5 Cryptocurrency Facts You Might Never Heard Of

You know there was a website in 2010 that was giving away Bitcoiny for the registration itself? Anyone who has kept them to this day could sell them for 500. PLN. Well, unless he also registered friends and family, then he would have millions ... We present known and unknown facts about cryptocurrencies that have one thing in common: they are true, but hard to believe.

Bitcoin was not the first cryptocurrency

It is commonly believed that the first - and for many also the only - cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. However, this is not entirely true, because virtual currencies began to appear long before Satoshi Nakamoto's manifesto - the creator of BTC. 

Already in the 80s, the cryptographer and computer scientist David Chaum invented DigiCash. This virtual currency, however, was not based on blockchain technology, but was the first anonymous currency. It used the so-called a blind signature, which in short, so that it was possible to buy a virtual currency in the bank, then pay with it, but the information on what money is transferred for and to whom was exchanged only between the parties to the transaction. It was a breakthrough for those times, and one for which the world was not yet ready. Interestingly, after several decades, Bitcoin was based on similar solutions.  

Two pizzas for 10 thousand. BTC

"Pizza day" is celebrated by the blockchain community every May 22nd. It was on this day in 2010 that the first Bitcoin transaction took place. And not just any, because one of the users of the BTC forum ordered two pizzas for another, who transferred him ... 10 thousand. BTC. The price was fair, as it was about PLN 50 at the then exchange rate. 

The transaction itself was treated as a curiosity, but more people started writing to the pizza enthusiast. However, he didn't have enough Bitcoins to buy every week. Today, Laszlo Hanyecz often appears on TV shows and explains that Bitcoin was not worth much back then. Nobody thought that two pancakes with Papa John's at today's BTC rate would cost ... over PLN 1 billion.

Be sure to read: How can you buy Bitcoin? [Guide]

Bitcoins given away on a website

Initially, Bitcoin was known only to a narrow circle of geeks. Anyway, to this day - contrary to appearances - most people have heard something about it, but have no idea how it works. To popularize this idea, in 2010, a website was created that gave out Bitcoins for sending an e-mail to which information about blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency itself was sent. Gavin Anderson poured 5 BTC to anyone who signed up. Who showed curiosity and then patience, today can exchange it for approx. 500 thousand PLN.

Incident with Bitcoin extortion

Every now and then we hear about how fraudsters cheated someone "on Bitcoin". However, this has little to do with the security of cryptocurrencies, because it's like giving someone PLN 500 for five-minute parking in the city center and complaining about the improper protection of banknotes. 

The only incident with a real attempt to extort Bitcoin was in mid-2010, but no one lost their coins. Today it is not even considered a hacking attack, but Bitcoin block error 74638. A large number of coins were then produced in a short time, but they were not put into circulation. Instead, a new version of BTC was immediately created - Bitcoin 0.3.10, and now the "value overflow incident" is just a memory.

The FBI found Bitcoin

Bitcoins were also at the center of one of the biggest FBI mishaps in history. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation unraveled the Silk Road exchange, which offers drugs, weapons and illegal services for which you had to pay in Bitcoin in the Darknet, it turned out that money laundering was handled by ... two FBI agents. It was only after their arrest that it became clear why the investigation lasted over two years, and during that time the stock exchange could still be operating ...