In brief:
Charlie Shrem: The second ever ASIC

Charlie Lee: Bitcoin mining machine from 2011

Bobby Lee: Bitcoin mining machine from 2011

Tyler Winklevoss: Early Bitcoin mining machine

Anthony Pompliano and Jason Williams: Bitcoin mining rig from 2015

$120,122.00
1.47%$4,693.91
9.61%$3.29
5.15%$852.98
6.44%$201.54
15.59%$0.999802
-0.00%$4,693.12
9.73%$0.249204
12.45%$0.358221
3.24%$0.873303
12.83%$5,659.71
9.10%$23.73
12.16%$120,174.00
1.36%$45.08
5.42%$5,049.40
9.34%$0.452319
4.38%$3.98
9.60%$5,040.19
9.65%$609.40
2.99%$0.265938
8.12%$4,707.33
9.87%$1.001
0.09%$25.29
10.16%$132.39
11.07%$3.52
4.23%$9.25
1.87%$0.00001397
8.43%$0.999915
0.11%$12.09
10.09%$0.998795
-0.09%$46.21
3.21%$120,162.00
1.39%$4.26
9.96%$105.14
129.30%$4.92
12.67%$0.168709
0.69%$1.19
0.02%$0.800069
4.97%$0.00001244
11.21%$324.97
10.35%$256.42
2.77%$398.64
10.17%$1.11
7.56%$24.18
9.90%$2.92
12.77%$1.083
10.21%$4.97
9.63%$5.85
9.07%$0.398749
6.05%$246.93
15.66%$4,694.89
9.57%$0.097996
12.22%$0.490772
11.94%$0.277863
10.20%$1.00
0.00%$0.0376592
8.41%$0.253946
8.65%$0.02613476
8.34%$4.82
7.42%$18.66
13.52%$0.999857
0.01%$5,332.50
9.47%$4.19
12.49%$0.00002699
11.98%$214.54
14.95%$4,924.83
9.48%$1.09
11.11%$4.58
0.19%$0.341288
13.07%$0.739603
7.95%$1.063
0.01%$9.52
8.67%$5.41
6.32%$2.69
9.08%$0.083413
0.73%$4,945.19
9.69%$5.77
3.26%$5,095.77
9.56%$1.82
7.23%$117.83
7.41%$0.557574
13.66%$0.02329007
5.96%$4,964.93
8.47%$13.02
9.38%$119,730.00
1.00%$15.24
12.21%$0.09069
2.66%$0.999963
0.04%$1.05
13.94%$1.94
13.29%$0.00403523
16.57%$4,956.45
9.66%$0.81193
8.71%$1.53
3.35%$0.76665
8.12%$1.36
2.25%$0.99984
-0.00%$0.02771865
-6.53%$0.999777
0.01%$0.998205
0.01%$3,374.76
0.83%$119,908.00
1.46%$0.999785
-0.01%$45.10
5.35%$228.10
15.66%$1.34
22.70%$0.608268
9.93%$0.00011833
10.05%$851.93
6.36%$1.11
31.80%$0.103381
11.48%$0.999668
0.04%$4,691.03
9.61%$0.323826
8.75%$1.039
15.05%$0.200661
3.48%$2.94
8.38%$0.999214
-0.08%$0.379746
0.01%$29.78
7.27%$120,261.00
1.57%$3,353.22
0.25%$3.55
17.12%$0.597632
13.32%$265.89
15.88%$5.61
4.72%$1.12
-0.04%$121,295.00
1.16%$0.881869
6.65%$1.38
6.44%$0.90779
10.04%$4,497.28
0.05%$0.153479
6.32%$0.0184988
12.88%$0.215119
8.97%$0.01853196
10.80%$4,707.25
9.82%$4,681.95
9.31%$4,952.95
8.27%$0.133863
12.07%$0.308037
9.93%$5,008.25
9.53%$2.25
10.72%$0.436208
-3.47%$1.98
12.77%$120,315.00
1.55%$112.15
0.01%$0.00000069
2.13%$1.076
-0.48%$0.997473
0.01%$0.208597
-3.59%$5,176.93
9.59%$4,707.18
9.77%$0.405926
10.72%$0.999833
0.07%$0.453581
14.27%$0.248485
11.79%$39.29
6.54%$0.627262
-1.78%$5,097.43
9.91%$0.061216
14.30%$1.49
5.12%$0.315255
8.81%$0.00645466
4.73%$0.00818433
0.18%$29.46
3.74%$119,999.00
1.36%$0.00977141
8.68%$0.997695
0.00%$3.03
5.14%$0.144744
13.93%$0.00000141
3.87%$4,647.60
9.35%$0.700553
11.10%$4,701.11
9.67%$8.19
11.98%$1.25
7.18%$1.49
9.47%$0.652154
7.54%$0.072628
-0.26%$0.51399
7.66%$0.00000123
7.90%$0.461512
-1.55%$117,560.00
0.80%$54.25
7.02%$0.999724
0.01%$7.57
8.61%$0.809413
9.54%$1.001
0.18%$0.01403942
3.12%$0.403522
7.48%$6.74
9.00%$16.54
10.13%$5,682.46
9.32%$0.00000047
-0.83%$0.063814
14.07%$1.42
5.51%$0.02367244
5.50%$15.12
2.31%$0.178106
19.14%$1.16
-0.05%$0.00002215
5.24%$0.0085874
9.86%$0.999384
-0.16%$2.60
9.93%$7.57
0.44%$0.397523
5.72%$0.04407276
7.37%$0.089961
8.48%$0.00489977
-1.48%$0.999922
0.00%$222.04
15.65%$0.594818
7.10%$1.096
-0.01%$1.005
1.05%$4,921.29
8.75%$10.78
0.03%$0.999805
0.01%$5.07
-1.27%$25.24
9.88%$30.75
9.93%$45.01
5.16%$0.03459905
2.31%$120,085.00
1.45%$4.79
13.80%$0.597886
13.16%$0.277988
4.99%$0.146014
8.15%$5,258.23
8.98%$0.37033
10.17%$0.115757
-2.17%$142.32
7.42%$0.599023
11.21%$22.74
0.81%$0.00499361
12.89%$4,680.32
9.24%$1.31
7.00%$0.00358753
8.82%$0.78981
-5.56%$0.253594
8.79%$119,818.00
1.30%$0.00000292
25.18%$0.755672
8.07%$0.831064
9.58%$0.0050043
9.97%$0.00006235
3.49%$120,077.00
1.43%$0.03454784
3.37%Reading
Role
Untold Stories Podcast | Founder at CryptoIQ | Founder at Bitcoin Foundation
Location
Greater New York City Area
Education
City University of New York-Brooklyn College
Current Project
Untold Stories, CryptoIQ, Bitcoin Foundation,
Previous Projects
Decentral, Jaxx Blockchain Interface, BitInstant, Changelly
It's been over 11 years since Bitcoin's genesis block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto. In that time, the network has expanded and thousands of new miners have entered the fray. But it all started with just a handful of libertarians and tech enthusiasts.
These pioneers are now legends in the industry. Some command crypto events with thousands in attendance, others have legions of diehard fans on social media that listen to their every blog post or podcast. Now they’re taking a look back at where it all began.
"That's the second ASIC to ever be used on the #Bitcoin network, EVER," Shrem told Decrypt.
Playing a leading role in Bitcoin's nascent rise, Shrem founded both the Bitcoin foundation and one of the first-ever Bitcoin exchanges—the now-defunct BitInstant. After a tussle with the law, following claims of money laundering, Shrem shook off the stigma, founding several crypto-centric start-ups and a popular podcast, called Untold Stories.
Lee has been in the Bitcoin industry longer than most. He dabbled in Bitcoin mining in early 2011.
"I found a photo of one from 7/16/2011. This is 6 graphics cards connected to one motherboard via risers," Lee told Decrypt.
But he ended up creating a clone of Bitcoin, one that would run faster and, in theory, cheaper. In October 2011, while working as a software engineer for Google, he created Litecoin—dubbed the silver to Bitcoin's gold.
Today, Litecoin has a $3 billion market cap. Not that Lee has any coins, he famously sold them in December 2017, at the height of the Bitcoin bull run.
"My first Bitcoin mining rig from summer of 2011," Lee told Decrypt.
Crypto runs in the family, it seems. Charlie Lee's brother, Bobby Lee, is the founder of BTCC, which was the first Bitcoin exchange in China. Bobby has since founded hardware wallet company Ballet. Read our review of his wallet here.
"That's a miner from Bitcoin 2013," Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss told Decrypt.
While Winklevoss admitted he hadn't dabbled in mining, he did provide Decrypt with a slice of Bitcoin history—an early Bitcoin miner pictured at the Bitcoin 2013 conference.
Is the price of Bitcoin hard coded to pump every four years? Some market analysts believe so. It’s a theory that stems from Bitcoin’s so-called “stock-to-flow” model—an economic concept that is more commonly used to measure abundance (or availability) of precious metals such as gold and silver. The theory is centered around the Bitcoin halving, set for mid-May, which will see Bitcoin’s mining rewards cut down the middle and therefore slow down the supply of Bitcoin and create greater scarcity. A...
One-half of the renowned Winklevii, Tyler—along with his twin brother Cameron—has been involved in the industry for many years. Commonly known for their legal scuffles against Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg, the twins took their $11 million settlement and reinvested it into Bitcoin around 2013. They originally worked with Shrem at BitInstant, alongside ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees, but parted ways over strategy disagreements.
The pair eventually founded several companies, including cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. The exchange saw $82 million in trading volume in the last 24 hours, and its US dollar stablecoin Gemini Dollar has a $5.8 million market cap.
Bitcoin bull and partner at Morgan Creek Digital, Anthony 'Pomp' Pompliano, started his crypto journey a little later than most on our list.
In 2015, while working as a product manager for Facebook, Pomp started mining Bitcoin and Ethereum alongside his future venture capital colleague, Jason Williams.
"Throw back to me and Pomp's first crypto mine circa 2015," Williams tweeted.
Pomp also writes a daily crypto letter and hosts the Pomp Podcast, where he recently interviewed Bitcoin skeptic and billionaire Mark Cuban, who, it turns out, now owns some Bitcoin. Aren’t those Bitcoin OGs relentless?
A supposedly banned Coinbase ad is appearing on YouTube videos belonging to Channel 4, one of Britain's biggest broadcasters, sources familiar with the matter told Decrypt. The cryptocurrency exchange released its “Everything Is Fine” ad last month—a big-budget, two-minute commercial that depicts the U.K. as bleak, rat infested and dirty, with prices in supermarkets spiraling out of control. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong claimed the advert was "banned" by British TV networks, and argued this amou...
Ethereum ETFs and strategic reserves now account for 7.98% of ETH’s total supply, according to data from Strategic ETH Reserve.xyz. This percentage has risen from about 3% as recently as the beginning of April, when no publicly listed company held any Ethereum as a reserve asset. Since then a wave of corporations have added ETH to their treasuries, helping the altcoin to rise from $1,800 in early April to its current price of $4,300. This includes firms such as Bitmine Immersion Tech, The Ether...
YouTube rival and Bitcoin treasury Rumble wants to boost its global AI cloud capabilities by acquiring Germany's Northern Data. Rumble said Monday that it has proposed a deal to gain control of Northern Data's cloud business, Taiga, and its large-scale data center arm, Ardent, in a $1.17 billion all-stock transaction. Northern Data—which stablecoin issuer Tether has a controlling stake in—said Monday that it would sell its crypto mining business, Peak Mining, to private Bitcoin miner Elektron E...