Five Key Moments in Bitcoin History
One of the traits of Bitcoin that has captured the public’s imagination is the mystery surrounding almost every facet of the cryptocurrency. Nobody knows who its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, really is and Bitcoin’s apparent fondness for jargon has allowed its workings to remain something of an accidental secret.
However, despite the above, Bitcoin continues to charm real-world retailers, so here is a quick look at five key moments in the history of Nakamoto’s Bitcoin.
- Nakamoto’s Thesis is Published
Conversations about Bitcoin usually begin with a date in late October 2008, when the seminal design paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was published by the cryptocurrency’s enigmatic creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. It is possible to trace Bitcoin’s history back even further though.
In August of the same year, Neal Kin, Vladimir Oksman, and Charles Bry filed a patent request (number 20100042841, no less) for an encryption system many believe is related to Bitcoin. The Bitcoin.org domain appeared a few days later. All three men have denied links to Nakamoto, however, and may indeed have nothing to do with Bitcoin at all.
- The First Genesis Block is Established
Here’s a quick primer: imagine a Bitcoin ‘block’ as a record or page in a ledger book; mining is the process by which transactions are written in the ledger, and a blockchain is simply a row of blocks.
Bitcoin’s true beginning, i.e. the point when it stopped being a concept and became a real currency, occurred at 6.15pm on January 3, 2009, when the initial block of the very first blockchain – a genesis block, allowing future transactions to be written – was established. The first true transaction wouldn’t come until nine days later though, when Nakamoto sent Bitcoin to a cryptographic activist.
"Bitcoin, bitcoin coin, physical bitcoin," (CC BY-SA 2.0) by antanacoins
- Bitcoin Goes Mainstream
By the end of 2014, Microsoft, Dell and Overstock were accepting Bitcoin for goods. The involvement of the former company – Microsoft – added $20 to the overall value of the cryptocurrency overnight.
Today, Bitcoin is accepted at Virgin Galactic and Expedia, as well as at niche pubs and takeaway outlets in the UK. It has also become a currency of choice for those who enjoy playing online and mobile iOS casino games – a site like Vegas Casino offers blackjack, poker, slot machines and other games on a single condition – that you bring your Bitcoin.
- Nakamoto is Unmasked
The unmasking of Nakamoto isn’t a particularly unique event anymore, having occurred in 2015 and 2016, seven years after Kin, Oksman, and Bry denied their involvement in Bitcoin.
However, what makes the 2015 incident in particular so interesting is the media frenzy that erupted around 63-year-old Dorian Nakamoto, hailed as the “father of Bitcoin” by US magazine Newsweek. The furore, which culminated in a car chase through Los Angeles, only served to increase the real Nakamoto’s mystique when Dorian Nakamoto also denied any involvement in Bitcoin.
"Bitcoin mining" (CC BY 2.0) by Marko
- Bitcoin Outgrows Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin is facing an identity crisis, and, without a true leader, the decision over which direction to take the currency in has fallen to Bitcoin’s famously partisan community. In simple terms, Bitcoin’s ‘blocks’ need to be bigger if the ideals outlined in Nakamoto’s design paper are to succeed.
However, improving Bitcoin’s capacity may mean using specialized hardware from a single location, as opposed to using the combined computing power of Bitcoin’s global community. It may sound like a technicality but Bitcoin thrives as a decentralized currency; putting all the power in one place would bring it closer to a conventional banking system.
Whatever happens, it’s hard to deny that Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin has developed from almost the very definition of basement geekiness to a mainstream phenomenon.