The history of cryptocurrency dates back to the early days when the legendary Satoshi Nakamoto, along with a team of programmers, began working on a revolutionary invention... Stop, that's a bit embellished.
An introduction worthy of a fantasy book about cryptocurrencies, right? This story indeed contains a few curiosities that remain unexplained to this day, but they can be told in a simple, factual manner. The truth is that virtual coins, and later cryptocurrencies, have been known to humanity for over twenty years, contrary to the belief of most that digital currency is a novelty.
The history of cryptocurrency began in 1998 when a certain Wei Dai proposed the creation of virtual b-money and presented its technical foundations on a cyberpunk mailing list. Unfortunately, the project never saw the light of day, but it provided a solid foundation for innovative ideas. Thus, about 10 years later, on October 31, 2008, a so-called white paper (manifesto) titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System appeared on the internet. Besides the technical foundations presented by Wei Dai, this manifesto introduced a vast number of other solutions.
This is where the legendary figure (or group of people) known by the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" comes into play. The mysterious Satoshi was not only the author of the manifesto but is also regarded as the founding father of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The solutions described in the white paper were quickly implemented, and on January 3, 2009, the Nakamoto group launched the Bitcoin network and generated the first transaction block known as the genesis block. A little later, the first version of the bitcoin wallet - Bitcoin Core - was released. Nakamoto maintained contact with members of the mailing group for a short period, but soon cut off all external communications. The reason? In April 2011, one of the developers involved in the Bitcoin network, Gavin Andersen, was invited to speak with the American intelligence agency CIA. After this incident, many claimed to have discovered Satoshi's hidden identity, and some even claimed to be him, but the true owner of the mysterious pseudonym was never revealed.
What's next for Bitcoin?
Since its market debut, Bitcoin has only gained more popularity and attracted more curious internet users. In October 2009, the exchange rate of bitcoin to the dollar was established (1 USD=1309 BTC) based on the electricity needed to mine the currency. At today's bitcoin rate, the holder of 1309 BTC would be a multimillionaire. Returning to the story, in February 2010, the first bitcoin exchange named Bitcoin Market was established.
Shortly thereafter, the first transaction using bitcoin took place. On one of the internet forums, a post by Laszlo Hanyecz appeared, offering 10000 BTC in exchange for having two pizzas delivered to his home. Of course, shortly after, someone accepted the offer and today is likely a millionaire. Unless they immediately sold the earned bitcoin for a small profit of 20 dollars. From that moment, interest in digital currency only grew. Unfortunately, not everything was so rosy, and as is often the case in the market, scammers and thieves also appeared. This was the case with one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, Mt. Gox, which, a few years after entering the market, was used to rob its clients.
More and more people became so-called miners, responsible for "mining" bitcoin, creating new blocks of information. This turned into quite a profitable business, initially using graphics cards, and later special chips that, thanks to their computing power, enabled fast mining. In this way, the electricity consumption used to create the block network in 2018 could be compared to the energy usage of a medium-sized European country.
Bitcoin as a means of payment
Shortly after gaining significant interest, Bitcoin began to be accepted as a means of payment in some online stores. One of the first was the store Grass Hill Alpacas, where customers could purchase socks made from alpaca wool. Sometimes, the alpaca is considered the mascot of Bitcoin. In addition to online stores, Bitcoin also started to be accepted by hotels, restaurants, and other service points. Unfortunately, the form of cryptocurrency payment was quickly regulated by countries, sometimes resulting in a ban on payments using BTC. Such regulations also exist in Poland, where Bitcoin, to the disappointment of some investors, is not a fully recognized, acceptable means of payment in our country. Will this change? Perhaps in Poland and in many countries not only in Europe but around the world, cryptocurrencies will be accepted as a means of payment. For now, the only country that allows Bitcoin payments as a fully recognized currency is El Salvador in North America.
