They beat 1 in 1.2 MILLION odds

Greetings,

Rizzo, the Bitcoin Historian here, back from Nashville where we saw no shortage of Bitcoin history. For now, I’m recovering with the most memorable moments from the last week in history.

We saw a 0.5 BTC salad, a once-in-a-lifetime mining reward, and more.

Let’s dive in.

But before that, don’t you also want to start your week properly securing your Bitcoin? Head to Casa to get the best of the best in security and safety through their multi-sig setup.

Get 10% OFF their standard membership with the promocode PETERIZZO10.

$13.61 l Bitcoin legend pays 0.5 BTC for lettuce leaves

On July 25, 2011, Nick Foley, an early Bitcoin pioneer and author of The Basic Liberty Newsletter, takes a video from inside Meze Grill, one of the first brick-and-mortar businesses to accept Bitcoin in the world. 

He bought his salad for 0.51 BTC or $7 back in the day, and openly explains his interest in expanding the Bitcoin economy. 

Nick was a prolific participant in the Bitcoin ecosystem in those very early days, assisting companies in crypto including Coinbase and Casa.

This was posted on both my YouTube and Reddit pages, I’d nudge you to visit and subscribe to them because I’m posting different history there than on X.

$9,000 l Your Savings Are Being Printed Away

Plenty of Bitcoin billboards have sprung up over the years – few have endured as well as the one above.

Created by legendary artist Cryptograffiti, this one was seen by millions in the Los Angeles area, and was unexpectedly predictive. It’s from 2020, during the Covid pandemic, as the government prepared to print trillions and trillions after shutting down the economy.

Even though we saw Bitcoin blast to all-time highs thanks to the money printer, millions have been suffering through inflation and the death spiral that is the U.S. dollar.

Just like the sign says, thankfully now we have a Plan B.

$20,000 l Billionaire on Bitcoin

The Bitcoin bull of Bitcoin bulls Michael Saylor has repeatedly explained the technology and its potential to the world, at the conference this week giving a whopping $49 million per BTC price prediction.

His company Microstrategy is the great story of corporate finance of the 21st century, and with Saylor at the helm, Bitcoin has grown more than it probably would have–both institutionally as well as general adoption.

Two years ago, in 2022, while Bitcoin hovered around the $20,000 mark, he explained yet again what makes Bitcoin so powerful: property rights.

Billions of people can now tap into a technology that secures their access to money no matter what the government says.

$65,000 l A solo miner that won the block

On July 24, 2024, history was made.

A $200 miner mined a block that earned them the 3.25 BTC or $211,000 reward that the Bitcoin protocol dishes out every ten minutes on average.

Though the odds of winning the block reward as a solo miner nowadays depends on how much their hash rate is, this is akin to winning the lottery. 

This much hashrate only could find a block once every 3,500 YEARS on average, or 1 in 1.2 MILLION chance per day!

Bitcoin mining is wildly concentrated in a handful of large pools, which makes the historical moment even more exciting. It proves the little guy can still win, while maintaining the decentralized nature of Bitcoin (and the randomness of how new money is issued into the system).

If you’re the solo miner reading this, congrats legend.

And by the way, I’d highly recommend this thread to better understand the intricacies of Bitcoin mining, especially in the early days. 

$10,000 l You’ll never see Bitcoin at the prices again

Everybody has once said “we’ll never see these prices again” – rarely, however, does this statement actually come through.

Well, exactly four years ago was the last time we will see the Bitcoin price below $10,000 and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. The $10,000 mark, when first past in 2017, was a wild time and something even the most determined Bitcoin enthusiasts never thought they’d see.

To witness the price rocket past it, then nosedive below it, and then hover around it for months before leaving it behind is still mind bending to me. 

And it’s interesting to think that what most never thought would get beat, is now something we’ll never see again at the bottom.

Bitcoin surely has its ways. 

Extra posts

• 16 quotes on why Bitcoin will go higher

• 14 epic quotes from when Bitcoin was below $30

• Bitcoin is up 9.5 billion percent since it launched in 2009

I hope you all have a wonderful week,

Rizzo