People’s interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is on the rise, with more and more individuals investing in crypto every day or switching from traditional video games to the play-to-earn phenomenon.
We’re committed to giving you access to many valuable resources on digital assets and how they work, tackling subjects like crypto wallets, smart contracts, all you need to know about blockchain, and many more.
Now the time has come for some trivia on our favorite digital currencies. We’re going to surprise you with some interesting and fun facts about cryptocurrency that we bet you will love! Let’s test your knowledge about the crypto world!
The first commercial Bitcoin transaction was for Papa John’s pizzas
Have you ever wondered when the first commercial crypto transaction was registered? Back in 2010, a guy named Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 BTC on two Papa John’s pizzas. It is considered the first-ever commercial bitcoin transaction, valued at around $40 at that time.
The price of Bitcoin back then was meager, around maybe half a cent. Nowadays, that amount of Bitcoins would be worth more than $400 million. Yikes! We sure hope those pizzas were delicious!
No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is exactly
Every crypto enthusiast out there has heard about Satoshi Nakamoto as the creator of Bitcoin. However, nobody really knows the true identity of the world’s first cryptocurrency creator or creators. Even after so many years, their identity remains anonymous.
A popular belief in the crypto community is that the pseudonym stands for an acronym of leading tech giants Samsung-Toshiba-Nakamichi-Motorola. The truth is out there, but who knows when or if we’ll ever discover it.
A man in Wales wanted to excavate a landfill in search of his digital wallet
Be careful what you do with your crypto wallets, guys! In 2013, a man from Wales named James Howells threw out his digital wallet containing 7,500 BTC. He didn’t back up the drive correctly, so he had no way of recuperating those coins that are now worth more than $350 million.
In a desperate attempt to recuperate the lost Bitcoins, he tried to convince the local city council to allow him to dig through the landfill for his discarded digital wallet. Sadly they rejected his plea to look through the trash, so those coins are gone, baby, gone!
Almost 4 million Bitcoin tokens have been lost forever
Since we’re on the subject of lost coins, a whopping 20% of all total possible Bitcoin crypto is considered gone, without any possibilities of retrieving it. That is quite a number if you think about the fact that this currency is in limited supply. Only 21 million BTCs will ever be mined, out of which around 19 million already have. The last bitcoin mining is predicted to take place sometime in 2140.
How can so many coins be lost? Well, it’s relatively easy. If you lose your private keys and don’t have a recovery system in place, they are gone. If you send them by mistake to a burner address, you basically light up all your digital money on fire. If your hardware crypto wallet gets damaged ( or you throw it in the trash!), you can kiss your crypto money goodbye!
HODL was apparently a typo
People who have been on the crypto journey for some time are probably pretty familiar with crypto jargon terms such as HODL. For those of you who aren’t, hodling is a popular crypto trading strategy for beginners. It is mainly used by newbies that don’t know how to trade crypto but want to invest in digital currencies.
The term was coined by a user that was being mocked by more experienced traders for not selling his digital funds. He answered, “I am HODLING,” instead of “HOLDING,” and the rest is history. Nowadays, the popular term among crypto enthusiasts has also come to mean “Hold on for dear life.” Yes, you guessed it right, the strategy revolves around holding to your digital currency.
Crypto wallets store your keys, not your coins
A common misconception some might have is that a digital wallet stores your crypto like your leather one stores your cash. Wrong! Your crypto wallet actually keeps your private key and the public ones. All the coins are recorded on the blockchain and can only be accessed using the keys you have in the wallet. If you’re interested in learning more about wallets, keys, or how digital assets work, our Learn-to-Win series of educational articles will guide you through it all.
There are over 1500 dead coins in the world - RIP
I bet you didn’t know a coin can die too! The term refers to cryptocurrencies that either have been abandoned, have no nodes, have wallet issues, turned out to be a scam, or their website is down. There are places where you can check what crypto projects are dead, websites like Coinopsy that offer updated lists of dead coins.
Gas fees are not for gas, but for Ethereum
Whenever someone does a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain, they have to pay a so-called gas fee. What does gas mean in the context of the Ethereum network? It’s the computational effort required to complete each transaction. Since a user needs to pay gas fees for any type of transaction done and depending on the traffic on the blockchain, these fees can amount to quite a pretty penny sometimes.
Cryptocurrency gains are taxable
Maybe you thought you didn’t have to pay any taxes on your profits made from trading cryptocurrencies, but the reality is that you have to. Check with the laws of your country and make sure to pay your due taxes, as central authorities are vigilant about taxing crypto investors for any money they would make. Better safe than sorry!
The bottom line is that there are countless things you can find about the cryptocurrency market. You have to continually read on the subject, do your research, and discover new projects, must-know facts, interesting trivia, and many educational resources that will help you on your cryptocurrency adventure.
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