A Brief History of Bitcoin Origin


A Brief History of Bitcoin Origin

Bitcoin had a humble beginning back in 2008. The price of this cryptocurrency hit its peak in 2017 after being around for close to a decade. Essentially, this is the time when this virtual currency caught the investors’ attention. Over the years, Bitcoin has experienced ups and downs. But, what is this cryptocurrency about, and what was its origin?

Well, Bitcoin follows the market efficiency and economics principles. It’s an asset without a central authority to control it. Bitcoin is an international, safe, and fungible internet money with a limited supply. Consequently, the demand for this cryptocurrency continues to increase. And this enables it to keep attracting investors.

Humble Beginnings 

Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the Bitcoin idea on 31st October 2008. At this time, the world was experiencing a financial crisis. This pseudonymous person or entity posted the Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper on a cryptography mailing list. This message had a link to Bitcoin’s white paper.

Nakamoto explained the Bitcoin concept as a digital, decentralized currency. As a decentralized system, the Bitcoin network doesn’t have a single administrator. Instead, it has a public ledger of all transactions, and anybody can access and store it on their devices. The peer-to-peer Bitcoin network allows users to send coins to each other.

Bitcoin miners introduced the first block, known as the genesis block, on 3rd January 2009 and the first Bitcoin transaction occurred one week later. During the months that followed, only miners could obtain this cryptocurrency through the mining process. What’s more, Bitcoin didn’t have monetary value at this time.

It was after more than one year that the first transaction took place. A man called in Florida bought Pizza with 10,000 bitcoins on 22nd May 2010. And this transaction gave Bitcoin a real-world value or price of 4 Bitcoins per penny.

Fast forward, the value of the same transaction would be $114 million today. Coders and minders began building other networks like Litecoin and Etherum. They also focused on improving Bitcoin’s blockchain code by adapting it for varied uses.

The increasing applications of this technology drew more people to this cryptocurrency. Eventually, some businesses started to accept Bitcoin alongside fiat currency. Several exchanges also started to feature Bitcoin as early as 2010. And this made buying, selling, trading, and storing the cryptocurrency possible.

These crypto exchanges also enabled people to price Bitcoin against fiat money like the U.S dollar. And that when the Bitcoin price started rising from a few cents to its all-time high of $20,000.

History of Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin price was at $1 in February 2011. And this cryptocurrency’s price remained below $2 for the first early years. This digital money hit the first bubble in June 2011 when its price rose to $31 before dropping to the initial single-digit range.

Later, in April 2013, the price of this cryptocurrency rose to $200. Towards the end of the same year, the price rose to over $1,000. By November 2017, Bitcoin’s price was $10,000.

The highest price of this cryptocurrency was around $19650 in December 2017. However, different crypto exchanges had varying peak prices. And the price fell tremendously in the years that followed.

Bitcoin Today

One Bitcoin is worth not more than $12,000 today. That means the current price of this digital currency is better than its lowest price of $3,000. And up to now, nobody knows who Satoshi Nakamoto was or is.

Bitcoin’s Future

It’s hard to tell about Bitcoin’s future. However, its adoption and usage are growing. Today, people are using this digital currency in different parts of the world. You can find a merchant that accepts Bitcoin in some of the best cities for shopping the world over. Perhaps, you can use bitcoin equaliser website to know about these cities.  

Some people see Bitcoin as an investment tool. That’s because it uses innovative blockchain technology, and it’s transparent. However, it’s still hard to tell how Bitcoin’s future will turn out.