You may know what Bitcoin is. You may even know how it works- but here are seven outrageous facts about Bitcoin you may not have heard of.

Bitcoin has slowly taken hold of the attention of many. From investors, to everyday, average people, it’s unlikely you’re going to run into someone that hasn’t at least heard of the digital currency. As the coin begins to nestle its way into the inner workings of everyday society, more and more people are looking to invest and learn how it is the market works.

Trader focused exchange platforms like Bitvavo, are definitely a good place to start, but learning the ropes, and really understanding all of the odds and ends of Bitcoin are two very different things. Bitcoin, much like the beloved character Shrek is an onion. It’s definitely got layers.

Seven insane Bitcoin facts

1.   No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is

Satoshi Nakamoto, the person, persons, or alien entity behind Bitcoin still remains a mystery to this day. Nakamoto’s white paper has been read by millions and is heralded as one of the most brilliant and straightforward crypto white papers in existence. Yet, no one actually knows who penned it. The recluse also holds more Bitcoin than anyone else in the world, but hasn’t traded it in years. While many speculate about who this cape crusader behind the worlds’ most popular digital currency is- no one actually knows for sure.

2.   There’s such a thing as Bitcoin “Pizza Day”

And it’s basically a memorial to a guy who spent an estimated $10k on pizza delivery. On may 10, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two large pizzas, delivered to his home in Jacksonville, Florida. Which is worth over $116 million in today’s market. Despite the massive change in price, the exchange still cost an impressive $41 at the time. Hanyecz says he has no regrets though, as the purchase went down in the books as the first successful bitcoin transaction for goods and services. A situation that Laszlo still considers “pretty cool.”

3.   One of the biggest bitcoin wallets is held by the FBI

When the FBI shut down the infamous “Silk Road” in 2013, the dark web drug marketplace lost an estimated 144,000 BTC to seizure. Which now resides directly in the hands of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation. Which at one point, gave them claim to having one of the biggest bitcoin wallets under Satoshi.

4.   Mining is so difficult, they’ve created specialty computers just to do it

ACSI or Application Specific Integrated Circuits are specially designed CPUs (Central Processing Units) that are made with one thing in mind: mining Bitcoin. Bitcoin transactions are verified through network computers that solve complicated algorithms. Essentially, the transaction has a value assigned to it, and computers must guess what that value is. As more transactions enter the network, the difficulty of guessing that number changes, regularly requiring excessive and state-of-the-art computing power in order to pull it off.

5.   Transaction Fees are almost non-existent

ATMs, Banks, credit cards, and even PayPal all have one key thing in common: they all host extortionate transaction and service fees. Whereas with bitcoin, transaction fees are generally pretty low- for now. Bitcoin’s transaction fee rates generally rely on network congestion and current block reward. The more people transacting bitcoin, the more transactions that have to be mined and added to the blockchain. Occasionally, during periods of high interaction, these fees can soar. Also, fees tend to increase as block rewards, or the money that miners receive for validating transactions, diminishes. However, generally speaking, these fees are much lower than what you would expect from transacting fiat.

6.   The smallest hold able denomination of Bitcoin is called a “Satoshi”

Which is equivalent to 0.00000001 of a bitcoin. The rest of the denominations follow suit of standard metric design (micro-, milli-, centi-, deci-, deca-, hecto-, kilo-, and mega-; from 0.000001 to 1000000 BTC respectively). That’s a thing you now know.

7.   Bitcoin wasn’t the first cryptocurrency

In fact, the first attempts at creating digital currency were noted as far back as 1989. Yes, that 1989. The year the Berlin Wall came down, George Bush Sr. was sworn into office, Ted Bundy was executed, the first commercial internet service providers emerged, and the year Rain Man won an Academy award for best picture. In fact, in 1989, countries like Japan and Australia were getting their first glimpse at what internet connectivity even looked like. While there were a few different attempts at creating crypto around the world at that time, American cryptographer David Chaim is credited with the first real attempt at creating electronic currency. Using a system strikingly similar to that of modern cryptocurrencies. Chaim went on to found “DigiCash” that year, but the idea never really took off and went officially bankrupt in 1998.