History of Bitcoin

At the end of 2008, the financial crisis was in full swing. In September of that year, Lehman Brothers Holdings, then the world's fourth-largest investment bank, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As the world's financial infrastructure collapsed, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered. Later in 2008, an individual or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper on Bitcoin to crypto mailing lists, explaining how the cryptocurrency worked.

When Satoshi Nakamoto first revealed their vision for Bitcoin, it only aroused interest and criticism from a very niche online community of cryptographers and computer scientists. Many of these people were involved in digital cash experiments throughout the eighties and nineties. To them, Bitcoin is just the latest in a series of experiments to create a monetary system that respects individual freedom and privacy.

While it may seem strange to propose a Bitcoin ideology—given its decentralized nature—the fact is that Bitcoin’s initial support base consisted primarily of tech-savvy individuals, libertarians, and crypto-anarchists. Bitcoin's birth and adoption within this community has come to define its value, merit, and fundamental design.

In early 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin, known as the genesis block. The text "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" was embedded in the first Bitcoin program. The text, which quotes the day's headlines from British newspaper The Times, is often seen as evidence of the date Bitcoin was first mined. Others also believe it points to the crumbling financial infrastructure of the modern world and the need for a new path forward. The first Bitcoin transaction occurred soon after, with Bitcoins sent from Satoshi Nakamoto to cryptography expert and enthusiast Hal Finney.