Relevant events in the history of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

Learn about some of the most important events that have marked the history of Bitcoin and the world of cryptocurrencies in general.

Lhe history of Bitcoin is marked by great events and events that have left a clear mark on the crypto community. But not only that, the community has evolved and changed so much in the last 13 years that it has given rise to unique events that we will tell you about below.

Domain registration «bitcoin.org»

El August 18st, 2008, one of the events that marked the beginning of the history of Bitcoin took place: the registration of the domain «bitcoin.org». This domain was registered anonymously, but many believe that it was Satoshi Nakamoto himself who carried out the registration action.

This domain is currently maintained by an open source community of developers and volunteers working on the Bitcoin Core software and related projects. The website serves as a central hub for information about Bitcoin, including beginner's guides, technical documentation, and news and updates on the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Presentation of the Bitcoin Whitepaper

Un 31th October 2008When Satoshi Nakamoto an anonymous creator presented the whitepaper "Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper". Since then, the history of the world would change forever and on October 31 of each year we will celebrate the anniversary of the release of the document that would change the financial reality of the world forever.

Genesis Block, the birth of Bitcoin

El January 3 2009, the first bitcoin block is successfully mined, the well-known Genesis Block and that it would start Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency, an operation that has remained uninterrupted to this day, demonstrating the stability and potential of this project.

The first Bitcoin transaction

On January 12, 2009, the well-known Hal Finney and Satoshi Nakamoto make history by performing the first Bitcoin transaction in history. Nakamoto sent Hal a total of 10 BTC, in a transaction that was recorded for history in block number 170 of the blockchain.

The first exchange of Bitcoin for fiat and the birth of the first exchange

One of the milestones in the history of Bitcoin was reached by Martti malmi, first exchange of Bitcoin for fiat, which took place on October 11, 2009, when Malmi helped create the first exchange of Bitcoin, the well-known New Liberty Standard.

At that time, Malmi sent a total of 5050 BTC for a total of $5,05 USD which was sent to her via PayPal. This exchange would be the world's first crypto-fiat exchange, it would kick off something we do very regularly today.

Bitcoinexchange.com is born and together with it the first generation of cryptocurrency exchanges

Not enough with this, Malmi using his knowledge about Bitcoin and web programming, began with the creation of what would be the first generation of exchanges of Bitcoin. The first of these was bitcoinexchange.com, which went live in March 2010 and was featured on the Bitcointalk forum that he helped create.

Bitcoin Pizza Day, two pizzas for 10 thousand BTC

On May 22, 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz makes history by being the first person to buy using Bitcoins. The purchase was two pizzas for the modest price of 10.000 bitcoins. Since then, Bitcoin followers take this day as the Bitcoin Pizza Day, a time when they often repeat Laszlo's feat by buying pizzas using Bitcoin.

The birth of Mt Gox Exchange

On July 18, 2010, Mt Gox Exchange, one of the largest exchanges in the crypto world. He managed to reach the 70% of all global Bitcoin transactions.

The first Bitcoin Over-The-Counter (OTC) exchange is born

On October 17, 2010, the birth of the first OTC Bitcoin exchange took place, which was born on the Freenode IRC under the channel #bitcoin-otc.

Bitcoin's first million dollar capitalization

In November 2010, the combined value of all bitcoins in circulation made its total market capitalization exceeds $XNUMX million. At that time the currency was trading around $0,50 per BTC on MtGox.

The first Bitcoin pool

The first mining pool for Bitcoin was born on December 16, 2010, the well-known SlushPool, which was operated by Bitcointalk user, slush, and that until now is active, being the longest-lived Bitcoin pool.

Parity between the US dollar and bitcoin

In February 2011 for the first time Bitcoin manages to catch up with the US dollar with a quote of $1,00 per BTC.

Namecoin, the first altcoin, is born

On April 18, 2011, the world's first altcoin was born, Namecoin, a fork of Bitcoin that sought to create the world's first decentralized domain name system (DNS). This is an important milestone for Bitcoin, because it demonstrated that Bitcoin technology was applicable to other technological spaces, and at the same time, it demonstrated that Bitcoin could interoperate with different parties, thereby generating an ecosystem.

In this case, Namecoin had a mining system known as Merge-Mining, in which Bitcoin miners could simultaneously mine block for Namecoin, thus securing both networks, a concept still used in current networks like RSK.

In the Namecoin system, domain names are recorded as transactions on the Namecoin blockchain. This allows for a decentralized system where no central authority has control over domain names, and censorship or seizure of domains is much more difficult. Namecoin is also known for being the first network to register an NFT.

MtGox hack

In June 2011, the Mt. Gox exchange announced that 850.000 bitcoins had been disappeared from the portfolio of its clients, to date the cost of the loss was equivalent to about 450 million dollars. According to investigations, the theft occurred because the hackers managed to gain access to the credentials of an official auditor who worked for the exchange.

Parity between the US dollar and bitcoin

In February 2011 for the first time Bitcoin manages to catch up with the US dollar with a quote of $1,00 per BTC.

MtGox hack

In June 2011, the Mt. Gox exchange announced that 850.000 bitcoins had been disappeared from the portfolio of its clients, to date the cost of the loss was equivalent to about 450 million dollars. According to investigations, the theft occurred because the hackers managed to gain access to the credentials of an official auditor who worked for the exchange.

First Bitcoin halving

November 28, 2012 is another relevant date in the history of Bitcoin, since that date is when the first Bitcoin halving occurred. Bitcoin halvings are cyclical events that repeat approximately every four years and reduce the reward for Bitcoin miners by half, reducing the rate of new Bitcoin issuance. Thus during this first halving, the block reward was reduced from 50 BTC to 25 BTC, beginning the path of Bitcoin deflation.

The goal of these halving events is to ensure that the total number of Bitcoins in circulation does not exceed 21 million, the maximum supply set by the Bitcoin protocol.

First Bitcoin ATM

Another great milestone in the history of Bitcoin comes on May 2, 2013, with the launch of what would be the first Bitcoin ATM, which was installed in the city of Vancouver, Canada. This event marked a milestone in making Bitcoin one step closer to people and as accessible as using an ATM.

After all, Bitcoin ATMs allow users to make Bitcoin-related transactions, especially between Bitcoin and cash, making it easier for people to enter and exit the Bitcoin market.

Bitcoin reaches 1000 billion capitalization

On March 28, 2013, Bitcoin's market capitalization exceeds $XNUMX billion for the first time. This is an event so far away in time (but no less important) that there are few spaces that have information about it, and here we offer you this information so that you always remember it.

Bitcoin reaches 1000 billion capitalization

On March 28, 2013, Bitcoin's market capitalization exceeds $XNUMX billion for the first time. This is an event so far away in time (but no less important) that there are few spaces that have information about it, and here we offer you this information so that you always remember it.

HODL Day is born

On December 18, 2013, the well-known term HODL and HODL Day were born. That day a user on the bitcointalk.org forum made a post titled “I'M HODLING” to explain why, despite the price drop, they still intended to hold on to their Bitcoin.

Since then, the term HODL (rather than HOLD) has become a popular term referring to the act of holding cryptocurrency instead of selling it in response to short-term price fluctuations. On HODL Day, people in the cryptocurrency community often express their commitment to holding onto their digital assets and encourage others to do the same to show their support for the crypto world.

Liquid launch: Bitcoin DeFi is born

On October 12, 2015, the cryptocurrency landscape witnessed a significant event with the launch of Liquid. Liquid, also known as the Bitcoin sidechain and layer, introduced a new way to improve the functionality and versatility of Bitcoin, addressing some of the limitations inherent to the Bitcoin blockchain.

Liquid was designed to function as a separate blockchain, operating in parallel to the Bitcoin network. This solution was developed by Blockstream, a blockchain technology company, and aimed to offer faster and more confidential transactions compared to the main Bitcoin blockchain. One of its main objectives was to facilitate the efficient transfer of assets, such as Bitcoin and other digital tokens, between exchanges and financial institutions. One of Liquid's key innovations was the use of the "federated peg" concept.

These federated pegs allowed the movement of assets between the Bitcoin blockchain and the Liquid sidechain in a way that maintained a level of decentralization and security. This innovation allowed users to lock their assets on the main chain and issue equivalent tokens on the sidechain for use in fast and private transactions.

In summary, Liquid offered an innovative solution to improve the functionality and versatility of Bitcoin by introducing a sidechain that allowed for faster and more confidential transactions, as well as the efficient transfer of assets between exchanges and financial institutions. Because of this, many know Liquid as the start of DeFi on Bitcoin, especially now that Liquid offers advanced smart contract capabilities.

Lightning Network white paper released

On January 14, 2016, Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja published the Lightning Network white paper, which presented a protocol that enabled off-chain transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain in a fast and scalable manner. The objective behind this technology is:

• Speed ​​up transaction times: The Lightning Network set out to speed up transaction times on the Bitcoin network.
• Escalation solution for Bitcoin L1: Presented as a solution for congestion on the Bitcoin blockchain.
• Introduction of Off-Chain Transactions: The paper introduced the concept of off-chain transactions to alleviate congestion on the Bitcoin blockchain, as well as Multi-Signature payment channels.

The Lightning Network whitepaper made a compelling case for using off-chain transactions to improve the scalability and speed of the Bitcoin network, while maintaining a high level of security and decentralization at Layer1.

SegWit Activation

On August 24, 2017 at 1:57 UTC, at block height 481.824, SegWit was activated, a milestone that represented one of the most significant developments in the Bitcoin network. This update was designed to address persistent issues such as transaction malleability and scalability.

The purpose of the SegWit activation was to implement this protocol update on the Bitcoin network. This process required miners and nodes to adopt SegWit rules to enable the benefits of the new technology. The activation of SegWit was achieved through a mechanism called BIP91 (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal – 91), which gained support from a significant portion of the Bitcoin community, thus avoiding a controversial hard fork.

Upon activation, SegWit alleviated congestion and reduced transaction fees by effectively increasing the block size limit to 4 MB. Additionally, it improved the security of Bitcoin transactions by addressing vulnerabilities such as transaction malleability.

Additionally, SegWit's lasting impact is reflected in subsequent developments such as the Lightning Network, a Layer2 solution that further improves Bitcoin's scalability and enables fast, low-cost microtransactions. This milestone laid the foundation for the continued development of Bitcoin, strengthening its position as the leading digital currency on the global financial landscape.

CME announces launch of Bitcoin futures

On October 31, 2017, CME Group announced that it plans to introduce bitcoin futures trading by the end of the year, just a month after scrapping such a plan. CEO Terrence Duffy cited increased customer demand as a key reason for the change of heart. As a result, Bitcoin price reached a high of $6.600,84 USD just hours after breaking through the $6.400 USD barrier. Bitcoin's market capitalization reached $110 billion.

Lightning Network Launch

The Lightning Network is a development that was publicly unveiled in February 2015, when Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja published a draft of the Lightning Network design. However, the official Lightning Network daemon was not published until January 7, 2017. Despite this, the official launch of the network did not occur until December 6, 2017, when its protocol was published for the first time. on GitHub.

And then on December 27, 2017, a developer named Alex Bosworth made the first payment on the Bitcoin mainnet using the Lightning network by paying his Bitrefill mobile phone bill. Since then, the Lightning Network has been in a long testing phase with several developers researching and testing projects, major ones including Lightning Labs, ACINQ, and Blockstream.

Launch of the Ordinals protocol in Bitcoin

On January 21, 2023, developer Casey Rodarmor introduced the Ordinals protocol in Bitcoin, sparking a new wave of intrigue in the cryptocurrency. The protocol revolutionized the tracking of individual units of Bitcoin, known as satoshis, by allowing unique numbers to be assigned to each one.

Innovation and Impact

• Rodarmor's protocol not only facilitated the assignment of numbers to satoshis, but also enabled the creation of digital artifacts by associating content and data with each satoshi.
• Inscriptions using ordinals were particularly instrumental in driving the popularity of the protocol. Users can not only assign numbers to satoshis, but also inscribe content directly into the Bitcoin blockchain, essentially creating their own NFTs (albeit with distinctions from traditional NFTs).

Domino effect

• The introduction of Ordinals sparked a surge in demand for Ordinal-inscribed NFTs and reignited interest in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
  Various segments of the Bitcoin community quickly started projects focused on Ordinals or expanded their applications to incorporate Ordinals support.
• Consequently, this resurgence sparked discussions about future developments within the Bitcoin blockchain, attracting the attention of developers outside the Bitcoin community.

Launch of the BRC-20 in Bitcoin

The BRC-20 tokens were launched in March 2023. The BRC-20 standard was created by Domo, an enigmatic blockchain analyst, and supports the Ordinals protocol for the issuance and transfer of fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. . The BRC-20 protocol diverges significantly from its ERC-20 counterpart by dispensing with reliance on smart contracts and instead making use of ordinal inscriptions.

The issuance of millions of ordinal inscriptions has caused an increase in transaction processing times on the Bitcoin blockchain and an increase in network fees. This standard is specifically designed to work within the Bitcoin blockchain ecosystem, which brings interoperability challenges for users who wish to use alternative blockchain systems.

In summary, BRC-20 tokens were introduced to Bitcoin in March 2023, and have since generated considerable interest in the Bitcoin community, although they have some limitations in terms of functionality and scalability.

SEC authorizes first bitcoin ETFs

On January 10, 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the regulatory changes necessary for the launch of ETFs or bitcoin spot exchange traded funds, which will expand the scope of investment in crypto assets. This decision allows the trading of these products to a select group of firms such as ARK21Shares, Bitwise RK, Hashdex, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Invesco Galaxy, Valkyrie and Grayscale.

The SEC believes that these proposals are consistent with market design requirements to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, and generally protect investors and the public interest. This approval marks a significant change, as the SEC had rejected more than two dozen applications for bitcoin spot funds in previous years.

Recurring events on Bitcoin

Proof of Keys, checking that your bitcoins are really there

Every January 3, HODLers of last resort from the Bitcoin community participate in a Proof of Keys celebration demanding and taking possession of all bitcoins held by trusted third parties on their behalf. By demanding and taking possession of your assets, people will learn very quickly with the blockchain test, whether they are part of the elite HODLers or not.

Halving day party

In the last ten years, being halving day took place in November 2012. The event consists of every 210.000 blocks, the number of new coins created is cut in half. The action is part of Bitcoin policy and occurs every 4 years on the Bitcoin network.

bitcoin sheffield

bitcoin sheffield, is a bi-monthly meetup for a group of Bitcoin activists based in Sheffield, UK.

Bitcoin Tuesday Amsterdam

Bitcoin Tuesday Amsterdam, is a monthly meeting that takes place on Wednesdays of each month and in which personalities and specialists in the world of cryptocurrencies and cryptography attend.

bitcoinconference

bitcoinconference, is an annual world-class conference in which the largest Bitcoin Core companies, personalities and programmers participate.