A timeline of the journey of bitcoin. How it emerged and how it is today.
From 1998 to 2009 the years before Bitcoin
Despite being the first well-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin was not the first effort to create virtual money with encrypted ledgers. B-Money and Bit Gold are two instances of these that were conceptualized but never completely realized.
2008: The Enigmatical Mr. Nakamoto
A peer-to-peer electronic cash system paper named Bitcoin was uploaded to a cryptography email group. It was uploaded by a person going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity is still unknown.
2009: The birth of Bitcoin
The process of mining, which creates new Bitcoins and logs and verifies transactions on the blockchain, starts when the Bitcoin software is first made accessible to the general public.
2010 saw the initial valuation of Bitcoin.
Units of the newly-emerging cryptocurrency could not have a monetary value because it had never been sold, just mined. 2010 saw the first sale of one, with 10,000 of them being exchanged for two pizzas. At the current rate of exchange, the buyer’s Bitcoins would be worth almost $100 million if they had held onto them.
2011 saw the rise of rival cryptocurrencies.
The first rival cryptocurrencies emerge as Bitcoin gains traction and the concept of decentralized, encrypted currency gains traction. Often referred to as altcoins, they aim to enhance the original Bitcoin design by providing increased speed, privacy, or additional benefits. Namecoin and Litecoin were two of the earliest. There are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in use right now, and more are constantly being added.
2013: The price of bitcoin plummets.
The price of one Bitcoin starts to fall swiftly when it crosses $1,000 for the first time. It would take more than two years for the price to return to $1,000, thus many investors will have lost money over this period when it fell to about $300.
2014: Theft and scams
850,000 Bitcoins were lost when Mt.Gox, the biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world, went offline in January 2014. The details of what transpired are still being investigated, but whatever the case, someone deceitfully obtained a haul that was worth at $450 million at the time. The current market value of those lost coins is $4.4 billion.
ICOs and Ethereum in 2016.
This year, one cryptocurrency nearly overshadowed Bitcoin as interest in the Ethereum platform soared. This platform makes use of ether, a cryptocurrency, to enable apps and smart contracts built on the blockchain. The advent of Ethereum was signaled by the rise of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
2017 saw Bitcoin exceed $10,000 and keep rising.
During a time when its value stayed below prior heights, Bitcoin’s popularity continued to grow as more and more establishments accepted its transactions. It became evident over time that more and more money was entering the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem as new uses arose. In the meanwhile, the financial sector—and beyond—is seeing a change that is barely beginning thanks to the technology known as blockchain.
