The most interesting facts about bitcoin in one article.
Over the past four years, the number of people who have bought cryptocurrency has grown by 103%. Digital currencies are becoming increasingly ubiquitous — major news outlets write about them, and they’re frequently mentioned on social media and in messengers.
Out of all the digital currencies in the world, none is better known than bitcoin, and this digital currency is five times more popular than Ethereum (another major digital currency). According to the 2023 cryptocurrency statistics, bitcoin currently dominates the international cryptocurrency market.
Despite the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, there are many inaccurate myths circulating about them. In this article, TradingWebsite will share the most important facts about bitcoin that investors, bloggers, and journalists need to know — regardless of whether they plan to invest in digital currency or simply want to understand how the cryptocurrency market works.
1. Who owns the most bitcoins (BTC)?
This question may seem straightforward, but it involves several aspects. Firstly, it pertains to both private individuals and institutional investors (banks, insurance companies, pension funds, etc.).
It is believed that Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin, likely owns the largest amount of bitcoins in the world. The sum in his wallet could exceed 1 million bitcoins.
Several public companies have invested substantial funds in bitcoin, such as Tesla, MicroStrategy, and others.
Among private companies, the Chinese corporation Block.one, which owns about 140,000 bitcoins, owns a large quantity of bitcoins.
At present, there are three bitcoin wallets containing over one hundred thousand bitcoins, and one person can have several such wallets.
2. How many bitcoins are created every day?
Bitcoin mining has proven profitable not just for professional market players, but also for many ordinary people. Therefore, 900 new bitcoins are created worldwide every day.
3. How many bitcoins are left?
The maximum number of bitcoins that can be mined is 21 million. At the time of writing this article, about 19 million bitcoins have been mined, so there are just under two million left to be mined.
However, there’s a view that the limit of 21 million bitcoins may never be reached. This is due to the systematic rounding down of the bitcoin mining reward.
Without delving into complex mathematical calculations, this happens because the bitcoin network is designed in such a way that in some crypto transactions, decimal places are rounded down.
4. When will Bitcoins run out?
Due to the way the network is structured, the rate of bitcoin mining is expected to decrease over time. According to research company Messari, about 11.5 million bitcoins were mined in 2012.
Considering the slowing pace of bitcoin mining, popular cryptocurrency service Coindesk predicts that all bitcoins will only be mined by the year 2140.
5. How many Bitcoins can be mined in a day?
It takes ten minutes to mine one block of Bitcoin. This means that approximately 144 bitcoin blocks can be mined per day.
The reward for one block of Bitcoin as of December 2022 is 6.3 bitcoins — therefore, around 900 bitcoins will be mined each day.
However, don’t get carried away calculating how many bitcoins you can mine, as thousands of other miners are vying for each bitcoin block. Not only individuals but also powerful «mining pools» combine their powerful computers in a network to mine bitcoins faster and share them among themselves.
New bitcoins are created in a process called mining, which involves solving complex mathematical «puzzles». The more miners mine cryptocurrency, the more complex the puzzles become, although they can be solved using ordinary computers.
In 2023, miners are using more advanced computers called ASIC systems, which require a large amount of electrical energy. Bitcoin also uses a software code known as Proof of Work (PoW), which requires the use of computer arrays to confirm and ensure the security of an ever-growing number of transactions worldwide.
Bitcoin mining requires the consumption of a huge amount of energy. Each transaction consumes about 2100 kilowatt-hours (that’s roughly as much electricity as an average family consumes in two months).
Moreover, bitcoin mining annually consumes on average 91 terawatt-hours of electricity, which is almost seven times more than what is required for the operation of the Google search engine worldwide, and constitutes about 0.5% of the world’s electricity volume. Roughly the same amount of electricity is consumed in a year by countries like Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Greece. What’s more, the fragile energy systems of some countries are under threat due to cryptocurrency mining, as they can’t cope with the energy-intensive process. Several cities in Iran, Kazakhstan, and also Kosovo often experienced prolonged power outages due to miners overloading the power grid for the sake of mining bitcoins.
6. How long does it take to mine one Bitcoin?
Actually, you can’t mine one Bitcoin.
Instead, miners mine a block of Bitcoins, for which they receive a reward of 6.25 BTC.
Processing one Bitcoin block takes ten minutes, therefore, mining one Bitcoin also takes ten minutes.
7. How many Bitcoins exist at the moment?
According to Blockchain on December 7, 2022, 19,226,325.25 BTC had been mined.
8. How many Bitcoins have been lost?
Research conducted by Chainalysis in 2017 showed that since the advent of cryptocurrencies, between 2.3 million and 3.7 million bitcoins have been lost. This means that up to 20% of the total volume of bitcoins have been lost.
If you forget access to your crypto wallet, you will not be able to access your bitcoins.
Moreover, storing bitcoins on a physical medium can also be extremely risky. In 2013, British IT engineer James Howells threw away a hard drive that held about 7,500 bitcoins. If James sold his bitcoins today, he would have earned over $127 million.
9. Who got rich investing in Bitcoins?
People who supported the creation of cryptocurrency in its early stages benefited the most. And, as expected, the more money they invested, the more profit they received.
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has gotten richest on cryptocurrency. According to RBC, Zhao’s net worth was estimated at $90 billion in 2021.
Cryptocurrencies became popular in 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Since then, the total market volume of cryptocurrencies has reached over $3 trillion. In 2021, the price of Bitcoin reached a record high, exceeding $65,000.
Other major players in the Bitcoin market are the Winklevoss twins, who in 2012 invested $10 million in Bitcoin (money they won in a lawsuit against Facebook). In 2021, Forbes estimated their net worth at $6 billion.
10. When was Bitcoin worth 1 dollar?
In February 2011, the value of Bitcoin was only 1 dollar, for the first time reaching parity with the US dollar.
11. Who created Bitcoin?
Bitcoin was created by an anonymous user named Satoshi Nakamoto. Whether this was one person or several working together, nobody knows to this day.
All attempts to establish Satoshi’s real identity have failed.
12. Where was Bitcoin created?
This is a question that is unlikely to ever be answered.
It is believed that Satoshi Nakamoto is of Japanese origin, but where he (or she or a group of people) is located is impossible to say.
13. When was Bitcoin created?
On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a document titled «Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System». Two months later, on January 3, 2009, Satoshi mined the first block of the bitcoin chain — this date can be considered the day the first Bitcoin was created.
14. How many bitcoins does Satoshi Nakamoto own?
Estimates suggest Satoshi owns around 1 million bitcoins.
15. How many Bitcoin millionaires are there in the world?
Despite the fact that information about the number of existing crypto wallets is available on the internet, who owns these wallets and how many bitcoins are in them is impossible to determine.
One person can own multiple cryptocurrency wallets. Furthermore, one such wallet can belong to several people.
In 2021, CBS News reported that there are over 100 thousand Bitcoin millionaires in the world.
16. How many Bitcoin billionaires are there in the world?
According to BitInfoCharts, as of December 2022, there were 10 active wallets in the world, each containing more than $1 billion.
17. How many bitcoins does Elon Musk have?
In February 2021, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. A year later, Forbes estimated Tesla’s investment to be worth more than $2 billion. As for Elon Musk himself, in 2019 he stated that he only owned 0.25 BTC.
18. Which country owns the most bitcoins?
As of June 2022, India had the highest number of Bitcoin owners, with about a third of all crypto investors being located there. India has the highest percentage of the population owning cryptocurrency — about 20.45% of India’s population invests in some form of cryptocurrency.
However, cryptocurrency is most often traded on the financial markets of the US.
19. How much can you earn if you invest a thousand dollars in Bitcoin?
How much a Bitcoin investment will be worth completely depends on the price.
If you had spent $1000 to buy bitcoins in May 2013 and sold them in November 2021, you would have made $531,760. This means you would have multiplied your investment 571 times.
The problem is that nobody knows how much Bitcoin will be worth in one day, one year, or ten years. Therefore, investing in cryptocurrency, like any other financial asset, is considered a risky business.
20. How many users own bitcoins worldwide?
There are over 300 million users worldwide who own cryptocurrencies or conduct cryptocurrency transactions. But not all of these users own or trade bitcoins.
21. Who controls Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is decentralized. This means that no person or organization controls the cryptocurrency.
However, this does not mean that nothing can affect the price of Bitcoin. On the contrary, every year the cryptocurrency market experiences significant growth and decline, as do most financial markets in the world.
Fiat cryptocurrencies can be influenced by the central banks of countries, using tools such as inflation and interest rates.
22. How can you find out who owns a Bitcoin wallet?
When conducting transactions with Bitcoins, it’s impossible to identify users. Only the public address of the Bitcoin wallet can be viewed.
However, if someone knows your public Bitcoin wallet address, they will be able to see how many Bitcoins you have and what transactions you have made.
23. Bitcoin can’t be banned?
Physically, Bitcoin cannot be seized or completely banned, only regulated. As long as people have an internet connection and a Bitcoin wallet, they can use Bitcoin.
Politicians and scholars often discuss the issue of banning Bitcoin. The main topic of discussion is that Bitcoin operates outside the jurisdiction of the traditional banking system.
24. How many Bitcoin ATMs are there in the world?
There are over 5,000 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide, which allow the use of a standard Visa/MasterCard to purchase Bitcoin.
25. When was the first purchase made with Bitcoins?
On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from the USA, bought two pizzas from Papa Joe’s for 10,000 bitcoins. Although Bitcoin was worth $45 at that time, today it is estimated at around $172,232,200!
Since then, May 22 is celebrated as Bitcoin Pizza Day worldwide, and many pizzerias offer discounts on this day to customers who pay for their orders with cryptocurrency.
What is the future of Bitcoin?
There are many opinions about what awaits Bitcoin in the coming years. Here are some of them: the value of cryptocurrency will continue to grow, states of different countries will begin to integrate Bitcoin into the economy, and control over cryptocurrency will increase. The price of Bitcoin can rise sharply, fall or stabilize. The future of Bitcoin will depend on many factors, including technological developments.
1. Potential growth
Bitcoin supporters believe that it has the potential to become a global reserve currency, overtaking fiat money. They point to its limited supply, decentralization and resistance to censorship as factors contributing to its long-term growth. Events such as halving in April 2024 can lead to significant price increases.
2. Widespread adoption
Some experts predict that Bitcoin will become more widely used for everyday purchases and payments. The development of infrastructure, such as Lightning Network solutions, makes Bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper, which can accelerate its implementation.
3. Regulation
The role of governments in regulating Bitcoin is still undefined. Some countries may impose strict rules restricting the use of Bitcoin, while others may adopt a more favorable approach. Regulation can have a significant impact on the future of Bitcoin.
4. Competition
There are many other cryptocurrencies, some of which may surpass Bitcoin in popularity and features. The future of Bitcoin will depend on its ability to maintain its competitive advantages.
