1. Pre-Bitcoin (Before 2008)
1980s–1990s: Early concepts like eCash by David Chaum (1983) and b-money by Wei Dai (1998) proposed ideas for digital money.
2004: Hal Finney introduced Reusable Proofs of Work (RPOW), a critical building block.
2. The Birth of Bitcoin (2008–2009)
October 31, 2008:
Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper:
"Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."
January 3, 2009:
The Bitcoin network officially launched. Satoshi mined the first block (Genesis Block), embedding the famous message:
"The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."
3. Early Growth (2010–2012)
2010:
First real-world Bitcoin transaction — Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC (worth millions today).
First Bitcoin exchanges appeared (Mt. Gox was one).
2011–2012:
New cryptos launched: Litecoin (LTC), Namecoin (NMC).
Bitcoin started gaining mainstream attention among tech communities.
4. The Altcoin Boom (2013–2016)
Dozens of altcoins emerged, each tweaking Bitcoin's code slightly.
Early versions of DeFi (decentralized finance) and token ecosystems started forming.
Major scandals (e.g., Mt. Gox collapse in 2014) shook trust but pushed security and decentralization discussions forward.
5. The Rise of Ethereum and Smart Contracts (2015–2017)
2015:
Ethereum launched (founded by Vitalik Buterin). It introduced smart contracts — programmable agreements without intermediaries.
2017:
ICO boom (Initial Coin Offerings) — many new tokens raised billions.
Bitcoin reached nearly $20,000 in December 2017 (first major bull run).
6. Crash and Building (2018–2019)
Crypto Winter: Prices crashed by ~80–90%.
Serious builders stayed, working on infrastructure, scaling (e.g., Lightning Network), and new use-cases.
7. Mainstream Explosion (2020–2021)
2020:
Bitcoin hit new highs amid COVID-19 and economic uncertainty.
Big companies like MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Square started buying Bitcoin.
