Historical

Armenian cultural heritage sites tokenized on Solana blockchain

The initiative “Realm of Historia” is on a mission to tokenize historical sites in Armenia and around the world using the blockchain to preserve cultural heritage for future generations.

The Realm of Historia project recently announced its intentions to make strides in preserving Armenian cultural heritage through leveraging the use of blockchain technology and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

In a departure from conventional methods, this initiative seeks to digitize historical artifacts and physical historical sites, starting with the Realm of Historia: Carahunge X digital asset collection.

Cointelegraph spoke with the two creators of Realm of Historia, Ivan Grantovsky and Ivan Krylov, about how emerging technologies can preserve culture and connect new generations with history.

Cointelegraph 2023 Top 100 full list now mintable as digital collectibles

Loved the Cointelegraph 2023 Top 100? Readers can grab the profiles as NFTs.

Beginning March 20, folks across the crypto industry will be able to mint nonfungible tokens (NFTs) out of Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100. Cointelegraph unveiled its 2023 Top 100 list of the most impactful heroes and villains in the crypto and blockchain space in February. It was published in batches throughout the month, counting down to the top-ranked profile, with each entry including a bio and an animated picture.

Check out Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 and collect the profiles

Over a seven-day period starting March 20, the profiles of everyone on Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 will be mintable as limited-edition NFTs. Only 100 NFTs can be minted from each profile, and minting is only available during the seven-day window. After that, interested buyers will have to look to secondary marketplaces if they want to pick one up.

Purchasable via bank cards or Polygon’s MATIC (MATIC), each unique profile’s NFT starts off at $5 and becomes more expensive as subsequent NFTs are minted for it, with the price capped at $100. All proceeds from this limited-edition drop will go to support the victims of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Cointelegraph’s 2023 Top 100 is wide-ranging and includes both entities, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria at No. 67; concepts, such as decentralized exchanges at No. 37; and people, such as ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin at No. 15.

Want to grab the profile of someone in the top 10 as an NFT? Perhaps Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao at No. 3, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin at No. 2 or Bitcoin itself in the No. 1 position? Buyers interested in the top 10 profiles will need to also hold an article from the Cointelegraph Historical Collection.

Cointelegraph is partnering with Mintmade to bring you its Top 100 digital collectibles as well as its Historical Collection. Earnable tokens called “Minting Points” can also be used to buy Cointelegraph Top 100 NFTs.

Mysterious Bitcoin miner shows off oldest signature dated Jan. 2009

Answering the question ‘Who has/had the oldest mined Bitcoin?’ an anonymous member shared a signature dating back to January 2009, just a week after Bitcoin came into existence.

Online forums are integral to the Bitcoin origin story, where Satoshi Nakamoto and early contributors collaborated to discuss and create a disruptive financial system from scratch. One of the oldest Bitcoin forums — bitcointalk.org — still preserves historical discussions around creating the Bitcoin (BTC) logo and the payment system.

A curious member of the bitcointalk.org forum recently sought to identify Bitcoin miners from the early days. To their surprise, an anonymous member shared a signature dating back to January 2009, just a week after Bitcoin came into existence.

*The oldest known Bitcoin signature shared by OneSignature. Source: bitcointalk.org*

“Maybe OP is inviting Satoshi?” questioned another member after confirming the legitimacy of “the oldest signature” found to date. Adding to the mystery, the signature was posted by a newly created account on Nov. 26, 2022, under the pseudonym of OneSignature.

*Cointelegraph confirmed the validity of the signature. Source: verifybitcoinmessage.com*

OneSignature’s account history shows no other involvement on the forum, thus confirming that the intent for its creation was only to show off the oldest signed message. Digging deeper into the username shows a protected Twitter account, which was created back in October 2009.

*Twitter account of user OneSignature. Source: Twitter*

Cointelegraph confirmed that the address used by the mysterious poster holds no balance. The revelation of the signature dating back to the Bitcoin genesis period confirms the people involved in building Bitcoin’s legacy keep a close eye on the ecosystem while feeding the general public’s curiosity from time to time.

Despite the decade-long regulatory hurdles and prolonged bear markets, Bitcoin has managed to always come on top. However, the falling Bitcoin prices have added stress to the mining ecosystem.

The Bitcoin mining revenue in terms of the U.S. dollar is currently at two-year lows, down to $11.67 million, a number last seen on Nov. 2, 2020.