Are Bitcoin companies sifting customers’ deposits for rare satoshis?
Ever since Casey Rodarmor unveiled software to order, number, and inscribe data onto Bitcoin ’s blockchain earlier this year, speculators have bid up the price of rare satoshis to breathtaking heights. Rodarmor’s so-called Ordinals inscribing project and its associated ORD Bitcoin node and wallet software ascribe unique characteristics to bitcoin’s smallest denominations. Believe it or not, there are standing bids to purchase an individual satoshi — 1/100 millionth of one bitcoin — for multiple bitcoins. One of the earliest, and arguably the most expensive, satoshis is the dickbutt — the first inscription that unveiled Rodarmor’s Ordinals project. Its inscriber once offered it for sale for over 50 bitcoin (more than $2 million at today’s price). Like collectible coins, certain satoshis have numismatic value. For example, satoshis mined on Satoshi Nakamoto’s computers are valuable. Similarly, satoshis from the first year of Bitcoin also have collectibl...