The History of the First Bitcoin Faucet
Gavin Andresen launched the first Bitcoin faucet in June 2010, giving 5 BTC per visitor. What really happened, why it closed, and the 2026 confusion.
Updated June 2026 · Reviewed by the PipeFlare team
The first Bitcoin faucet was launched by developer Gavin Andresen on June 12, 2010, giving 5 BTC to anyone who solved a captcha
It's the reason 'crypto faucet' exists as a concept at all — and it's regularly confused with unrelated modern promotions bearing a similar name
Category
Bitcoin history
Difficulty
Beginner
Where you'll see it
Crypto history articles, faucet-listing sites, recurring 'is the Bitcoin faucet back' search queries
First introduced
June 12, 2010 — shut down in 2012 as Bitcoin's price rose
About history of the first bitcoin faucet
The first Bitcoin faucet was launched on June 12, 2010, by Gavin Andresen — the developer who took over Bitcoin's lead development role from Satoshi Nakamoto. It gave 5 BTC to anyone who solved a simple captcha, no purchase or task required beyond that. Bitcoin was worth a fraction of a cent at the time, so giving away 5 BTC per visitor cost almost nothing. Over its lifetime the faucet distributed roughly 19,700 BTC before shutting down as Bitcoin's price rose. It is the reason 'crypto faucet' exists as a category at all, and it still gets confused with unrelated, much smaller modern promotions that share only the word 'Bitcoin' and a date in the calendar.
How it actually works
Andresen funded the faucet with roughly 1,100 BTC of his own and built it specifically to put coins into as many hands as possible, at a time when almost nobody held any and the network needed real transaction activity to prove the idea worked. The mechanism was simple: visit the site, solve a captcha, receive 5 BTC to a wallet address. As Bitcoin's price climbed through 2010 and 2011 — reaching roughly $30 by mid-2011 before crashing back down — giving away fixed amounts of BTC became far more expensive in real terms, and the reward size was gradually reduced to match. Andresen ultimately shut the faucet down in 2012 as it became financially unsustainable to keep operating at any meaningful reward level. In hindsight, the 19,700 BTC given away is worth an enormous sum at any price Bitcoin has traded at since — which is exactly why the story keeps resurfacing and getting mixed up with other, unrelated news.
Start here
- 1Understand the original faucet is historical — it has not operated since 2012, and no current site is Gavin Andresen's original faucet.
- 2If you see 'Bitcoin faucet is coming back' headlines, check whether the story describes a free, task-based giveaway (like the original) or a purchase-triggered rewards promotion — they are not the same thing.
- 3Treat any site claiming to be a revival of the '2010 Bitcoin faucet' with skepticism — verify the operator and domain independently before entering a wallet address.
- 4For a genuine modern equivalent of 'free crypto for a small task,' look at active faucet sites and rewards platforms rather than searching for the original by name.
Strengths
- It proved the basic mechanic — free, low-friction crypto distribution to drive adoption — that every faucet since has copied in some form.
- It is one of the best-documented pieces of early Bitcoin history, with archived pages and firsthand accounts from Andresen and other early developers.
- It happened at a moment when Bitcoin had almost no monetary value, so the giveaway carried none of the fraud risk that a similar-sized giveaway would carry today.
Common misunderstandings
- It is frequently confused with unrelated modern promotions — most recently a 2026 Cash App/Block campaign that shares a similar name but works completely differently.
- Some 2025 'relaunch' teases (including one from early Bitcoin figure Charlie Shrem) generated headlines but did not result in an operating, free, task-based faucet paying out at anywhere near the scale of the original.
- The original faucet's site is gone; scam sites occasionally impersonate a 'revival' of it to collect wallet connections or personal information.
Common questions
Who created the first Bitcoin faucet and when?
Gavin Andresen, the Bitcoin developer who became the project's lead maintainer after Satoshi Nakamoto stepped back, launched the first Bitcoin faucet on June 12, 2010. It gave 5 BTC to any visitor who solved a captcha, funded from roughly 1,100 BTC Andresen contributed himself.
How much Bitcoin did the original faucet give away in total?
The faucet distributed approximately 19,700 BTC over its operating life, according to accounts from Andresen and early Bitcoin historians. At the time, BTC was worth well under a cent, so the total giveaway cost only a small amount in real terms — its value in hindsight is a function of Bitcoin's later price appreciation, not the cost at the time.
Why did the original Bitcoin faucet shut down?
As Bitcoin's price rose through 2010 and 2011 — reaching roughly $30 by mid-2011 — giving away a fixed 5 BTC per visitor became increasingly expensive in real-world terms. Andresen gradually reduced the reward size to match rising prices and ultimately shut the faucet down in 2012, when continuing to give away meaningful amounts of BTC was no longer sustainable.
Is the original Bitcoin faucet coming back in 2026?
No. Gavin Andresen's original 2010 faucet has not reopened. What generates recurring 'is it coming back' searches is confusion with unrelated events that share the word 'Bitcoin' — most notably Block's Cash App 'Bitcoin Day' promotion, which ran April 6–10, 2026 and has already ended. There have also been social-media teases (including one from early Bitcoin figure Charlie Shrem in 2025) about reviving the original faucet concept, but none has resulted in an operating, free, task-based faucet giving away BTC at the scale of the original.
What was Cash App's 'Bitcoin Day' and is it the same as the 2010 Bitcoin faucet?
No, they are unrelated and work completely differently. Cash App's Bitcoin Day, run by Jack Dorsey's company Block across Cash App, Square, and Bitkey, was a limited-time promotion from April 6–10, 2026 offering up to $1 million in total bitcoin rewards. Unlike Andresen's faucet, it was not a free task-based giveaway — rewards were triggered by specific paid actions, such as buying at least $10 of bitcoin on Cash App or spending bitcoin at a participating Square merchant, and required KYC-verified US accounts. It has already ended and was never a relaunch of the original 2010 faucet.
Was the original Bitcoin faucet a scam?
No. It paid out exactly as advertised — 5 BTC per visitor who solved a captcha, funded from Andresen's own holdings, with no purchase or personal information required. It was created to promote Bitcoin adoption, not to profit from users. Any modern site claiming to be a 'revival' asking for personal information, a deposit, or wallet access beyond a receiving address should be treated as a likely scam, since the original never asked for any of that.
Sources
Related guides
Ready to put this into practice?
Exchange sign-up bonuses pay both you and a referrer after a qualifying trade.