Although it initially pondered donating its Bitcoin holdings to charity in 2013 but Wired instead chose the "obvious" option of destroying the <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/glossary#private-key">private key</a> to their 13-bitcoin wallet. 

There has been no shortage of people and institutions who have<a href="https://newcryptobuzz.com/2021/12/02/in-2013-wired-destroyed-the-key-to-13-btc-now-worth-760k-to-make-a-point/"> grossly</a> undervalued cryptocurrency's potential.
<h2>Wired Destroyed the Private Key to 13 Bitcoin Holdings Worth a Fortune</h2>
Wired is one of the many former Bitcoin skeptics, having deleted the private key to a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet containing 13.34623579 BTC in 2013 to demonstrate that the cryptocurrency was nothing more than an "abstraction." The Bitcoin in the now-inaccessible address now has a value of $761,000.

To see what all the fuss was about, author Robert McMillan (now a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal) set up a Butterfly Labs Bitcoin <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/how-to-get-started-with-bitcoin-mining/">mining equipment</a> in the corner of his Wired office. And he was underwhelmed by the results of his small experiment.

He wrote, "The world's most popular digital money is nothing more than an abstraction." At the time, the journalist was confused with Bitcoin and had considered donating <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/miami-mayor-advocates-bitcoin-payments-for-employees/">them</a> to charity.

"But, in the end," he added, "the answer was obvious: we're erasing the private key used by our Bitcoin wallet."
<blockquote>"That leaves our growing pile of Bitcoin lucre locked away in a digital vault for all eternity — or at least until someone cracks the SHA-256 encryption that secures it."</blockquote>
<h2>In 2013, 13 Hours Was the average Time to Mine One BTC.</h2>
At the time, the Butterfly Labs ASIC was producing two Bitcoin every ten days on average. Two BTC was valued at around $220 at the time, according to Wired. They'd be worth roughly $57,000 each now, or $112,000 for the two – a 51,000 percent raise.

In 2013, mining one BTC on a regular PC took an average of 13 hours. That time had increased to 23 days by 2014. According to the New York Times, mining one bitcoin will take ten years in 2021.

Bitcoin mining difficulty, on the other hand, has been steadily growing since 2013. Since 2009, McMillan claims that winning the Bitcoin mining "lottery" has gotten around 10 million times more difficult.

Wired Destroys the Private Key to 13 Bitcoin Holdings Now Worth $760K

Wired pondered donating their Bitcoin holdings to charity in 2013 but instead chose the "obvious" option of destroying the private key to their 13 bitcoin wallet.

Usha is a diehard crypto enthusiast and has been actively writing on different facets of the blockchain and crypto world. She has authored many research articles on cryptocurrency and aims to provide informational and quality content to readers. She firmly believes that crypto has a great potential to redefine the world of finance and blockchain.

Wired Destroys the Private Key to 13 Bitcoin Holdings Now Worth $760K

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