The first known use of Bitcoin for a real-world purchase occurred on May 22, 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas, an event that is now known as "Bitcoin Pizza Day".

The Bitcoin genesis block, the first block of the blockchain, was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009. It contained an encoded message: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks," a possible reference to the global financial crisis at the time and a motivation for the creation of a decentralized financial system.