The Day Bitcoin Almost Died

On August 15, 2010, a bug in Bitcoin’s code allowed a single transaction to create 184 billion BTC, breaking the 21 million supply cap. Two addresses received over 92 billion BTC each due to an integer overflow bug.

Within hours, Satoshi Nakamoto and Gavin Andresen released a fix (version 0.3.10), rolled back the blockchain, and erased the fake coins. This fast response saved Bitcoin from collapse.

Despite the scare, Bitcoin’s price stayed strong—and even tripled by the end of 2010. The incident proved the power of a vigilant community and marked a turning point in Bitcoin’s history.