Bitcoin is undoubtedly the most famous cryptocurrency in the world. Some treat it like digital gold, others see it as a way to solve the problems that plague modern payment methods, and even the entire monetary system.

• Why was it created?
• What is its history?
• What does it have to do with spam and pizza?

In August 2008, the bitcoin.com domain was registered

Two months later, on October 31, 2008, a paper titled "Bitcoin - an electronic peer-to-peer payment system" was published. The author of this work was Satoshi Nakamoto, a legendary figure and to this day extremely mysterious. The document created by Nakamoto contains the most important assumptions about Bitcoin. The author wrote about the need to create an electronic system that would be based on cryptography, not trust, and would allow transactions to be carried out without the need to confirm them with trusted third parties.

It is worth paying attention to the surroundings and the time in which this manifesto was created

In 2007, the financial crisis literally spilled over the world, which greatly increased the aversion to the traditional monetary system. The problems were literally printed, and hardly any institution suffered specific consequences resulting from earlier actions. However, this was not the first time someone realized that the traditional system was flawed.

The first foundations of the technology behind Bitcoin were created in the early 1980s.

We owe the foundation to David Chaum, a cryptographer. Chaum saw the risk of moving around the web and wanted to ensure the anonymity of Internet users. He described the whole concept in 1982 in the work "Invisible signatures for untracked payments". Chaum emphasized that the data collected by banks and intermediaries may be dangerous in the future! Hence, his system ensured anonymous transactions.

Why did Chaum's idea fail in the 1980s despite interest from Visa, Microsoft and Germany's Deutsche Bank? His tool was not immune to the so-called “double spending” by exploiting the vulnerabilities in the code; two separate transactions could be made using the same funds.

Another innovator was Adam Back , who introduced the hashcash system, which aimed to reduce mass emailing (spam is one of the first plagues of the Internet). The technology itself was unrelated to banking, but its elements heavily helped Nakamoto create Bitocin .

Speaking of Bitcoin, it is impossible not to mention the Cypherpunk movement, which operated in the 90s.

Its members were cryptologists, and how could it be otherwise with liberal views. Their discussions and works were also an important building block in the later activities of Nakamoto himself.

On January 3, 2009, 30,000 lines of code were written, and Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block, called the Genesis Block.

Satoshi Nakamoto wasn't the only person working on Bitcoin

An early enthusiast of this cryptocurrency was Hal Finney, a member of the cyberpunk movement. Finney was literally fascinated by the idea of a decentralized internet currency. When Nakamoto announced that he was releasing bitcoin software, Finney declared that he would mine the first bitcoins - these were the first 10 coins that Satoshi sent as part of the test. Finney was not only an enthusiast, but also a successful programmer, in 2004 he designed a high-use proof-of-work that required some computational work to be done by the service requester - It was supposed to protect computer systems against DoS attacks.

Hal Finney died in 2014 and according to the information provided to the media, he did not know who Satoshi was until the end. The creator of Bitcoin is shrouded in mystery. In Wikipedia, we can find several different theories as to who hides behind this pseudonym . This includes, for example, Elon Musk , but it must be admitted that this is a far-fetched theory.

What do we really know about the creator of Bitcoin ?

Nakamoto has written nearly 80,000 words about Bitcoin in 2 years and there are many indications that he is a native English speaker, and maybe even British. Usually his posts/comments appeared when it was daytime in the UK. There is also no shortage of evidence that he was an American. Either way, we'll probably never know.

The first real Bitcoin rate was determined based on the cost of its mining. It was exactly on October 5, 2009. One US dollar could buy 1309 BTC . As you well know, the roles have reversed.

In 2010, there were several places where bitcoin was accepted

Given the rapid price increases of Bitcoin, there is no shortage of stories and memes related to the first transactions made with this cryptocurrency, one of the most popular by far is the transaction that was made when buying a pizza, which was agreed to by one of the first Bitcoin users - Laszlo Hanyecz . Purchased 2 pizzas at Papa John's for ... 10,000 BTC. The transaction took place on May 22, 2010 - In 2021, these Bitcoins were worth almost $700 million

Admittedly, this is a significant opportunity cost. The amount is very impressive, but it must be added that since then the price of Bitcoin has fallen significantly, and Leszno himself has been waiting for a willing transaction for 4 days!

In July 2010, the cryptocurrency exchange platform MT Gox was launched

Which for several good years was the market leader. A year later, the Silk Road platform, where you could buy illegal drugs, was launched, and Bitcoin became its main form of payment. This, of course, did not generate good PR for the cryptocurrency, which was and still is to be an alternative to the current monetary system. 2 years after the first bitcoins were mined Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared from the network. On April 23, 2011, he sent a short e-mail to a bitcoin developer saying that he was going to do something else and that he was leaving bitcoin in good hands.

Why did Satoshi Nakamoto let go ?

It is possible that he was convinced by the stories of other creators of alternative currencies. In 1998, Bernard von NotHaus, a native of Hawaii, created a currency called the Liberty Dollar, he was charged with breaking the law and sentenced to six months of house arrest. 9 years later, one of the first E-Gold digital currencies was liquidated in an atmosphere of suspicion of money laundering. Either way, Nakamoto 's voice is literally missing.

One of the largest transactions that made an impression a few years ago was the purchase of bitcoin worth 10 million dollars by the Winklevoss brothers. This investment tripled after just 12 months, if only the Winklevoss brothers wanted to monetize their investments, they could do it with the Bitomat, which was built in Vancouer in 2013! Although, from a practical point of view, it might be difficult to do. The same year also saw the creation of Grayscale 's first investment fund , which focuses on cryptocurrency investments. In 8 years, this fund has raised over USD 38 billion from investors.

In 2014, the Mt. Gox

At the time of the attack, the Tokyo-based exchange was the largest in the market, with a trading volume of 70% of the total Bitcoin supply .

The following years saw the ever stronger penetration of Bitcoin into the awareness of not only investors, but also average citizens. With the rest of the fortunes that were created along with the development of this market could not go unnoticed.

Is it worth paying attention to these types of messages?

Definitely yes. Most often, very positive news may be associated with a local top in the quotations of this cryptocurrency that raises flushes on the face .

Bitcoins Timeline

• 1982 - David Chaum creates the " Invisible Signatures for Untracked Payments" project
• 1990's - Adam Back creates the hashcash system
• 08.2009 - registration of the bitcoin.com domain
• 03.01.2009 – The birth of the blockchain and the creation of the first block called “ genesis ”.
• 01/12/2009 – The first transaction on the bitcoin network
• 05.10.2009 – Determination of the first exchange rate
• bitcoin exchange - Bitcoin Market
• 05/22/2010 – First use of bitcoin as a currency
• bitcoin exchange - Mt.Gox
• – The beginning of mining on graphics cards
• bitcoin mine Slush's Pool
• 08.12.2010 – The first transaction using a mobile phone
• 01/28/2011 – 25% of all possible bitcoins mined
• 02/09/2011 – One bitcoin reaches $1
• 04.04.2011 – Beta tests of the first Polish stock exchange bitomat.pl
• April 16, 2011 - First article about bitcoin in serious media - TIME - "Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks"
• April 14, 2011 - WikiLeaks accepts bitcoin
• 08/26/2011 – Fall of the Polish exchange bitomat.pl – 17,000 BTC lost
• bitcoin and World Expo conference in New York
• 09/23/2011 – P2Pool is established
• The collapse of the large TradeHill exchange
• – Fall of the Bitcoinica platform
• 06.2012 – Coinbase is established
• – WordPress.com accepts bitcoin
• 28/11/2012 – Drop in block reward from 50 to 25 BTC
• March 12, 2013 - Hard Forks blockchain
• 03/18/2013 – The first attempt to regulate bitcoin by FinCEN (USA)
• bitcoin ATM
• 07.2013 - Billionaire Winklevoss brothers enter bitcoin
• 09.09.2013 – Bitcoin ticker on Bloomberg
• 20/09/2013 - Bitcoin recognized as fully-fledged private money in Germany
• 11/19/2013 - Bitcoin surpasses Western Union in terms of the amount of funds sent
• 2013-11-21 – First university (Cyprus) accepts bitcoin
• 2013-11-22 - Tickets for space travel for bitcoins
• – Beginning of the ban bitcoin in china
• 03/25/2013 – Denmark exempts bitcoin trading
• 02/28/2014 – Fall of the largest bitcoin exchange – Mt.Gox
• 01/08/2017 – First BTC hard fork and creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• 2017-10-24 – Second hard fork of BTC i rise of Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
• Bitcoin futures contracts on the CME exchange
• 14/04/2021 - Debut Coinbase exchange on Wall Street

Source materials:

https://businessinsider.com.pl/gielda/kursy-walut/tym-jest-bitcoin-kto-go-created/r3ernvq

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2014/0218/Bitcoin-ATM-debuts-in-the-US-What-you-need-to-know

https://comparic.pl/historia-bitcoin/