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A Brief History of the Bitcoin

The majority of the attractive fields of business have a long history. Things are different when we talk about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This field/topic is quite young and its’ history is not too long. However, it had a huge impact on today’s world. That is a good proof of how powerful this “invention” actually is.

It is one of the biggest changes that have happened in the last 2 decades (or more). There are two different questions that people interested in Bitcoin usually ask. The first one is – “How to become rich thanks to Bitcoin?” Well, the answer to this question is complex. You could check bitcoin-billionaire.com to find out more.

The second common question is – “How did everything start?” The answer to this question makes people feel more secure. More precisely, it makes them feel more confident to start investing in Bitcoin.

Because of that, we want to analyze the history of Bitcoin.

Very Beginning of Bitcoin

Image source; kryptomoney.com

Everything started even before Bitcoin arrived. In 2007, there were some indications that virtual money is going to replace paper money. Media across the world have started to talk about it and many experts started to involve in this story. Well, the true story actually starts 1 year later.

Remember the date 18th of August 2008. On this day, the domain name bitcoin.org has been registered. It was the first step that a mysterious guy by name Satoshi Nakamoto has made. However, later that year on 31st October, the nine-page white paper has been released over the net. This was a completely new subject and it was interesting for many web users. Because of that, it became viral quickly.

But, who is Satoshi Nakamoto? Why is he so mysterious?

It is hard to say. Media have announced him as the creator of Bitcoin that made a huge impact on the entire business industry. He announced on his P2P Foundation profile that he is Japanese. Yet, many people were skeptical about this piece of information. There are two reasons for that. His English was perfect and many people noticed that he sound like a native English speaker. Besides that, his BTC software was not documented in Japanese.

In other words, you can’t say for sure that Nakamoto is even a male person. Some people claim that it is not possible that only one man stands behind this invention. There are chances that Satoshi Nakamoto is a group of people.

Genesis Block

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Here comes one of the bigger steps in BTC history. This mysterious guy created the Genesis Block for the first time on the 3rd of January 2009. The average time between two new blocks is 10 minutes. Yet, this was not the case at that moment. Nakamoto waited for 6 days before adding a new block.

The logical reason why he did that is that he was testing the network. Still, conspiracy theorists developed a story. Their version says that he wanted to mirror God’s creation of the world. God created the world in 6 days.

It is up to you to decide which story has more sense.

Finally – First Transaction

Only 9 days later, on 12th January, the first transaction was made. The value of this transaction was 10 BTC and it was made between Nakamoto and Hal Finney. The New Liberty Standard grabbed the attention of the world and soon got the BTC exchange rate against USD dollar. On 5th October 2019, the value of $1 was 2300.03 BTC. The comparison with the strongest currencies in the world was a sign that Bitcoin is going to reach huge success.

Pizza Purchase 

22nd May 2010 is another significant day for BTC development. On that day, a programmer Laszlo Hanyecz used bitcointalk.org to order pizza. He offered 10000 BTC for 2 pieces of pizza and the student by the name Jeremy Sturdivant accepted that offer.

Volatility of Bitcoin

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The ratio between BTC and USD dollar was 1:1 until February 9th, 2001. Still, people started to invest in this cryptocurrency. Shortly, the value of the BTC reached $31.91 dollars.

Unfortunately, this was not a long-term success. Only 4 days later BTC value dropped to $10.25. Still, on 9th April there was a significant jump of value. The value at that moment was $200.

The Silk Road Shutdown

Everything around BTC is turbulent. The value can change in only a few hours. The closure of Silk Road proves that. This website is shut down and 260k BTCs were seized. In only a few hours, the value of 1 coin reduced for $30.

Still, already in November 2013, the BTC has recovered. The value of one coin at that moment was $1000. At the beginning of 2014, the value was constantly varying between $600 and $1000

“Mt. Gox” Hack

The most famous BTC exchange was Mt.Gox. It has been handling more than 70% of transactions until the moment when they got hacked. Believe it or not, more than 850 000 Bitcoins were stolen. This was probably the darkest moment for BTC. Still, once again, it succeeded to recover.

Mainstream Support

Image source: forbes.com

It is not a secret that Bitcoin was a controversial subject for a long period of time. Yet, things have changed a lot in 2015. First mainstream support BTC got from Microsoft on 11th December 2015. Only 20 days later, BTC as on the front page of The Economist.

2017 – The Most Successful Year

The influence of media finally showed results in 2017. 29th November is probably the most turbulent day in BTC history. The value of one coin was $10 000. Still, in only 3 or 4 hours the value raised to $11 000. Many successful investors involved themselves in the BTC industry. Because of that, the value of 1 coin jumped to $20000 at the beginning of December 2017. Still, only 2 weeks later, the value went down to $13000. As you can see, things are changing on a daily basis.

Bans and Regulations in 2018

If 2017 was the most successful year for BTC, then 2018 is the most unsuccessful one. The first thing that reduced the value of BTC is the rumor that South Korea is going to ban crypto. Together with Facebook’s crypto and ICO ad bans rumor, the value of 1 coin went down to $7000.

Conclusion

Everything around the BTC is turbulent and quick. Today you can be a millionaire, tomorrow you can go bankrupt. What do you think, is investing in BTC a good choice?

About Suzan Vega