In 2010 a Bitcoin developer called Gavin Andresen had the idea of creating something called a bitcoin faucet, to do just that. This was essentially a mechanism for drip-feeding small amounts of BTC to anyone willing to claim it.
The faucet took the form of a simple webpage with a captcha to prevent spam or bots. Visitors who completed the captcha were awarded 5 BTC. Yes, that is correct, over $250,000 – in today’s terms – for clicking a button.
5 BTC
The amount of free bitcoin dispensed by the first faucet in return for simply completing a CAPTCHA.
With the benefit of hindsight it seems crazy, but back then, bitcoin was worth less than a dollar and struggling to gain traction.
That first bitcoin faucet dispensed almost 20,000 BTC during its lifespan – worth over $1 billion and counting – and in retrospect participating seems like a no-brainer, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Would you click on a random link today claiming to reward you with a mystery currency you’d never heard of, and which you couldn’t really do anything with?
Of course Bitcoin is now established and in great demand, so no one is gonna give away 5 BTC for clicking a button, but the good news is you can still earn money from bitcoin faucets. You just need to be fully aware of how they function, the motivations behind the faucet, and what you have to do in return.
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