of great stuff with Bitcoin.
So what can you buy with bitcoins?
Here are just some of the goods you can buy with Bitcoin : Starbucks coffee, many online food, travel items, flight tickets, funeral items (only in USA), tesla cars, online gambling, luxury items, you even can support charities and many more!
https://img-cdn.brainberries.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Interesting-Bitcoin-Facts-You-Should-Know-6.jpg


7. Who created it?
Although Satoshi Nakamoto has been credited with developing Bitcoin in 2009, we know that most certainly this is a pseudonym for a single person or a group of people who were working on the idea. Nakamoto vanished from the Internet back in 2011, leaving only a few clues as to who he/they might be.

Over the years, there were many people who have publicly came out as Satoshi. However, most of them failed to support their statements with solid facts.

Dorian Nakamoto from California was given the title of Bitcoin “creator” by a journalist who thought that there were many similarities between the two Nakamotos. This claim was disproved by Dorian, though.

Probably the most well-known case of someone claiming to be Satoshi is that of Craig S. Wright, an Australian academic. He has tried multiple times to provide evidence, however, hasn’t been successful to this day. All the “proof” turned out to be fabricated.

Many people agree that the creator of the first decentralised currency should probably remain anonymous due to the nature of their creation. After all, removing the one single identity that can be associated with Bitcoin removes every influence on politics, rules and decision-making of the community.

8. The FBI is owning one of the largest Bitcoin wallets
A few years ago, the FBI shut down the Silk Road which was a big black market website where Bitcoin was frequently used to make different purchases. FBI acquired all the Bitcoins that were circulating around the website, which is around 1.5% of all the world’s Bitcoin.

That may not sound like a huge amount but looking at the big picture, 1.5% is considerably a huge amount for one entity to own.

9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, you’ll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.

It's thought that around 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply is 'lost', primarily due to misplaced or stolen keys, or laptops or computers that have been discarded.

10.Transactions can't be reversed.
More conventional forms of payment, such as bank transfer, can be tracked and, if needed, reversed. This isn't the case with Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading. Once the money has been sent, you can't recoup it. It's vital, therefore, that you double-check the address you're sending the funds to.
https://app.trading-education.com/photos/Transactions-can_t-be-reversed.jpg



11. More powerful than supercomputers
According to some experts, Bitcoin networks have a computing power of over 2,046,364 Pflop/s. To give you a clear idea of how much that is, the computing power of 500 supercomputers would give you around 274 Pflop/s.

12. Bitcoin has been sent to space
In 2016, the cryptocurrency became the first to make it out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space. Cloud provider Genesis Mining tied a Bitcoin paper wallet and a 3D model of Bitcoin to a weather balloon, using a GoPro to track its progress. Successful transactions were carried out at 20 and 34 kilometres altitude.

13. A unit of Bitcoin is called a 'Satoshi byte'
Just as dollars can be divided into cents and pounds into pence, Bitcoins also have their own denominations, but they're much smaller. Named after the mysterious inventor of the cryptocurrency, 1 Satoshi byte is worth 0.00000001 Bitcoin, a tiny amount!

14. Bitcoin transactions cost almost nothing
PayPal and banks require their customers to pay transaction and other types of service fees. The good news is that Bitcoin transactions can be carried out free of charge because there's no middleman! True, some exchanges charge a small fee, but this is simply to pay those who 'mine' Bitcoin and release it into the system.
https://app.trading-education.com/photos/Bitcoin-transactions-costs-are-almost-nothing.jpg


15. The sender/receiver details are hidden
Bitcoin addresses are a long string composed of 34 alphanumeric characters. Just by using this address it’s impossible to know who’s the recipient. That’s one of the main reasons why Bitcoin is a preferred method of conducting illegal transactions. Most wallet programs also assign each user a portfolio ID, used as a username, to further protect the privacy of the senders/receivers.

16. Bitcoin is very volatile
Bitcoin is highly volatile. The world’s largest digital currency has surely generated a great return for some investors. However, Bitcoin has a highly volatile nature which undermines its ability to function as a proper currency. Predictions have also been made that Bitcoin might fall in the future if it follows its current path.

17. Bitcoin creates a lot of energy
Bitcoin mining is a big business and it requires vast amounts of computer processing power. Various estimates of just how much CO2 it uses equate to around one million transatlantic flights, or the equivalent of the energy output of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Hungary or Peru.

Basically, if Bitcoin miners were a country, they would rank 61st in the world in terms of electricity consumption. It has been said that around 2.5 million people could be powered by Bitcoin mining and this is something we have to consider in the future.

While Bitcoin has undoubtedly disrupted the technology sector in recent years, its incredibly wasteful process needs to be improved.

18. Bitcoin is created through mining
Speaking of mining and energy, let’s talk about how Bitcoin is created.

The process is called mining and the core technology behind it is called Blockchain technology. It’s dependent on a network of nodes, ensuring the integrity of transaction history by achieving consensus.

One part of the process is called validation.

Once a transaction has been validated, nodes need to race, using trial/error to solve a mathematical puzzle of high difficulty levels, requiring heavy computing resources.

The first computer in the network that manages to solve the equation will be rewarded with Bitcoins. This process is called “mining Bitcoins” and the protocol is referred to as Proof of Work (PoW).

Bitcoin mining process serves two purposes:

It allows the creation of new Bitcoins
Facilitates the processing of transactions in the network
Bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy, hardware and bandwidth. Therefore, if you plan on doing this at home, the cost of electricity will likely outweigh the value of Bitcoins you will end up mining, so keep that in mind.  
https://app.trading-education.com/photos/Bitcoin-is-created-through-mining.jpg


19. You have to account for Bitcoin on your taxes
Regulations for Bitcoin are in fact still in the making, however, the U.S. government has declared that Bitcoin - as well as other cryptocurrencies - are in fact capital assets, just like bonds and stocks. Keep in mind that if you don’t account for the Bitcoins you are in possession of, you could be on the hook for tax evasion.

Make sure you double-check the laws in your country and follow them correctly.

20. Value overflow incident
We’ve already mentioned that Bitcoin has a limit of 21 million in circulation. However, something bizarre happened on August 2010, known as the “value overflow incident”. A vulnerability in code allowed someone to conduct a transaction, resulting in the creation of over 180 million bitcoins.

The error was taken care of right away and we got our limit of 21 million Bitcoins back.
21. Bitcoin was not the first attempt at making a P2P digital currency.
Many people think that Bitcoin was the first attempt at making a digital currency, Well, it’s not exactly like that.

Wei Dai’s B-Money, Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold, Adam Back’s Hashcash and David Chaum’s DigiCash were the precursors to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, each of those currencies failed to gain traction because of their proposed centralised systems.
https://app.trading-education.com/photos/Bitcoin-was-not-the-first-attempt-at-making-a-digital-currency.jpg


22. Not the only one to watch out for
Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading.

Right now, there are over 2,500 cryptocurrencies in total.

Ethereum, for instance, is another popular cryptocurrency that was funded through crowd-funding and went live back in 2014.

There are differences, however. Ethereum exists within its own network and is used more for gambling, investing, dApps (decentralised applications) and smart contracts rather than for everyday purchases.


Reference:

https://trading-education.com/insane-bitcoin-facts-you-should-know
https://brainberries.co/interesting/6-interesting-bitcoin-facts-you-should-know/
 

I knew about many facts, but some information was interesting to me. Bitcoin is imperfect, but what is perfect in our world? In any case, this cryptocurrency has many advantages, so I am sure that the future belongs to it.

[Ryker1]

[snip]
13. A unit of Bitcoin is called a 'Satoshi byte'
Just as dollars can be divided into cents and pounds into pence, Bitcoins also have their own denominations, but they're much smaller. Named after the mysterious inventor of the cryptocurrency, 1 Satoshi byte is worth 0.00000001 Bitcoin, a tiny amount!

Well, this is quite to have a correction in typo, it should be the smallest unit of bitcoin. But that is not the tiniest one, ^[millatoshi] is the smallest and tiny unit of bitcoin fraction. There is someone who makes the thread bitcoin table of the unit, [ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5239694 ], you will know from the whole number of bitcoin to the smallest fraction of bitcoin amount and their corresponding names.
It is indeed a good compilation, the basic informations of bitcoin.

[Kemarit]

For those who wanted to have an idea as to #20 value overflow, you can read it here: Strange block 74638.

And it seems that it is outdated though, #4, we already mine more than $18 million BTC.

Another 40 Interesting Facts About Bitcoin You Don't Know thread.

[maxreish]

Indeed interesting facts. This one is what I like the most;

12. Bitcoin has been sent to space
In 2016, the cryptocurrency became the first to make it out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space. Cloud provider Genesis Mining tied a Bitcoin paper wallet and a 3D model of Bitcoin to a weather balloon, using a GoPro to track its progress. Successful transactions were carried out at 20 and 34 kilometres altitude.

Never thought they had tested it's transaction transfer with a weather balloon. Anyway, it was done successfully with no hassle at all. That balloon was actually lasted for about 2 hours.

5. Bitcoin cannot be banned
In other words,  they may control the usage of bitcoin but can not totally banned or deminished it. They will just create strict regulations about bitcoin but come to think of it, they really can't banned it. Offline sending bitcoin in emails, use of vpns, etc. There's a certain lot of way  to still access bitcoin.

[meanwords]

9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, you’ll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.

It's thought that around 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply is 'lost', primarily due to misplaced or stolen keys, or laptops or computers that have been discarded.

This is one of the things that I don't like about Bitcoin. I think that a solution needs to be created for this situation. We should reach our wallets somehow when we accidentally lose our private key.

This key feature is essential to security and decentralization. It gives a sense of importance to the wallet which helps people/users reminded that their private key is a very important thing that they need to secure properly. I don't think it's a problem that should be given a solution. This is part of decentralization. It's not like users aren't given a choice. There are various ways to secure a private key like for example, writing it down, printing it, or if you are crazy enough, tattooing to your body (not recommended of course).

[erikoy]

There are constant change and those change were being mention above by other users. There are other bitcoimln facts that are not listed to OP. Just made some update whenever you read the other posts as well.

For now, bitcoin has influenced a lot of users lately. There is no telling that even other countries that are banning the use od bitcoin still could manage to buy bitcoin and trade. It could be trace but each countries has facing major problems and this will not become a priority unless more and more people will get involve and more complains will be made especially if users will get scam not by bitcoin but from the scammers and hackers around.

[taufik123]

This is one of the things that I don't like about Bitcoin. I think that a solution needs to be created for this situation. We should reach our wallets somehow when we accidentally lose our private key.

The right and most secure solution is to secure your private key in your own way, because the private key of your wallet is your responsibility. There are many ways you can do to secure your private key, one of which is by writing on a sheet of paper and you save it, record on your device and files in your document then save it properly and many other ways.

For the use of hardware wallets, it can also be the most secure option, your wallet will be guaranteed security and you can store your private keys on the plate board that has been provided on the hardware wallet.

Losing a private key accidentally is an omission that will harm you, make sure everything is safe and you can access it. Your money or assets are your own responsibility.

[Xembin]

Your bitcoin is your bitcoin, I think this one is part of the bitcoin interesting fact.  Any kind of exchange you do here,your profit is your profit that is what you gain from your investment.
Bitcoin is not a magic that you will really for where you didn't sow, I think is also part of the bitcoin interesting fact. You must work for you to make profit.

[Wind_FURY]

There are some minor mistakes from the OP.

2. Bitcoin is untraceable & Bitcoin is NOT untraceable.
When you make any transaction using bitcoin your identity is never used in any form whatsoever. Only your ‘public’ identity is visible. But there is a but…The ‘blockchain’ is a ledger in a permanent form, this is transparent so if anyone knows your public address they could see the amount of bitcoins you hold and what transactions you have made. It is said this how the FBI found and captured the owner of Silk Road.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous, but it's traceable. Be careful if you're dealing with someone from the dark market.

3. Bitcoins do not grow on trees.
Just like money bitcoins do not grow on trees! Of course, unlike money, you can never feel, touch or print bitcoin.
Bitcoins are mined on a network called the blockchain only existing when a miner finds and ‘mines’ bitcoin blocks. Currently, the mining power of the Bitcoin network is over 300 times more powerful than the 5 top supercomputers of the world combined!

The "blockchain" is not the Bitcoin network. The "blockchain" is a database.

5. Bitcoin cannot be banned
Due to the nature of Bitcoin, there is always a talk about banning it. Bitcoin works outside the traditional banking system so attracts a lot of hostility. However, its design ensures that it cannot be banned however it can be regulated. If you have an internet connection and a bitcoin wallet you can invest in bitcoin.
This hasn’t stopped many countries trying to ban it. Bolivia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh, for example, have all tried. Other more accommodating countries such as Russia, Japan, Australia and Venezuela have made bitcoin legal tender and regulated it. Finally, some countries like India and the USA are not clear and have not defined an official policy regarding cryptocurrencies yet.
In short, Bitcoin can’t be buried or pushed away.

Better term, "censorship-resistant".

8. The FBI is owning one of the largest Bitcoin wallets
A few years ago, the FBI shut down the Silk Road which was a big black market website where Bitcoin was frequently used to make different purchases. FBI acquired all the Bitcoins that were circulating around the website, which is around 1.5% of all the world’s Bitcoin.

That may not sound like a huge amount but looking at the big picture, 1.5% is considerably a huge amount for one entity to own.

Weren't those coins auctioned?

9.If you lose your private key (Bitcoin wallet), you lose your Bitcoins.
You store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet. You can log in and check your balance. One thing, though, you have to be very careful when it comes to storing your password and key, which is what allows you to access your digital Bitcoin wallet. If you lose this access, you’ll lose access to your Bitcoin wallet and the amount you have inside.

It's thought that around 20% of the entire Bitcoin supply is 'lost', primarily due to misplaced or stolen keys, or laptops or computers that have been discarded.

Your private key is not your wallet. It's what you use to sign and allows you to spend Bitcoins.

14. Bitcoin transactions cost almost nothing
PayPal and banks require their customers to pay transaction and other types of service fees. The good news is that Bitcoin transactions can be carried out free of charge because there's no middleman! True, some exchanges charge a small fee, but this is simply to pay those who 'mine' Bitcoin and release it into the system.

Wrong. There's someone always bearing the costs to transact in the network.

15. The sender/receiver details are hidden
Bitcoin addresses are a long string composed of 34 alphanumeric characters. Just by using this address it’s impossible to know who’s the recipient. That’s one of the main reasons why Bitcoin is a preferred method of conducting illegal transactions. Most wallet programs also assign each user a portfolio ID, used as a username, to further protect the privacy of the senders/receivers.

Wrong. It's not impossible, and sender/receiver details in the blockchain are not hidden.

17. Bitcoin creates a lot of energy
Bitcoin mining is a big business and it requires vast amounts of computer processing power. Various estimates of just how much CO2 it uses equate to around one million transatlantic flights, or the equivalent of the energy output of the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Hungary or Peru.

Basically, if Bitcoin miners were a country, they would rank 61st in the world in terms of electricity consumption. It has been said that around 2.5 million people could be powered by Bitcoin mining and this is something we have to consider in the future.

While Bitcoin has undoubtedly disrupted the technology sector in recent years, its incredibly wasteful process needs to be improved.

Wrong. Bitcoin miners mine in places where there's energy surplus, that electricity generation would have been wasted if it was not used.

18. Bitcoin is created through mining
Speaking of mining and energy, let’s talk about how Bitcoin is created.

The process is called mining and the core technology behind it is called Blockchain technology. It’s dependent on a network of nodes, ensuring the integrity of transaction history by achieving consensus.

That's wrong, let me stop you there. The core of Bitcoin technology is in the Proof of Work. It's the lacking aspect of all the attempts to develop a successful decentralized digital currency in the past.

21. Bitcoin was not the first attempt at making a P2P digital currency.
Many people think that Bitcoin was the first attempt at making a digital currency, Well, it’s not exactly like that.

Wei Dai’s B-Money, Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold, Adam Back’s Hashcash and David Chaum’s DigiCash were the precursors to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, each of those currencies failed to gain traction because of their proposed centralised systems.

They needed Proof of Work!

22. Not the only one to watch out for
Bitcoin is not the only cyber currency, though it remains the most highly valued one. Bitcoin gets almost all the media coverage but these days there are so many cryptocurrencies to choose from if you are interested in investing and trading.

Right now, there are over 2,500 cryptocurrencies in total.

Ethereum, for instance, is another popular cryptocurrency that was funded through crowd-funding and went live back in 2014.

There are differences, however. Ethereum exists within its own network and is used more for gambling, investing, dApps (decentralised applications) and smart contracts rather than for everyday purchases.

Ethereum is a shitcoin.

[Vatimins]

     Most of these facts I have already heard of or read from someone else or from various articles online. Even on some videos of people talking about crypto currency as a whole. But some I haven't seen yet and I am having a good time reading about these other facts that I have never encountered yet. Also those good responses from other members have great stuff too. It's never dull to learn something new everyday specially about things you like. In thus case, about Bitcoin.

[Reatim]

     Most of these facts I have already heard of or read from someone else or from various articles online. Even on some videos of people talking about crypto currency as a whole. But some I haven't seen yet and I am having a good time reading about these other facts that I have never encountered yet. Also those good responses from other members have great stuff too. It's never dull to learn something new everyday specially about things you like. In thus case, about Bitcoin.

Sure that most of articles already talked about those but it is good that Op is sharing it here in forum because not all of us are circling around google.
Most of us are gathering information and news only here in Bitcointalk forum so i think he did a right job here.

Actually i also read most of the points given above but this is still a good read to remind us and spread to others how does it goes and how does it grows.


OP nice thread ,i am out of merit but surely when i cross again here and i have available?will give you a  shot.

[Lucius]

Never thought they had tested it's transaction transfer with a weather balloon. Anyway, it was done successfully with no hassle at all. That balloon was actually lasted for about 2 hours.

It is even more interesting that we have an active bitcoin node on the ISS (international space station) for a little less than a year

OP nice thread ,i am out of merit but surely when i cross again here and i have available?will give you a  shot.

I would still appreciate a little more originality and if the OP at least corrected some outdated facts - because regardless of good intentions, it is still the simplest copy/paste post. What is particularly amazing to me is that Russia has reportedly declared Bitcoin a legal tender, and we all know it has nothing to do with common sense...

[Peanutswar]

Bitcoin can grow trees.

If you will support with your bitcoin to the organization who supports tree planting, many people are using the bitcoin by just as a payment why not use this for donations too you can freely help them.

Also, there are some mistakes from the thread I will point one is the blockchain this is a secured chain that encrypts all of the information into a block and it is called a chain because every information passes through and become secured.

Still, this is a good effort to OP those a large list too.

[UserU]

#10 "Transactions can't be reversed."

Technically, they can if another payment is made before the first one completes (a.k.a no confirmation).

From this article

To prove that no attempts to double-spend have occurred, the blockchain provides a way for all nodes to be aware of every transaction. With bitcoin, all transactions are publically announced to all nodes. They can then agree on a single history of the order in which they were received. Bitcoin’s solution to double-spending is that if the majority of the nodes agree on which transaction was first to be received, later attempts to double-spend are irrelevant.

[Emitdama]

As for the 4th fact you mentioned, with the error that occurred on the August 2010 that caused the value overflow, doesn’t it prove to you that the amount of bitcoins can still be increased from that 21 million to a higher number?

Just pointing that out because you said that there can never be an increase; there is a possibility of an increase, but it’s up to the developers to decide whether they would like to increase it or not and that depends on what happens in the future. And as for being untraceable, it not untraceable; if you make use of Bitcoin anyone will be able to trace you if they want to. Haven’t you seen incidents of hacking whereby the hackers were caught? So it’s not untraceable.