Since its release in 2009, bitcoin has taken the world by storm. With its highest price so far reaching almost £15,000 in December 2017, over 23 million users worldwide have bought their own share of bitcoin.
In order to gain traction and popularity for the new cryptocurrency, Gavin Andresen, a software developer known for his involvement in bitcoin, developed The Bitcoin Faucet in 2010. Since then, a number of other faucets have been released, giving users a chance to gain bitcoins without the hefty price tag. But what exactly are bitcoin faucets? And how do you use them?
What is a bitcoin faucet?
Put simply, a bitcoin faucet is a website or online app that uses a reward system, giving users Satoshi – one-hundred-millionth of a bitcoin – for completing certain tasks. These rewards are then transferred directly into a user’s individual wallet, where they can be kept until users have accumulated a substantial amount of Satoshi.
Using bitcoin faucets to make money
Many people using bitcoin faucets believe they are a great get-rich-quick scheme. This isn’t quite the case. The amount of Satoshi you could be rewarded would take years to accumulate to one bitcoin. You would have to save up 19,014 Satoshi to earn just one US dollar. That said, the other key way to acquire bitcoins, aside from simply buying them, is to mine them yourself.
In the early days of bitcoin, mining was a relatively easy and cheap process, if you were a computer genius that is. But, today, even for those with a deep understanding of the internet and the ability to mine coins easily, the process has become much harder and much more expensive.
First of all, you’d have to plough thousands of pounds into having the right technology to mine bitcoins. Your basic laptop or desktop simply wouldn’t do the trick. Then you have to factor in mining fees. For each bitcoin you spend online, you must pay a certain fee to the miners that are allowing it to happen.
The purpose of bitcoin faucets
Despite being the main cryptocurrency out there, bitcoin is still fairly new. And so, people are still trying to get to grips with it. Due to its immense success and popularity, many people are interested in the currency, wanting to learn how to invest it and to incorporate it into their financial portfolios. But without a proper understanding of how it works, most are reluctant to fork out thousands to buy into the bitcoin game.
That’s where faucets come in. The websites and apps allow users to generate a small amount of bitcoin for free, completing challenges and playing games. So, once they have made enough Satoshi, they can begin to trade or invest their wallet. This gives users a taste of the bitcoin world, teaching themselves to trade and buy and sell their share, without having to invest an initial lump sum.
In turn, this generates a growing interest in bitcoin, with more and more people getting involved. The more people interested in the currency, the better these sites will do as their traffic will increase rapidly. As the majority of these sites make the majority of their income from advertisers, the more users they have and the higher their traffic, the more advertisers will be willing to pay to feature on their site.
So, if you’re new to the game and want a risk-free way of learning more about bitcoin, give faucets a go and see how much you can make.