TURNING ON THE TAP

It might not be universally celebrated like Pizza Day, but Gavin Andresen’s Bitcoin faucet has still made its mark on history – and done significantly more to catalyse adoption. Unlike other attempts at broadening BTC ownership, this one cost nothing to participate other than a little time. And for the early users who took advantage of The Bitcoin Faucet, it was to prove time well spent.

Less than three weeks after Laszlo purchased two pizzas for 10,000 BTC, developer Gavin Andresen created something more sophisticated. “I want the Bitcoin project to succeed, and I think it is more likely to be a success if people can get a handful of coins to try it out,” he reasonably explained.

On June 11th, 2010, Gavin unveiled his first Bitcoin coding project on the forum in the form of a website that gave away free bitcoins. The Bitcoin Faucet was hosted at freebitcoins.appspot.com and initially offered 5 BTC per visitor on a first-come, first-served basis with its pool of 1,100 BTC supplied by the developer himself.

While only a nominal amount in monetary terms, since the coins had only cost around $50 to acquire, the initiative illustrates once again the willingness of early community members to dip into their pockets to grow the project they so passionately believed in.

Turning on the Tap

To avail themselves of free coins, all a user had to do was visit the site, solve a simple captcha, and enter a Bitcoin address to receive their 5 BTC reward. The faucet was intended to give new users some coins “to play with right away,” sparing them the complexity of setting up mining. In his announcement, Gavin invited everyone to try it out and “get some free coins,” noting that they could always donate them back to the faucet’s address if they wished.

While the ever-modest and self-deprecating Gavin described the concept as “really dumb,” forum users including Laszlo were impressed – so much so that several felt compelled to support his efforts. One person admitted, “I got 5 then felt bad so sent you 50 back,” and by the end of the first day, the faucet’s balance had actually climbed to 1,135 BTC. Another user who found a way to game the system and extract 50 BTC in minutes using Tor revealed the vulnerability and repaid the BTC as a gesture of good faith.

One figure who was particularly impressed with the faucet was Satoshi, who wrote: “Excellent choice of a first project, nice work,” adding, “I had planned to do this exact thing if someone else didn’t do it, so when it gets too hard for mortals to generate 50 BTC, new users could get some coins to play with right away.”

Despite being internet strangers, there was a bond developing between the phlegmatic Satoshi and the dry but highly accomplished Gavin Andresen. Satoshi gave his protégé tips on further optimizing the design of The Bitcoin Faucet, which Gavin duly implemented.

During the course of its lifetime, the faucet dispensed a total of 19,700 BTC that would go on to enrich the Bitcoin ecosystem in countless ways. Thousands of BTC were distributed to people who might otherwise have never bothered with Bitcoin at that stage. Some early recipients doubtless forgot about their free 5 BTC only to rediscover them years later when those coins were worth a small fortune, while others became steadfast Bitcoiners.

The Bitcoin Faucet was a trickle that helped set off a flood of global interest. For the first time, anyone could become a BTC holder with minimal technical knowledge.