Bitcoin History and Timeline [Infographic]

Bitcoin History: Bitcoin is a payment system invented in 2008 and released as an open-source software the following year. It is described as the first decentralized digital currency and is presently the largest of its kind in terms of total market value. Here’s a look at how Bitcoin started and some highlights in its history.

2007

Satoshi Nakamoto started working on the Bitcoin concept. Rumor has it that Nakamoto is a pseudonym for a group.

2008

August 15 – An application for an encryption patent is filed by Neal Kin, Vladimir Oksman, and Charles Bry. They deny any connection with Nakamoto.

August 18 – Bitcoin.org is registered at anonymous speech .com, which allows users to anonymously register domain names.

October 31 – Nakamoto describes the Bitcoin currency in a white paper and provides steps to prevent the currency from being copied.

November 9 – The Bitcoin project is registered on SourceForge.net, a collaborative community for the development and distribution of open source software.

2009

January 3 – At 18:15:05 UTC, Nakamoto generated Bitcoin’s first block of transactions -Block #0. Called the Genesis Block, it is the foundation of all subsequent blocks in Bitcoin’s blockchain.

January 9 – Bitcoin Version 0.1 is released, compiled through Microsoft’s Visual Studio for Windows.

January 12 – The first Bitcoin currency transaction takes place in block 170, between Nakamoto and programmer Hal Finney Bitcoin History is written.

October 5 – A Bitcoin exchange rate is established by New Liberty Standard pegging the value of a Bitcoin at US$1 = 1,309.03 BTC.

December 16 – Bitcoin Version 0.2 is released.

2010

February 6 – The Bitcoin Market is established with the Bitcoin as a currency exchange.

February 18 – The encryption patent application that was filed on August 15, 2008 by Kin, Oksman, and Bry was approved.

May 22 – Florida programmer Laszlo Hanyecz offers to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for a pizza on the Bitcoin Forum marking the first, real-world transaction.

July 7 – Bitcoin Version 0.3 is released.

July 12 – Over a five day period beginning on July 12, the exchange value of Bitcoin increases tenfold from US$0.008/BTC to US$0.080/BTC.

July 17 – The MtGox Bitcoin currency exchange market is established by Jed McCaleb.

August 15 – A vulnerability in the Bitcoin system is discovered and exploited, resulting in the generation of 184 billion Bitcoins.

November 6 – Market cap exceeds $1 million USO. The price on MtGox reaches US$0.50/BTC.

December 7 – The Bitcoind program is written for the Nokia N900 mobile computer.

December 8 – First mobile Bitcoin transaction occurs using Bitcoind.

2011

January 27 – The largest Bitcoin trade to date occurs when three Zimdollars (Zimbabwe notes that are worth one-hundred trillion dollars each) are traded for 12 BTC.

February – Silk Road, a Bitcoin marketplace, launches an illicit marketplace for drug deals.

February 9 – For the first time, Bitcoin reaches parity with the US dollar, trading at US$1.00/BTC at MtGox.

February 14 – An Australian member of the Bitcoin Forum attempts to sell his 1984 Celica Supra for 3000 BTC, and becomes the first person to offer a vehicle in exchange for Bitcoins.

March 6 – Jed McCaleb sells MtGox to Japan’s Tibanne Company. A sharp rise and then drop in the network computation speed led to speculation that a bot-net had joined the network

April 23 – Bitcoin is now at par with the Euro and the British Pound Sterling on MtGox. The value of Bitcoin money stock passes US$10 million, a milestone is reached in Bitcoin History.

June 8 – Bitcoin on MtGox reaches an all-time high of US$31.91 with a market cap of around US$206 million.

June 12 – The MtGox Bitcoin exchange rate drops to nearly US$10, just four days after its peak at US$31.91. This became known as the Great Bubble of 2011.

June 14 – Wikileaks starts accepting anonymous Bitcoin donations.

June 19 – A major security breach at MtGox compromised 60,000 accounts and shut down the site for seven days.

September 6 – Mike Caldwell begins minting physical Bitcoins, naming them the Casacius Coins.

2012

May 9 – An April 2012 FBI report is leaked and brought attention to concerns that Bitcoin payment methods could be used for illegal transactions for weapons and narcotics.

June – Coinbase, a bitcoin wallet, and a platform are founded in San Francisco, California.

September 24 – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigates the Bitcoin Savings and Trust for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme.

September 27 – The Bitcoin Foundation is formed to establish a protocol and a body to oversee the digital currency.

November 15 – WordPress.com accepts Bitcoins as a form of payment for users to purchase upgrades.

December 6 – Bitcoin Central becomes the first Bitcoin exchange to be licensed as a European bank, operating within the EU regulatory framework.

2013

February 19 – Bitcoin Version 0.8 is released which features Bloom Filtering and improved download speeds.

March 28 – The total Bitcoin market cap passes US$1 billion, an essential milestone in bitcoin history.

April – The value of Bitcoin on MtGox and other exchanges surpasses US$100.

May – Online gaming company ESEA is caught secretly using customer computers to mine Bitcoins.

May 2 – The first Bitcoin ATM in the world debuts in San Diego, California.

THIS HIDDEN SITE HAS BEEN SEIZED

by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division,
ICE Homeland Security Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, in accordance with a seizure warrant obtained by the  United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 983{j) by the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

May 7 – Coinbase gets a US$5 million investment led by Union Square Ventures; it is the largest funding of a Bitcoin startup to-date.

May 14 – The US Department of Homeland Security seizes over US$2.9 million from an account that belonged to a subsidiary of MtGox because it allegedly failed to register as a “money transmitting business” in accordance with 18 U.S. Code 1960.

August 6 – Judge Amos Mazzant of Texas rules that “Bitcoin is a currency or form of money, and investors wishing to invest in BTCST provided an investment of money.”

August 20 – The German Federal Ministry of Finance recognizes Bitcoin as a form of private money, and allows its use in commercial and private sales.

August 28 – RoboCoin begins accepting pre-orders for its US$20,000 ATM that allows users to trade Bitcoins for other currencies.

October 2 – FBI shuts down online drug marketplace Silk Road, seizing 3.6 million dollars worth of bitcoins.

October 2 – Bitcoin price drops from $139/BTC to $109.71/BTC less than three hours after the Silk Road shutdown. It then recovers to $128.

November 17 – Bitcoin price hits a landmark figure, reaching US$503.10 on MtGox.
November 18 – Senate hearing titled Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies discusses legitimacy and challenges of virtual currencies.

November 19 – Bitcoin price surges to a record of US$1242 after Senate hearings.
November 19 – Bitcoin transaction volume surpasses Western Union in daily transaction volume.

Bitcoin History:  Black Friday

November 21 – The University of Nicosia in Cyprus becomes the first university to accept Bitcoin for tuition.

November 22 – Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic begins accepting Bitcoin for space travel.
November 27 – Shopify integrates bitcoin as a payment option for its more than
70,000 merchants.

November 29 – Bitcoin hosts first annual Black Friday event to highlight deals from merchants and businesses accepting Bitcoin.

December 2 – The Internet watches a thief move funds from wallet to wallet, as 96,000 Bitcoins are stolen from Sheep Marketplace, an online drug site,

December 5 – China’s central bank stops financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, causing a price drop of over 20 percent to below $1,000, Bitcoin history seems to be sopped.

December 6 – Baidu stops accepting bitcoins after China ban.

2014

January 26 – Bitlnstant CEO Charlie Shrem is arrested over allegations of money laundering in connection with Silk Road

February – Early in the month, MtGox suspended withdrawals citing technical issues. By the end of the month, MtGox filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan amid reports that 744,000 bitcoins had been stolen.

2015

January 26 – Coinbase bitcoin exchange service launched the first regulated bitcoin exchange in 25 US states with plans to expand to thirty countries by the end of 2015.

December – Investigations by Wired and Gizmodo point to 45-year old Australian academic Craig Steven Wright as the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.

Wired said: “Despite a massive trove of evidence, we still can’t say with absolute certainty that the mystery is solved.” It concluded with two possibilities, that “Wright invented bitcoin, or he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did.”

There have been three earlier attempts to prove Nakamoto’s identity, and all have proved.

Bookmark the page if you are a fan of Bitcoin and see the infographic below illustrating all facts of Bitcoin History and the timeline. Of course the journey will go on and we will have a closer look onto it over the time.