Bitcoin pioneer and felon says he’s ‘vibe coding’ to restart the BTC faucet
Charlie Shrem, an early Bitcoin entrepreneur, is working to revive the Bitcoin faucet — a platform that distributes Bitcoin to users who complete CAPTCHA tasks. His new site, 21million.com, mimics the original Bitcoin faucet created by Gavin Andresen in 2010. Currently, the website shows a CAPTCHA task and a field for Bitcoin addresses, although it was non-functional and had no Bitcoin available at the time of writing. Shrem claims there is no catch behind his initiative, stating it aims to help users get started with some Bitcoin. He describes the development of this project as 'vibe coding,' suggesting a fun approach with artificial intelligence assistance. Bitcoin faucets played a crucial role in promoting the cryptocurrency's adoption in the early 2010s, rewarding users with Bitcoin for solving CAPTCHAs and encouraging wallet creation. Shrem's prior ventures include co-founding the Bitcoin Foundation and BitInstant, which provided instant Bitcoin purchases. However, he faced legal issues related to money laundering and was imprisoned for one year. Post-release, he established a crypto advisory firm and various other ventures.
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