Free Bitcoin Pouring Into Your Hands

Imagine navigating to a site and being able to transfer 5 Bitcoin at a time for free.

This was a reality in the early days of Bitcoin (BTC) usage and adoption.  I read a titbit of this story when looking through the history of Bitcoin and it made me realise how far this technology has come since the pioneering Satoshi Nakamoto created it.  The organic and natural growth of this asset, decided purely by the users has been nothing short of phenomenal.

The individual giving away up to 1100 BTC was one of Bitcoin’s strongest supporters and developers, Gavin Andresen.  He describes his first bitcoin coding project as a site that gives away Bitcoin.  The site was hosted at https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/ and would give away 5 BTC per user, until all ฿1,100 were claimed.  This is what is aptly called a ‘faucet’.  You can see the actual address of the faucet here: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/15VjRaDX9zpbA8LVnbrCAFzrVzN7ixHNsC.

Prior to initiatives like this, only those technical enough to be able to run a node were in possession of the first true Cryptocurrency. This really limited its scope and appeal.

Andresen recognised this and his project was created to help adoption move beyond the very niche audience of cryptography and technology enthusiasts.  It seems crazy that this asset that was being given away 10 years ago is now worth over $5500 Australian Dollars.

What’s interesting now is the argument that Bitcoin has come full circle in terms of adoption. The difference now being adoption is driven by the want (or need?) of end user application in merchant services.  Step 1 of adoption was having Bitcoin be distributed and decentralised to allow the vision of the Bitcoin white paper to take flight. Step 2 is a bit more muddied. Is Bitcoin capable of being used as an everyday transaction currency, or more of a store of value and/or for larger transactions.  Projects such as the lightning network may help us answer that.

Now tell me you didn’t click on the above link and see if that faucet was still pouring?…