What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency created in 2009 by a person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
It operates on blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger that records all transactions transparently and immutably.
History of Bitcoin:
2008 - 2009: The inception.
October 2008: Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper titled 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.'
January 2009: The first block on the network, known as the Genesis Block, is launched.
The first actual price of Bitcoin was nearly zero (less than a cent).
2010: The first commercial transaction.
May 2010: A person named Laszlo Hanyecz bought pizza for 10,000 Bitcoins - the first known commercial transaction using Bitcoin.
The price of Bitcoin began to gradually rise and reached $0.08.
2011 - 2013: Rise and media attention.
2011: The price of Bitcoin reached $1 for the first time.
2013: Surged to over $1,000 for a brief period.
Investors and tech enthusiasts began to show greater interest.
2014 - 2016: Fluctuations and maturation.
Mt. Gox exchange was hacked, which accounted for 70% of Bitcoin trading at the time, causing the price to drop.
Safer exchanges like Coinbase and Binance emerged later.
Major companies started accepting Bitcoin as a payment method.
2017: The big explosion.
The price of Bitcoin surged crazily to nearly $20,000 by the end of 2017.
Global awareness of digital currencies increased.
2018 - 2019: Correction and calm.
The price dropped to around $3,000 - $4,000.
The market experienced relative calm with the development of other blockchain projects.
2020 - 2021: The comeback and historic rise.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased money printing drove many to Bitcoin as a store of value.
2021: The price of Bitcoin surpassed $68,000 in November.
Major institutions like Tesla and MicroStrategy began purchasing Bitcoin.
2022 - 2023: The bear market.
The price dropped again to levels of $15,000 - $20,000.
The collapse of major projects like FTX shook confidence in the market.
2024 - early 2025: Gradual recovery.
Momentum returned with increased talk about Bitcoin-related ETF funds.
The adoption of digital currencies by major financial institutions began to increase.
The price regained a significant part of its value and surpassed the $70,000 mark again (until early 2025).
Features of Bitcoin:
Decentralized (not controlled by a central bank).
Limited supply (only 21 million).
Resistant to counterfeiting.
Transparent, transactions can be traced.
Challenges of Bitcoin:
Significant price fluctuations.
High energy consumption in mining.
Unstable or changing government regulations.
A chart showing the rise of Bitcoin from inception to 2023.