A relic of Bitcoin’s earliest days is making a comeback, potentially reviving a tradition that once handed out bitcoin (BTC) for free to anyone who could solve a simple CAPTCHA.
Charlie Shrem, an early Bitcoin developer and entrepreneur, teased the relaunch of the Bitcoin Faucet earlier Monday, posting a link to the page that mimicked the one built by Gavin Andresen in 2010.
The faucet famously distributed 5 BTC per user to their bitcoin wallets for free back when the token was worth less than a cent. Each of those transfers is worth nearly $500,000 at current prices.
The website is not yet live with rewards and holds zero BTC as of early U.S. hours Monday.
The original faucet was designed to help onboard new users to the Bitcoin network at a time when buying or mining BTC was cumbersome and often required technical know-how.
At the time, Andresen funded the faucet with 1,100 BTC and saw it as a way to grow the network organically. The idea worked: thousands of early users got their first exposure to Bitcoin through the faucet, which, in hindsight, distributed small fortunes for free.
By the time the faucet shut down, its payouts had dwindled to fractions of a BTC, but its cultural impact remained legendary — especially as BTC prices surged over the next decade.
Read MoreCoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data[#item_full_content]
Michael Saylor and team added 24,869 BTC last week, bringing total holdings to 843,738 coins.Read…
Bitcoin Magazine Strategy (MSTR) Spends A Massive $2 Billion on More Bitcoin, Lifts Holdings to…
Your day-ahead look for May 18, 2026Read MoreCoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data[#item_full_content]
Bitcoin and ether sank after the U.S. president told Iran the “clock is ticking,” sending…
Bitcoin Depot, the largest bitcoin ATM operator in North America and publicly listed on Nasdaq,…
State-linked Fars News reported that Iran’s economy ministry has been working on a plan to…