🔹 1. Concepts that existed before the emergence of cryptocurrency (1980s-1990s)
Before Bitcoin, many ideas attempted to realize digital currency:
• 1983 – David Chaum proposed the concept of electronic money eCash based on cryptography.
• 1998 – Wei Dai introduced b-money (the idea of decentralized currency).
• 1998 – Nick Szabo developed Bit Gold, a direct precursor to Bitcoin.
These early ideas inspired Bitcoin but never gained traction in the real world.
2008 – Birth of Bitcoin
• A person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper:
"Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System"
• The idea: to create a decentralized, trustless currency without banks or governments.
2009 – Bitcoin went live
• On January 3, 2009, the first block of Bitcoin, known as the Genesis Block, was mined.
• The Bitcoin network was officially launched.
• The early users were mainly cryptographers and programmers.
2010 – Real value
• May 22, 2010: The first real-world purchase of Bitcoin — 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas 🍕
➤ This day is now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
2011-2013 – Rise in popularity of altcoins
• Other coins launched:
• Litecoin (LTC) – faster than BTC
• Namecoin, Peercoin, etc.
• Cryptocurrencies began to attract public attention and the dark web (e.g., Silk Road)
2015 – Ethereum revolution
• Ethereum (ETH) launched with smart contract support.
• The idea of decentralized applications (dApps) and DeFi emerged.
2017 – Crypto boom
• Bitcoin reached around $20,000.
• Mass ICOs (initial coin offerings): thousands of new tokens launched.
• Ethereum became dominant in new blockchain applications.
2018 – Market crash
• The cryptocurrency market crashed (fall of ~80%).
• Many weak projects ceased to exist.
• Regulatory oversight has increased worldwide.
2020-2021 – Mass adoption
• Organizations like Tesla, Square, and MicroStrategy bought BTC.
• An explosion of NFTs occurred on Ethereum.
• The DeFi sector grew by billions of dollars.
2022-2023 – Bear market and crashes
• Serious disruptions: Terra (LUNA), FTX Exchange, Celsius, etc.
• Trust is undermined, but innovation continues (layer 2, zk-rollups, etc.)
2024-2025 – Recovery and regulation
• Bitcoin ETFs approved (in the US and worldwide).
• Institutional adoption is growing.
• Regulation is tightening in many countries (including India).
