Did you recently visit one of our RockItCoin Bitcoin ATM Chicago locations? Or are you trying to learn more about Bitcoin? Our team at RockItCoin Bitcoin ATM created a list of 5 interesting facts about Bitcoin that you may not have known to help you get started.
- It is impossible to know the sender/receiver details – No personal information is required to send or receive bitcoin, only a public address (also known as a wallet address) which is a string of letters and numbers. Transactions are recorded on the public blockchain and are visible to anyone, but the identity of the sender and receiver is not directly linked to their public address. In some cases, third-party blockchain analysis can be used to link a public address to an individual, but this is not foolproof and requires a significant amount of information. To maintain anonymity, some users choose to use multiple public addresses for different transactions or to use privacy-focused wallets that can obscure the connection between addresses. Bitcoin addresses contain a long string of 34 alphanumeric characters. It is impossible to tell the recipient. To further protect your privacy, most wallet programs assign the users a portfolio ID, which is also used as a username.
- Pizza was the first good purchased using Bitcoin – The first recorded bitcoin purchase was made on May 22, 2010, by Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida. Hanyecz bought two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins, which at that time was valued at around $25. The purchase was made on a Bitcoin forum, where Hanyecz offered to pay 10,000 bitcoins for someone to buy him two pizzas and deliver them to him. A British man named Jeremy Sturdivant eventually agreed to make the purchase and sent the pizzas to Hanyecz.
Following the first Bitcoin transaction between Satoshi and Hal Finney in 2009, the first purchase was made to buy pizza. *This transaction was significant in establishing that cryptocurrency is functional to the real world economy. By displaying the potential to purchase real goods with cryptocurrency, Laszlo Hanyez was a catalyst for bitcoin’s growth. With a real transaction in the news, crypto’s popularity grew and people became curious about the potential. Since this historic purchase in 2010, the 10,000 bitcoin has grown from a 25 dollar value to a 365 million dollar value.
- A Bitcoin transfer is irreversible – Before using a Bitcoin ATM Chicago machine, it’s important that you know that the transaction can not be reversed. Unlike platforms like PayPal, you don’t get a second chance while making a transaction. Once you have completed the transaction, it is permanently locked on the blockchain. A bitcoin transaction is irreversible because once it is confirmed and added to the blockchain, it cannot be altered or deleted. This is due to the design of the blockchain, which uses cryptographic algorithms to ensure the integrity and immutability of transactions. Additionally, each block in the blockchain contains a record of multiple transactions and is linked to the previous block through a cryptographic hash, making it very difficult to alter or tamper with previous transactions. The decentralized nature of the network, with multiple participants having a copy of the blockchain, further reinforces the irreversible nature of Bitcoin transactions. This technology is what keeps the blockchain network secure.
- The FBI has one of the largest Bitcoin wallets in the world – When the FBI shut down the Silk Road operation, it seized all of the owner’s assets which totaled at 50,676.178 Bitcoin. The FBI has now become the world’s wealthiest Bitcoin owner, controlling as much as 3.36 billion dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
- Losing a Bitcoin wallet means losing Bitcoins – Just like you store your money in your wallet or bank account, Bitcoins are saved in a virtual Bitcoin wallet. After you visit a Bitcoin ATM Chicago, it is important that you are responsible with your Bitcoin wallet. If you lose it, your Bitcoins are lost forever. It is impossible for any person to use your Bitcoins from your wallet unless you give it to them. Only you can access your wallet, so long as you maintain possession of your private key. Sharing your private key is a huge risk, as anyone with your private key has the power to access and move your cryptocurrency funds.
There is so much to learn about Bitcoin. If you are a new cryptocurrency user, you should know that buying and selling crypto is easy and accessible with RockItCoin’s bitcoin ATMs. with thousands of locations across the United States, chances are likely that the closest bitcoin ATM location could be just down the street. Want to learn more about our Bitcoin ATM Chicago locations? Contact us at [email protected] or (888) 70-BITCOIN.
