Bitcoin pioneer Charlie Shrem announces plans for a new bitcoin faucet
Bitcoin pioneer Charlie Shrem announced plans to relaunch a bitcoin faucet on May 4, 2025, aiming to distribute free bitcoin like the original faucet created by Gavin Andresen in 2010, which gave away five bitcoin per claim to promote adoption, according to his X post. Shrem, who served two years in prison in 2014 for Silk Road-related charges, could be leveraging bitcoin’s current value—around $95,000 per coin—by making even small faucet payouts significant. The first bitcoin faucet helped millions explore crypto when the whole idea was still unproven, so a new one might help many more to open a wallet for the first time in 2025.