Under the heading “Cryptomania” the current edition of Guinness World Records now includes Bitcoin and various blockchain events including CryptoPunk NFT sale and El Salvador becoming the first country to adopt BTC as a legal Tender.
Blockchain technology and digital assets were among the most widely discussed topics over the previous couple of years, as seen by the acknowledgment of crypto by a mainstream institution like Guinness World Records.
The 2023 edition, released last month, features a variety of noteworthy crypto milestones, including those related to Bitcoin, the adoption of cryptocurrencies, fan tokens, and NFTs.
With a market valuation of $816.69 billion as of March 24, 2022, Bitcoin has predictably been named the most expensive cryptocurrency. It also received acclaim for being the first decentralized cryptocurrency in the world after being life 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 oversee transactions,” The Guinness World Records’ description reads online, adding that other attempts had come before that ultimately relied on a trusted third party.
Online information on the Guinness World Records states that earlier attempts eventually relied on a reliable third party.
After CryptoPunk #5822 was purchased by businessman Deepak Thapliya on February 12 for $23.7 million (8,000 ETH), OG NFT project CryptoPunks also made the cut for the most “expensive NFT collectible.”
It’s important to note that Beeple’s record-breaking $69.3 million NFT sale was excluded from that list since the company defined an NFT collectible as “limited-edition collections of artwork created around pre-rendered templates.”
The book included a category for fan tokens as well. The “most valuable fan token” was Manchester City’s token, which was introduced via Socios in June 2021 and had a market cap of $47.1 million as of March 24, 2022.
El Salvador was also mentioned in the book for being the “first country to embrace Bitcoin as legal cash” in June of last year.
“It was hoped that this move, which was condemned by the World Bank, would reduce the cost of international transfers — an important consideration for a country that is reliant on money sent home by workers overseas,” it read.
A Guinness World Records spokesperson told Cointelegraph that each edition “tries to reflect that year’s zeitgeist and the topics our readers are likely to be discussing,” with crypto joining the likes of space travel and TikTok as key subjects.
“We will be watching this space with interest over the next few years, as the technologies that underpin crypto develop and find a wider range of applications,” they said.
The creation of Bitcoin was singled out by the representative when questioned about the most perplexing and momentary records from Cryptomania, adding that it took the company some time to wrap its head around it.
“Researching this title involved not only figuring out how to describe what a blockchain is […] but also putting into context decades of cryptocurrency research and what made it different to any earlier projects.”
Last week, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance also declared that it had broken a Guinness World Record after being acknowledged for holding the largest crypto lesson ever on October 7 at Blockchain Land Nuevo León with 289 participants.
