Cryptocurrency has been around for nearly a decade, and in that time, it’s attracted plenty of fanfare. Some say this is just another fad, but others believe it could be the future of money. For trading in cryptocurrency, you can use btcrevolution.io. Regardless of your take on digital currencies, we’re sure you’ll agree that this next wave of technology has also made some waves! Here are some of our favourite moments in cryptocurrency history:
2009: The Year Bitcoin Was Born
If you’ve come across the term “cryptocurrency,” you’re likely either a cryptocurrency investor or a tech enthusiast. Either way, knowing where this revolutionary technology came from is essential. The answer: Bitcoin was born on January 3, 2009.
Bitcoin is the first decentralised digital currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto—a pseudonym for an unknown person or group of people who developed the idea in 2008 and released it as open-source software in 2009. Bitcoin’s initial announcement came on an electronic mailing list for cryptography enthusiasts called metzdowd (which stood for “metzdowd gets drunk”), also where Satoshi published his white paper explaining how bitcoin works.
The first real-world Bitcoin transaction: May 22, 2010
The first real-world bitcoin transaction occurred on May 22, 2010, between Satoshi and Laszlo Hanyecz in Jacksonville, Florida. The two were trading 10,000 bitcoins (BTC) for two pizzas. At the time, this was valued at $25, but today, it would be worth around 100 million dollars. The price of those pizzas has skyrocketed since then! This is considered by many the most expensive pizza ever bought.
Related Post
The rise of alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins: 2011
If you’ve heard of cryptocurrencies, you may have heard about Bitcoin. But did you know that it wasn’t the first cryptocurrency? And what’s more:
- It wasn’t the first blockchain.
- It wasn’t the first cryptocurrency to have a hard fork (or soft fork).
Bitcoin was far from being the first coin ever created. The first altcoin predates even Bitcoin by over seven years; it was born in 2010 as Namecoin and used an alternative consensus mechanism called Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). It remains one of the top 100 cryptocurrencies in market capitalization despite never having had mainstream adoption or support from large groups like corporations or governments.
The launch of Ethereum: July 30, 2015
In 2015, Vitalik Buterin launched Ethereum, the first decentralised platform that runs smart contracts. These applications run on the blockchain and do not require a middleman to execute. They’re very popular with cryptocurrency traders, who use them to exchange funds without going through a bank or other financial institution which can be expensive. The Ethereum team raised $18 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) in 2014 and went live with its currency two years later.
The first blockchain fork in Bitcoin history: August 1, 2017
One of the most exciting things to happen in cryptocurrency history was the first hard fork in Bitcoin’s history. On August 1, 2017, a group of developers introduced an alternative version of Bitcoin called Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which they created because they wanted to scale up their original project.
2013: Bitcoin Breaks the $1,000 Barrier
In the Spring of 2013, it was a different story. Bitcoin’s price reached an all-time high of $1,242 on November 29 and stayed above $1,000 until April 9, when it dropped to its lowest value since January 2014 at $152. The cryptocurrency struggled over the next two years as Bitcoin hit several new lows before breaking its record in 2017. The price hit an all-time high of $19,783 on December 17 that year before dropping back by about one-third within 48 hours after hitting this peak.
2017: The ICO Boom
The ICO boom was when cryptocurrency prices were at their peak. It happened in 2017 and attracted many investors who wanted to buy into the craze. The ICO boom happened because people were excited about the future of cryptocurrencies and wanted to get in on it before anyone else could.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency has made waves in the last decade. It has gone from a quirky niche to an industry worth billions in just ten years. Even though Bitcoin may not be king of the hill anymore, there are still plenty of cryptocurrencies out there waiting to make their mark on history.
