Neat!  This is the kind of stuff I've wondered about in the back of my head but never really sought out the answers to, and I appreciate the detailed explanation.

And here we are in 2024, where a bunch of shitcoins can still be mined using CPUs, GPUs, ASICs, and even hard drives but nothing comes close to bitcoin in terms of popularity or market domination.  If only I'd heard about it in the very early days and understood its significance (because as it stands, there was a disconnect between the two the way it happened for me anyhow), I'd be living a much different life right now.  In any case, it's wild to think about how easy it was to mine BTC then as opposed to now--the evolution from using a PC to high-dollar ASICs seems like something that would have taken place over decades instead of 15 years (in my mind at least).

Even the early faucets paid out what in hindsight was an incredible amount of bitcoin.  Even if you'd saved everything you received from faucets from back in 2015, you'd probably have a decent stash.  I hate thinking about this stuff.