Bitcoin, space travel and TikTok debut in Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records has added Bitcoin (BTC) and a number of blockchain events to the latest edition of its record book under the category “Cryptomania.”
The recognition of crypto by a regular staple like Guinness World Records indicates that blockchain and digital assets were among the most publicly touched topics in the last couple of years.
The 2023 edition, launched last month, has seen a number of notable crypto achievements included spanning Bitcoin, crypto adoption, fan tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Bitcoin was unsurprisingly recognized as the most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of $816.69 billion as of March 24, 2022, while also gaining recognition for being the world’s first decentralized crypto after launching in early 2009.
“Bitcoin was developed as a solution to the challenge of regulating a digital currency without any centralized organization, or ‘trusted third party,’ to monitor transactions,” Guinness World Records’ online description says, adding that other attempts had arrived before that in the end. depending on a trusted third party.
AND NFT project CryptoPunks also managed to win the “most expensive NFT collectible” after CryptoPunk #5822 was purchased for $23.7 million, or 8000 Ether (ETH) on February 12 this year by entrepreneur Deepak Thapliya.
It’s worth noting that Beeple’s record NFT sale of $69.3 million didn’t make it there, as the firm described an NFT collectible as “sets of limited-edition artwork built around pre-rendered templates.”
Fan tokens also appeared as a category in the book. Manchester City’s token – launched via Socios in June 2021 – was recorded as the “most valuable fan token” with a market capitalization of $47.1 million as of March 24, 2022.
El Salvador was also included in the book for being the “first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender” last June.
“It was hoped that this move, which was condemned by the World Bank, would reduce the cost of international transfers – an important factor for a country that depends on money sent home by workers abroad,” it said.
A Guinness World Records spokesperson told Cointelegraph that each issue “tries to reflect the zeitgeist of the year and the topics our readers are likely to discuss,” with crypto joining space travel and TikTok as key topics.
“We will follow this area with interest over the next few years as the technologies underpinning crypto evolve and find a wider range of applications,” they said.
Related: Walmart CTO says crypto will be a “major” payments disruptor
When asked what were the most head-scratching and monumental entries from Cryptomania, the spokesperson highlighted the innovation of Bitcoin, noting that it took the company a long time to wrap its head around it:
“Researching this title involved not only figuring out how to describe what a blockchain is […] but also put into context decades of cryptocurrency research and what made it different from previous projects.”
Last week, crypto exchange Binance also revealed that it had broken a Guinness World Record after it was recognized for conducting the largest crypto lesson to date, with 289 people in attendance at Blockchain Land Nuevo León on October 7.
