The appearance of Bitcoin in 2009 marked a turning point in the history of the global financial system. It was the first cryptocurrency not subject to government or banking structures, providing the opportunity to create an alternative financial system capable of changing the global economic landscape.
Since its inception, the value of Bitcoin has grown millions of times. Early investors who acquired the cryptocurrency at the very beginning made fortunes, while others lost their coins, not believing in the project's future. According to estimates at the beginning of 2025, between 2.3 and 2.7 million bitcoins have been irretrievably lost.
2008 — the first steps towards Bitcoin
The history of Bitcoin begins with the registration of the domain bitcoin.org on August 18, 2008. This domain was registered through an anonymous provider, Anonimousspeech, which makes it difficult to determine the identity of its owner.
A curious point: a researcher under the pseudonym Or Weinberger noted that the day before, another domain, netcoin.org, was registered, and he suggested that the cryptocurrency might have originally been named Netcoin. However, the name Bitcoin was eventually chosen. The possibility of other cryptocurrencies emerging, such as Netcoin, underscores the importance of the name choice and its connection to the concepts of "bit" (unit of information) and "coin" (financial instrument).
The first official mention of Bitcoin occurred on October 31, 2008, when the unknown Satoshi Nakamoto published a document titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System." This document, later known as the Bitcoin Whitepaper, introduced the concept of a decentralized digital currency operating without intermediaries, such as banks, and existing outside the control of government entities. At that time, apart from the document and the domain, nothing about Bitcoin was yet available to the public.
The Bitcoin Whitepaper was published during the height of the global financial crisis of 2008, triggered by the collapse of the U.S. real estate market. As a result of the crisis, trust in traditional financial institutions was undermined, and the tipping point of the economic collapse was marked by the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. This incident became the largest in the history of the American banking system.
2009 — the launch of Bitcoin
From a technical standpoint, Bitcoin officially appeared on January 3, 2009, when the first version of the blockchain protocol was launched. On this day, the genesis block was created, and the first 50 coins were generated. Interestingly, the genesis block, as the first block in the Bitcoin blockchain, has no predecessor and serves as the foundation for all subsequent transactions in the network.
The first miners connected to the network, using their home computers to mine bitcoins. The genesis block contains a hidden message referring to the headline from The Times: "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." This became a symbolic reference to the 2008 financial crisis and emphasized Bitcoin's idea as an alternative to traditional monetary systems.
Before Bitcoin appeared, the financial system was fully centralized, and banks controlled all aspects of financial flows, including the creation and distribution of fiat currencies*. This greatly contributed to the 2008 economic crisis, as errors in monetary policy led to inflation and financial collapse.
* Fiat currencies are money that is not backed by any physical commodity or asset, such as gold, and their value is determined solely by the trust placed in the issuer (government) and regulated by governmental bodies. Examples of fiat currencies include the U.S. dollar, euro, pound, and other national currencies.
Bitcoin became the first example of a decentralized financial system, in which every participant could engage in the issuance* and circulation of cryptocurrency without the involvement of central authorities. Unlike fiat money, Bitcoin has a limited supply — only 21 million coins.
* Issuance is the process of issuing and distributing money or other financial assets. In the context of Bitcoin, emission refers to the creation of new coins, which enter circulation through the process of mining.
2009 — the first official Bitcoin price
Before Bitcoin appeared on exchanges, its value was not fixed, and exchanges were only possible directly through user agreements. On October 5, 2009, when the cryptocurrency appeared on the exchange, its price was set based on the cost of mining, which amounted to 1,309.03 BTC per $1 (or $0.0007 per Bitcoin).
This moment marked the beginning of the rapid growth of the digital asset market, which has since reached a volume of over $3.8 trillion, with Bitcoin's price rising more than 145 million times since it first appeared on the exchange.