TL; DR Breakdown
- Bitcoin destroyed by Wired in 2013 now worth $760,000
- Wired claimed that Bitcoin was an abstraction
- The crypto market has evolved since the period
Before crypto and Bitcoin started to enjoy mainstream adoption, people have been torn over what they should believe about them. Although things are still appearing the same way, more people are tilting towards crypto now. While the sector is not doing much to convince the others, it is safe to applaud the number of users entering the market daily. Back in 2013, Wired threw away the private key to a wallet containing 13 Bitcoin. During its statement then, the platform said it wanted to show people that digital assets were nothing.
Wired claimed that Bitcoin was an abstraction
With Bitcoin still in a wallet that can no longer be accessed, the worth of Bitcoin has grown rapidly to about $760,000. The scenario started with Robert MacMillan, a Wall Street Journal reporter claiming that he was interested in seeing why people were excited about Bitcoin. To feed his curiosity, Macmillan set up a small mining rig in his apartment where he mined the said asset.
Due to how easy it was then, he concluded that people were just hyped over the asset for nothing. In his column, MacMillan said that he sees the asset as an abstraction and nothing more. At the period, he was at a loss on how to get rid of the asset while mulling the idea to give it out to charities in the country. After much deliberation, he announced that he would be getting rid of the wallet’s private key that contained the Bitcoins.
The crypto market has evolved since the period
With the wallet still encrypted, the Bitcoin in it will be lost forever or until someone finds a way to get past its encryption. When he started the mining rig, it took ten days for MacMillan to mine 2 Bitcoin. At the period, the two Bitcoin cost about $220 compared to now where they are now worth close to $112,000. Mining in 2013 was relatively easy as miners got one Bitcoin every 13 hours.
Using the same mining rig MacMillan used in 2013, a miner would get one Bitcoin after ten years. MacMillan also complained in 2013 that mining Bitcoin was relatively hard as only the miners in 2009 got it easy. According to a Reddit user who referenced the article in a statement, it looks like the crypto market has been here forever. Another user claimed that the owner of Wired was arrogant, and the loss of the Bitcoin is a good way to teach him a lesson.
