Yes, fellas, Bitcoin was created exactly today, ten years ago. Spooky, ha?!
Here is how the popular crypto blogger (CEO of ShapeShift) defined the event:
In fact, on 31th of October, the crypto community celebrates the publishing of Bitcoin’s white paper. A few months later, in 2009 the first Bitcoin transaction was made, probably between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney. However, the question why the mysterious founder chose exactly Halloween to post its white paper keeps puzzling all crypto fans. As well as his identity, which will perhaps never be revealed.
For the small (from a historical point of view) period of only a decade, Bitcoin grew from a totally dismissed geek’s vagary to an enormous industry. At the moment, Bitcoin’s total market capitalization exceeds $100 billion USD, according to CoinMarketCap. It is not completely clear how much was its price back then, but it is known it was some cents, under $0.01 USD. And just nine years after, it skyrocketed to the staggering near $20.000 USD. Here is a comprehensible list of Bitcoin’s price development, thanks to the blockchain evangelist Philip Nunn:
What happened during these ten years?
Bitcoin’s white paper was not the only remarkable event in 2008. In the same year, the infamous Financial Crisis occurred, defined by economists as the biggest after the Great Depression. Just six weeks before Bitcoin’s birth Lehman Brothers outrightly bankrupted. But what collapsed was not only the investment bank or any institution, rather the whole financial system did, as well as the public trust in the economic establishment. At the time, the movement Occupy Wall Street began, too. And the inequality issue became so transparent, it hurt.
Bitcoin came as a reaction to the conventional monetary structure. Its appearance on the financial scene in 2008 was in any way a coincidence. But it was provoked by long years of economic injustice and harsh hierarchy. Bitcoin’s philosophy, known as crypto-anarchy strives for the values of the French Revolution: liberty, equality, fraternity. The cryptocurrency managed to form a community and tried to bring the money opportunity to everyone. And if that sounds impossible, the least of Bitcoin’s priorities is the decentralization we saw in practice.
Bitcoin changed the game
Bitcoin has completely changed the fiscal order. Even if not adopted by the central institution, the coin becomes more and more popular. The blockchain technology shows the great potential for usage in a huge range of life’s areas. The lack of central control, perhaps not so pleasant for the small circle of 1%, brought new opportunities to the payment services: unbelievable speed, less-bureaucratic processes, easier administration, security, and personal information safety. But most importantly, Bitcoin solved the notorious ‘double payment’ problem which was torturing its digital predecessors. Now, thanks to the advanced technology behind it, the public ledger can track and record transactions much more efficiently than any other database.
Bitcoin’s future
This October seems to be crucial for the ‘digital gold’, as some call it. Bitcoin’s price saw a long-time-no-see dropdown to $6.200. This calculates to the stunning 70% decline comparing to its all-time high of $20.000 in December last year. Bearish predictions claim it will never meet its blooming moments of late 2017, and that is probably true. On the other side, its trading volume does not shrink but rather expands, despite the reduction in price. In the last couple of months, Bitcoin demonstrated an incredible stability. The latter is usually pointed as the main reason preventing its adoption by the common payment methods.
Financial forecasts say Bitcoin’s price will rise again. Especially if a significant event occurs, like its introduction to the Wall Street market or its listing as a financial asset by an established bank.
However, the price is not the greatest imperative here. It is to see its genuine meaning for the society, why was created and what it fights for. Thinking about Bitcoin’s ideology, seems like Satoshi did want to send a message with this date, don’t you think?
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