What is the History of Bitcoin?

Back in 2008, the financial world had a meltdown. The housing market collapsed in the United States, the stock market dropped off a cliff, and people lost their jobs all over the world. Not only did people suffer, but many were fed up with the way that banks and governments were handling money.  

The Bitcoin Whitepaper

That same year, on October 31st, the Bitcoin white paper, titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" was published.  What was so amazing about that white paper was that it outlined a totally new way to send and receive money, without the need for banks or governments.

Who published it?  Well, that’s a bit of a mystery because the name attached to the white paper was Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym. 

Satoshi Nakamoto

Who is Sataoshi Nakamoto?  No one really knows. Perhaps it’s an individual or it could be a group of people.  Over the years many people have had theories about the person or group behind the name ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’.  However, Nakamoto's identity remains a huge mystery.

In January 2009, Nakamoto launched the first Bitcoin software client. This allowed anyone to start mining Bitcoin and participating in the Bitcoin network. However, the early days of Bitcoin were slow and difficult. There were very few users and merchants who accepted Bitcoin. But as the network grew, Bitcoin began to gain attention.

Bitcoin Pizza

On May 22, 2010 a man named Laszlo Hanyecz made the first recorded real-world transaction using Bitcoin. He paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two Papa John's pizzas, which was worth about $25 at the time.  Here he is with the pizzas, in an article from Cointelegraph:

Hanyecz posted a message on the Bitcoin Talk forum offering to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas. He said that he was willing to pay for the pizzas to be delivered to his home or for someone to pick them up and bring them to him.

A user on the forum named Jeremy Sturdivant accepted Hanyecz's offer and delivered two Papa John's pizzas to Hanyecz's home in Florida. Now May 22 is known around the world as ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day’ and 10,000 Bitcoins is worth approximately $350,000,000!  Here’s a clip of Laszlo Hanyecz speaking about the transaction:

Over the next few years, Bitcoin continued to grow in popularity. More and more merchants began to accept Bitcoin, and the value of Bitcoin rose steadily.

2017 and Beyond

In 2017, Bitcoin experienced a major boom. The price of Bitcoin skyrocketed from around $1,000 to nearly $20,000. This boom attracted a lot of new people, but it also led to volatility.  Which means the price of Bitcoin went up and down a lot!

In the years since the 2017 boom, Bitcoin has continued to be volatile. It gained its current all-time high of $68,000 in 2021, but then dropped all the way down to $17,000 the next year.  Since then, it has made the slow climb up to around $40,000, where it stands now.

What happened in between 2021 and now that has affected the price so much?  That’s a complex question.  If you're curious though, please read 'The Crypto Scammers' to get all the Bitcoin Answers you need!