The Bitcoin white paper was released on October 31, 2008. However, the paper’s author and developer or creators of the BTC-powered network remain mysterious only going by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Titled “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” Nakamoto outlined a future payment system without a central authority but secure.
According to the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, “a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”
The Bitcoin blockchain was born on January 3, 2019. Its base asset or currency, BTC, was capped at a total supply of 21 million. During the launch, BTC changed hands at 0.0008 USD.
Notably, after years of being portrayed as a coup to conventional finance, a growing Bitcoin community has turned the king crypto into a profitable internet-based asset. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at over 61.7K USD. This represents an increase of more than 7.7 billion percent.
“Honest” Actors Must Exceed Malicious Entities to Keep Bitcoin Safe
Without central authorities, the paper also talks of how to prevent malicious actions such as double-spending. Satoshi Nakamoto discussed that the Bitcoin network required “honest” entities called nodes to verify transactions and keep watch by outnumbering the malicious nodes.
However, the outnumbering is only possible when good actors have more computing power dedicated to the network than the bad actors. Nakamoto outlined that good players defeat evil entities by accepting and “working on […] valid blocks […] and rejecting invalid blocks.“
Currently, BTC miners receive 6.25 BTC as a reward for a successfully mined block. Note that the BTC-powered system is nearing the depletion of its 21 million coins. Consequently, there will be no incentives for miners to keep their mining rigs running.
In the Bitcoin white paper, Nakamoto suggested that these be handled by changing the “rules and incentives [through] the consensus mechanism.” However, some in the crypto community, like Anthony Pompliano, have started initiatives to benefit Bitcoin developers.
After 13 Years, Bitcoin Has Something to Celebrate Despite the Opposition
While celebrating the Bitcoin white paper’s 13th birthday, Pompliano tweeted that they “are officially launching Bitcoin Pizza in 20 cities with almost 100 locations. Every dollar of [the] profits goes to Bitcoin developers.”
Although some jurisdictions have either banned Bitcoin or actively working on stifling its spread, others like El Salvador have embraced it as a legal currency. BitMEX’s CEO forecasted that five more countries are likely to endorse BTC before the year ends.
The asset class also attracts corporate investors who view it as an investment asset only second to gold. Tesla, for instance, holds BTC worth more than $1 billion.
MicroStrategy also holds 114,042 BTCs worth more than $7 billion. Other institutional Bitcoin investors include Square, SpaceX, and Chainalysis.
Notable figures like Elon Musk, the richest man on earth and the CEO of Tesla, are strong Bitcoin supporters. In a recent gathering, Musk said that while “it is not possible” for governments to shut down cryptocurrency projects, “it is possible for governments to slow” its adoption rate.
As the Bitcoin white paper enjoys its 13th birthday, Venezuela is cracking down on illicit cryptocurrency mining activities.
High Power Consumptions Leads Police to Crypto Miners, NYDIG Acquires Bottlepay
Venezuelan watchdogs have seized more than 100 miners on a farm without the government’s blessings. Local reports indicated that the farm was located in a residential area in Miranda. The miners reportedly attracted attention after drawing excess electrical energy from the area’s power grid.
The country’s crypto regulator, Sunacrip, law enforcement, and other authorities inspected the area for illegal cryptocurrency mining operations, consequently unearthing the illicit crypto mining activities. Notably, the country has recorded other seizures of even non-operating mining equipment.
For instance, in June, regulators confiscated four hundred mining rigs while in transit. At the time, the watchdogs cited lack of permits as the reason.
In other news, NYDIG (New York Digital Investment Group) has acquired Bottlepay, a BTC micropayment service headquartered in the United Kingdom. Pete Cheyne, Bottlepay’s founder, said they’re “excited to be joining an industry leader like NYDIG who shares [their] vision for the future of money.”
Notably, Bottlepay taps the BTC-powered Lightning Network to facilitate the transfer of small BTC amounts. Early this year, the platform integrated its service with Twitter after successful integration on Reddit and Discord.