{"id":29285,"date":"2026-01-26T12:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/?p=29285"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:57:48","slug":"17-curious-facts-about-bitcoin-on-its-17th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/17-curious-facts-about-bitcoin-on-its-17th-anniversary","title":{"rendered":"17 curious facts about Bitcoin on its 17th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/17-curious-facts-about-bitcoin-on-its-17th-anniversary\/#from_0_e_to_81605_e\" >From 0 \u20ac to 81,605 \u20ac<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/17-curious-facts-about-bitcoin-on-its-17th-anniversary\/#halvings_are_the_4-year_metronome\" >Halvings are the 4-year metronome<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/17-curious-facts-about-bitcoin-on-its-17th-anniversary\/#%c2%abhodl%c2%bb_was_born_from_a_typo%e2%80%a6_and_became_philosophy\" >\u00abHODL\u00bb was born from a typo&#8230; and became philosophy<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On January 3, 2009, <\/span><b>Satoshi Nakamoto mined Bitcoin&#8217;s genesis block<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Today, January 3, 2026, we celebrate <\/span><b>17 years of a revolution no one could stop<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These 17 facts explain why Bitcoin didn&#8217;t just survive, but became one of the most disruptive assets in financial history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The hidden message in the genesis block<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first Bitcoin block has a Times of London headline forever embedded in it: \u00abThe Times 03\/Jan\/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks\u00bb. It was January 2009, the world faced the worst financial crisis since 1929. While central banks printed money without control to bail out institutions \u00abtoo big to fail,\u00bb Satoshi Nakamoto was creating an alternative\u2014<\/span><b>a currency immune to political manipulation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>10,000 BTC for two pizzas (today that would be insane)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John&#8217;s pizzas. It was Bitcoin&#8217;s first commercial transaction. The value of those pizzas today in 2026, with Bitcoin trading around \u20ac81,000? <\/span><b>Approximately 816\u20ac million<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Those were, without a doubt, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/markets\/2014\/06\/21\/the-14-weirdest-things-you-can-buy-with-bitcoin\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most expensive pizzas in history<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The \u00abSatoshi mystery\u00bb still hasn&#8217;t been solved<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Satoshi Nakamoto&#8217;s identity remains unconfirmed. And there&#8217;s a famous estimate: that <\/span><b>he may have mined around 1 million BTC<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the early days (the \u00abPatoshi pattern\u00bb hypothesis), though it&#8217;s not an official number. Today that would be equivalent to \u20ac81.6 billion. What&#8217;s surprising is that most of those BTC have remained unmoved for years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-29286 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_genesis-block_times-message-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"bitcoin_genesis-block_times-message\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_genesis-block_times-message-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_genesis-block_times-message-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_genesis-block_times-message-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_genesis-block_times-message.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"from_0_e_to_81605_e\"><\/span><b>From 0 \u20ac to 81,605 \u20ac<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin started with no market value. Its first recorded price was less than 1 cent in 2009. <\/span><b>In January 2026, it trades at 81,605.19\u20ac<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It&#8217;s the most spectacular return on investment in modern financial history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Not \u00abmainstream\u00bb&#8230; but no longer niche<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An estimated 300+ million people worldwide own Bitcoin in 2026. Adoption keeps growing. From being a tech curiosity to becoming a strong global asset.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Renewable energy in mining<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Approximately <\/span><b>52% of Bitcoin mining uses renewable energy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, mainly hydroelectric and wind power. Miners seek the cheapest energy sources, which are often renewable or surplus energy that would otherwise be wasted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>21 million maximum&#8230; and only 1.2 million left to mine<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin&#8217;s protocol limits issuance to 21 million BTC. At the start of 2026, approximately <\/span><b>19.8 million have been mined (94% of the total)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Only about 1.2 million remain to be mined, a process that will last until approximately the year 2140. Currently, about 450 BTC are mined daily following the April 2024 halving.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Declared \u00abdead\u00bb hundreds of times<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin has been declared \u00abdead\u00bb by media outlets <\/span><b>hundreds of times<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> since its creation. It has survived bans, exchange hacks, speculative bubbles, criticism from Nobel Prize-winning economists, and premature obituaries. And it&#8217;s still here, stronger than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>El Salvador, first country with legal BTC<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Although the law was reformed in 2025, removing the obligation to accept it, El Salvador maintains its bet: in 2026, it holds over 7,500 BTC in strategic reserves <\/span><b>(more than 612\u20ac million)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-29288 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_21-million_limited-supply-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"bitcoin_21-million_limited-supply\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_21-million_limited-supply-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_21-million_limited-supply-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_21-million_limited-supply-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_21-million_limited-supply.jpg 1279w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"halvings_are_the_4-year_metronome\"><\/span><b>Halvings are the 4-year metronome<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every 210,000 blocks (approximately every 4 years)<\/span><b>, <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/does-mining-bitcoin-in-2025-make-you-rich\"><b>the reward for mining Bitcoin is cut in half<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It started at 50 BTC in 2009, then 25, 12.5, 6.25, and currently 3.125 BTC after the April 2024 halving. This programmed scarcity has generated predictable bull cycles that have catapulted the price after each halving.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Wall street embraces Bitcoin: BlackRock and Fidelity ETFs<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In January 2024, the SEC <\/span><b>approved the first spot Bitcoin ETFs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the United States. BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity lead with over <\/span><b>59\u20ac billion in assets <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">under management. In 2025, BlackRock named its Bitcoin ETF as one of its three main investment themes for 2026, putting it on par with Treasury bonds and tech stocks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>One block approximately every 10 minutes<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin&#8217;s network automatically adjusts its difficulty every two weeks to maintain block creation at approximately 10 minutes. No matter how many miners enter or leave the network, the protocol&#8217;s mathematical precision has maintained this constant rhythm since 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Hidden messages in the blockchain<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using the OP_RETURN field, messages can be embedded in Bitcoin&#8217;s blockchain. There are registered marriages, love declarations, historical documents, and even works of art inscribed forever in the world&#8217;s most secure blockchain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Lightning network: millions of instant transactions<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lightning Network is a second layer on top of Bitcoin that enables instant transactions with almost no fees. It processes millions of transactions without congesting the main blockchain, making Bitcoin viable for everyday micropayments like buying a coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-29289 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_market-dominance_2026-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"bitcoin_market-dominance_2026\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_market-dominance_2026-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_market-dominance_2026-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_market-dominance_2026-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_market-dominance_2026-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bitcoin_market-dominance_2026.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%c2%abhodl%c2%bb_was_born_from_a_typo%e2%80%a6_and_became_philosophy\"><\/span><b>\u00abHODL\u00bb was born from a typo&#8230; and became philosophy<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2013, a drunk user wrote \u00abI AM HODLING\u00bb (instead of \u00abholding\u00bb) in a forum during a price drop. The typo went viral and<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-does-hodling-mean-in-crypto\"><b>HODL (\u00abHold On for Dear Life\u00bb)<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">became the bitcoiners&#8217; philosophy\u2014holding long-term regardless of volatility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>China restricted it several times&#8230; and the network kept going<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China has \u00abbanned\u00bb Bitcoin at least seven times between 2013 and 2021. Each time, the market wobbled&#8230; and then recovered stronger. Bitcoin&#8217;s decentralization makes it resistant to any government. There&#8217;s no off switch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>It inspired over 9,000 cryptocurrencies, but Bitcoin remains king<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over 9,000 cryptocurrencies have been born from Bitcoin. Some innovative, others fraudulent. But Bitcoin maintains <\/span><b>59.36% market dominance in 2026<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014nearly 60%. It&#8217;s the safest, most decentralized, and most battle-tested asset in the crypto ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From an internet \u00abcraze\u00bb to reaching \u20ac81,605 per unit. Bitcoin has proven it doesn&#8217;t need to ask anyone&#8217;s permission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Happy birthday, Bitcoin.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span>On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined Bitcoin&#8217;s genesis block. Today, January 3, 2026, we celebrate 17 years of a revolution no one could stop. These 17 facts explain why Bitcoin didn&#8217;t just survive, but became one of the most disruptive assets in financial history. The hidden message in the genesis block The first Bitcoin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[225,331,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin-en","category-bitnovo-en","category-cryptocurrencies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29285"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30019,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29285\/revisions\/30019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}