What Is Virgin Bitcoin?
A virgin Bitcoin is a Bitcoin that has never been spent. This Bitcoin comes directly from a miner and has no transaction history. Virgin Bitcoins have been a topic of great discussion in the Bitcoin community but are difficult to acquire in practice.
How Does a Virgin Bitcoin Work?
A virgin Bitcoin comes directly from a miner that has won the block reward. It can thus only be acquired in a P2P trading manner. Some miners have tried to advertise their Bitcoin as virgin Bitcoin to attract buyers and potentially sell Bitcoin at a premium.
How New Bitcoins Are Mined
The Bitcoin mining process involves computers competing to solve complex mathematical problems that validate transactions and mint new coins as rewards. These newly generated Bitcoins are immediately sold by miners to cover costs, so they enter circulation quickly through exchanges. This means freshly mined coins cannot maintain virgin status for long before being spent.
Where Can I Buy a Virgin Bitcoin?
Such coins are quite rare, and there are several reasons for this:
Mining Pools
Mining is contemporarily done by mining pools, which limit the variance of finding new blocks on the blockchain. Generally speaking, mining pools add a few steps to the mining process, which makes the delivery of virgin Bitcoins difficult to realize.
Transfers
Each transfer of a Bitcoin raises its risk profile and erodes its virgin status. Miners struggle to realize premiums for newly mined coins since they must immediately sell them to cover costs, forfeiting virginity. Even long-dormant coins lose purity after a first transaction. The ephemeral nature of Bitcoin virginity through ownership changes undermines the ability to consistently verify virgin status. This impedes meaningful price discovery and premiums as coins transfer between buyers.
UTXO
Unspent transaction outputs (UTXO) are outputs of a blockchain transaction that has not been used as input in a new transaction. Bitcoins have no persistence, unlike bills that are imprinted with serial codes. Bitcoins are more akin to bars of gold that are melted down and re-formed with each transfer. Therefore, virgin Bitcoins lose their identity once they are transferred since they lose their main attribute when they start circulating. Once a virgin Bitcoin becomes part of a Bitcoin UTXO, it is part of the other quantity of Bitcoins that cannot be differentiated.
Using Blockchain Analytical Tools To Find Virgin Coins
Identifying virgin Bitcoins involves using analytics tools to match newly mined coins with subsequent transactions. Coins that appear to have sat idle could indicate virgin status. However, blockchain analysis has limitations in detecting the status. Some Bitcoin enthusiasts use their own methods to find long inactive coins and wallets that may contain untouched virgin treasure.
Waiting for Bitcoin in Old Wallets
Analyzing old Bitcoin wallets that have been inactive for years offers the opportunity to discover virgin coins. Wallets that suddenly wake up after dormancy and move Bitcoin likely contain virgin coins untouched for long periods of time.
Why Institutions Want Virgin Bitcoin
Institutional investors and funds tend to be extremely wary of the potential for illicit history of some Bitcoins. Virgin coins with no transaction record offer immunity from this risk, making them ideal for risk-averse institutions. Investing in verifiably untouched Bitcoin allows them to meet internal compliance and audit standards with greater ease.
Current Premium for Virgin Coins
There is substantial demand for virgin Bitcoin, resulting in premiums around 10-15% above the regular market price. However, basic supply and demand economics indicate these premiums could surge even higher as more investors seek untouched Bitcoin. This scarcity makes holders able to command even larger premiums for their rare virgin coins.
