Bitcoin, the largest and most popular cryptocurrency in the world, turns fourteen years old today.
The first block of the Bitcoin blockchain, known as the Genesis block, was mined by the pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009. Blockchain technology generates cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Inspires Other Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin has continued to thrive despite obstacles and has become an alternative to the centralized banking system.
As it reaches its 14th birthday, it is worthwhile to reflect on its extraordinary journey thus far and the numerous ideas it has inspired. Rajagopal Menon, vice president of WazirX, hopes that the next 14 years will be just as exciting for Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency community.
After reaching record highs in the latter part of last year, cryptocurrencies had a difficult 2022. Everything from the Fed’s tightening of monetary policy to the collapses of the Terra/Luna ecosystem, hedge funds Three Arrows Capital, and exchange FTX buffeted the market.
Read more: Binance: US to buy Voyager digital assets as Bitcoin swamps to 1%
How It Started?
On January 3, 2009, the infamous and enigmatic founder Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block. As payment for the genesis block, 1Nakamoto earned 50 BTC, which, given the token’s value today, is a sizable holding.
Due to Satoshi’s failure to send the transaction from the genesis block to the global transaction database, his reward cannot be used. It’s not obvious if this was done on purpose.
In October 2009, a Finnish computer science student named Martti Malmi sold 5,050 BTC, giving each coin a value of $0.0009. This was the very first transaction.
In 2010, the now-famous Laszlo Hanyecz made one of the most remarkable early real-world transactions when he paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas.
That equates to around $167,3 million at the present price. The cryptocurrency community observes Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22 to commemorate the purchase.
The price of bitcoin, which is presently trading at $16,500, has decreased by almost 75 percent since November 2021, when it reached an all-time high of $69,000.
Read more: Bitcoin hacking: Creators, owners lost a lot of cryptocurrencies amid non-stop cyberattacks
