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ike most revolutions and innovations throughout history, everything starts from an idea. In October 2008, what started as an idea became an asset, currency, and investment today.
The idea of Bitcoin represented an innovation in using a software code to verify and monitor transactions without involving a centralized bank or government treasury.
Different theories and conspiracies exist about why Satoshi Nakamoto proposed the alternative currency. One unknown reason was that it was in response to the global financial crisis in 2008.
Nakamoto left a note in the original entry in the bitcoin network’s transaction database (View the original document). The entry was a passage from an article from The Times about a British official weighing in on the merits of the second bailout for banks.
One early story about Bitcoin payment involves the most expensive pizza ever sold. A person used bitcoins to order pizza three months after the marketplace was established for the currency.
The pizza cost 10,000 bitcoins.
Cryptocurrencies are shown to be just as unprotected as physical currency when some bitcoin wallets were subjected to hacking and theft.Multiple charities and organizations that collect donations in bitcoins close the payment option to the public because of possible legal entanglements.
Bitcoin transaction increases, trading volumes increases, but its usage is largely relegated to the dark sides of the internet, including black markets that deal with illegal goods and services.
Several groups were trying to legitimise bitcoins, including the Paly Entrepreneurs Club, an ambitious group at a high school in Palo Alto, California, that was working on building a foundation for trading the currency online.Coinbase, a Silicon Valley start-up, also target a nontechnical solution for bitcoins.
SecondMarket, a company that allows investors to buy shares of the most-traded private companies like Twitter, gained investments for a fund that will hold only bitcoins.
The fund, the BIT (Bitcoin Investment Trust), aimed to provide investors with a reliable environment to bet on the future price of bitcoin, a currency trading without regulations with online exchanged based overseas.
Ross Ulbricht, 29-years of age at the time, is believed to be behind the Silk Road marketplace. He was arrested by the F.B.I on narcotics and money-laundering charges. The underground marketplace began in 2011.
Silk Road offered illegal goods for sale such as, varieties of marijuana, LSD, ecstasy and prescription pills. The drugs could be brought from sellers across the globe.Silk Road was running on a simple principle: Everyone remained anonymous.
Users could gain access to the network only through a special browser (TOR) meant to ensure anonymity. Bitcoin was the payment method of choice since transactions could be done without I.D and transaction details could be scrambled.
Silk Road at the time was believed to have been responsible for half of all transactions involving Bitcoins world-wide.
One of the kiosks in Vancouver place the first A.T.M machine for bitcoins at a trendy coffee shop in the heart of the city.
Users can scan their hand to confirm identity, then transactions are maid through virtual wallets on their smartphones. The system limits a transaction of $1,000 a day to avoiding money laundering and financial fraud.
On November 18 2013, U.S. federal officials estimate at a senate hearing that such cryptocurrency networks offer real benefits for the whole financial system even if they support new ways for money laundering and illegal activity.
The hearing was the biggest turning point of bitcoin estimating a larger future growth and the recognition that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could become more lasting and significant parts of the financial landscape.
The price of one Bitcoin on an exchange rises to $1120 USD/BTC, a meteoric gain from its beginnings in 2010.
The total market cap of bitcoin is over $13 billion dollar by that time.
The biggest story of bitcoin in 2013 was its meteors rise in price, which saw it hit a peak of over $1,100 USD/BTC in November. However, during 2014 it experienced a drop of more than 50% according to CoinDesk Price Index.
The prices were buffeted for several reasons from the adoption of PayPal and Microsoft, to the massive sell-order from the ‘Bear Whale’ and the concerns of the Chinese authorities.
According to CNBC and Bloomberg, Bitcoin was the best-performing currency of the year. Gaining a net of almost 40 per cent.A look at the CoinDesk USD Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) from October revealed an outstanding gain in investor confidence in most the traded cryptocurrency.
Those who saw it coming please raise your hand! Bitcoin not only bounced back from its 2015 doldrums but went on a trend that saw it going almost 120% up from the beginning of the year.
Bitcoin’s booming 2016 certainly came as a surprise to many skeptics, who pointed to the failure of mainstream Bitcoin businesses to catch on.
Bitcoin prices broke a new record reaching over $19,500 USD/BTC and a new digital currency forced to split the blockchain in two, Bitcoin Cash, was created. The bitcoin community has been divided on how to solve its scaling issue.
In 2017 more than 100 cryptocurrency-based hedge funds were created. The total market cap has passed half a trillion dollars. New companies have raised billions of dollars through ICOs, and the continuation of a movement to decentralize the internet.
Bitcoin and the crypto market have shaken the world.
While 2017 was a big success among bitcoin and cryptocurrencies enthusiasts, 2018 had proven that blockchain technology was still at its early stage and the mass adoption had yet to come. Throughout the year, Bitcoin dropped over 80% in value.
Many newcomers and investors lost money and the Bitcoin hype quickly faded. However, 2018 wasn't all dark and grim. Although decreased in value, regulators and lawmakers from countries all around the world kept Bitcoin and crypto discussions alive while focusing on developing blockchain technology.
Enthusiasts and believers kept on overcoming challenges, the only ones who missed out are those who came to make a quick buck.
Uncertainty may still be in the air when it came to the future of Bitcoin, but one thing was clear- digital money is around the corner, and it definitely will be an inseparable part of the future.
The Chinese government, the European Union, and even the US Federal Reserve were all planning to develop their digital currency. China has brought back the world's interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technology as Chinese president Xi Jinping goes bullish on blockchain.
The Chinese Central Bank also started offering education on Bitcoin and blockchain. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have once again outperformed traditional markets in 2019.
