THE HISTORY OF THE BITCOIN AND THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES
The word cryptocurrency was first described in 1998 by Wei Dai (computer engineer) in the mailing list of cypherpunks. His desire was to create a currency based on cryptography to ensure its creation, ownership, and fraud, while government involvement would be permanently banned and permanently unnecessary. In 1998 he published an article in which he presented ‘B-money’ – a cryptocurrency that did not develop into practice.
That same year, another Bit Bit effort was designed by the pioneer Nickch Szabo. Bit Gold was also looking at creating a decentralized digital currency. Szabo’s idea was triggered by deficiencies in the traditional financial system, such as the requirement for metal to create currency and the diminishing confidence needed to create transactions.
Both cryptocurrencies, although they failed to capture flesh and bones, were part of the inspiration behind Bitcoin.
The idea of creating a decentralized digital currency came about 11 years after Satoshi Nakamoto. Based on his thesis entitled ” Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system ” (Nakamoto, 2008), Nakamoto went on to develop Bitcoin. This thesis describes the functionality of the Bitcoin blockchain network. This day in the history of Bitcoin has set the stage for the events that followed. “Satoshi Nakamoto” is a nickname … .. the true identity of the founder of Bitcoin remains a mystery to this day.
THE HISTORY OF THE BITCOIN AND THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES
THE HISTORY OF THE BITCOIN AND THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES
THE HISTORY OF THE BITCOIN AND THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES
OCTOBER 31ST, 2008 – THE MYSTERIOUS S. NAKAMOTO
THE HISTORY OF THE BITCOIN AND THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES
THE HISTORY OF THE BITCOIN AND THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES
In August 2008, the bitcoin.org Web site was registered, which remains the home page of the most famous cryptocurrency. On October 31 of the same year, a person or organization under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto published a scientific paper entitled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
The work introduced the concept of blockchain technology and Bitcoin was described as a digital resource and open source system. This practically means that no one owns it and that anyone can participate in its use and development.
To date, no one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto really is, so his identity has created many myths and theories in the plot. Finally, it is most likely that his identity will remain unknown forever.
JANUARY 3, 2009- BITCOINS MINING STARTS
Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first 50 Bitcoins, thus beginning the history of crypto mining. The first mining block is also known as Block Genesis.
Bitcoin software is then released to the public for the first time and mining begins – the process by which new Bitcoins are created and transactions are recorded and verified on the blockchain. At that time, there was only a small group of developers and fanatics involved in developing something that some of them expected would become a highly innovative technology.
2010 – FIRST SUCCESSFUL TRANSACTIONS
In the early years of its existence, it was somewhat difficult to attribute any real value to Bitcoin, since large-scale transactions were not carried out. For example, developer Gavin Andresen bought 10,000 Bitcoins for $ 50 and created a website called Bitcoin Faucet, where he literally donated a Bitcoin for a plate.
MAY 2, 2010- BITCOIN PIZZA DAY– THE BITCOIN IS VALUED FOR FIRST TIME
Since Bitcoin was mined by members of the community, it was not marketed so it was not assigned any monetary value. In 2010, the first exchange with Bitcoins took place and is valued for the first time. In 2010, someone decided to sell bitcoins for the first time – exchanging 10,000 of them for two pizzas. (Bitcoin Pizza Day)
In the most famous case of this era, the protagonist is Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer who bought two pizzas worth 10,000 Bitcoins. This is also considered to be the first substantial transaction in crypto currency. At the maximum price touched by Bitcoin, these two pizzas would cost over $ 100 million. However, Laszlo never regretted his decision, as he believes it was a crucial step that helped develop the cryptosystem.
DECEMBER 2010
In December 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto posted his latest public message on the popular online forum called bitcointalk. He wrote a few details about the latest version of the software. He then kept in touch with some developers via email, but his traces have been completely lost since April 2011. It is very likely that his identity will remain a mystery forever.
2011- ARRIVAL OF NEW CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Bitcoin’s revolutionary technology is growing in popularity and the idea of creating new cryptocurrencies is gradually gaining ground. As a result, the first alternative cryptocurrencies appeared. We call them altcoins. New altcoins generally try to improve the original design of Bitcoin by offering greater speed, anonymity, etc. Among the first to appear were Namecoin and Litecoin. Litecoin is one of the first alternatives (altcoins) and this is why it was called “silver”, while Bitcoin is “gold”. Currently (March 3, 2020) there are over 2,500 coins in circulation and more are making their appearance.ς.
2013-CRYPTOCURRENCY TRADE AND CREDIT EXCHANGE LAUNCHED
The first crypto exchange platform appeared in the name of bitcoinmarket.com (now absent). Mt.Gox also started in July of that year.
The price of a Bitcoin reaches $ 1,000 for the first time, and then its price quickly starts to decline. Many who have invested in Bitcoin have suffered losses as the price drops to around $ 300 – rising to $ 1,000 after two years.
2014 – Fraud and theft
The cryptocurrencies are based on anonymity and decentralization, so it is not surprising that they are very attractive to criminals. Those who are technically skilled can easily cover their tracks.
In January 2014, the largest Bitcoin exchange named Mt. Gox was furious. The size of the theft was about 850,000 Bitcoins! It is not yet clear who is responsible, and remains the biggest Bitcoin theft in history.
In November 2014, the world of cryptocurrencies suffered another blow as the founder of the Silk Road website Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison. 70% of the products for sale on this site were narcotics and transactions could be made with Bitcoin. Many believe Mr Ulbricht was unjustly charged because much of the evidence against him was highly controversial. However, there is little to no chance of being released at some point in the future.
2016 – ETHEREUM ΚΑΙ ICOS.
In 2015 the Ethereum project is launched and is often cited as the first truly useful application of the system on which the idea of the Bitcoin blockchain was built. Ethereum introduced smart contracts, an interesting concept that makes it possible to carry out public contracts transparently, where transactions are carried out under precisely defined conditions. The philosophy of smart contracts was the reason for countless new currencies that were made in accordance with the ERC20 standard and belong to the Ethereum blockchain.
Ethereum’s arrival was marked by the appearance of initial coin offerings (ICOs). These are fundraising platforms that offer investors the opportunity to frequently exchange shares or shares in startups in the same way that they can invest and exchange cryptocurrencies. In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors that, due to lack of supervision, ICOs could easily be scams or ponzi schemes disguised as legitimate investments. The Chinese government went one more time, completely banning them.
Ethereum’s popularity was accompanied by the launch of start-up projects with crowdfunding funds. This type of cryptocurrency financing is called Initial Coin Offering (ICO), that is, Initial Coin Offering.
People bought these coins and coins based on their belief in the success of the project and the belief that virtual coins would somehow be of value when the project under construction was finally implemented.
Some countries (such as China and the US) have banned such projects, or at least warned users that they may be scams, such as Ponzi schemes that are fraudulently presented as legitimate investments.
2017 – THE BITCOIN PRICE GOES UP TO $ 20,000
The number of publicly available trading platforms and exchanges was constantly increasing, making it easier to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. The period was characterized as the golden age of ICO projects.
All of this has contributed to the rapid growth of the ecosystem. This new technology promises huge profits and total cryptocurrency market capitalization exceeds US $ 800 billion at the beginning of 2018.
Source: https://kriptomat.io/gr/kryptonomismata/ti-einai-kryptonomisma/
In practice, all cryptocurrencies were selling like gold…
The world of cryptocurrencies has not stopped since. Prices have hit highs in early January 2018 and many new cryptocurrencies have been added since then, including Bitcoin, Stellar, LiteCoin, Darkcoin, DogeCoin, NEM, NovaCoin, MoonCoin etc. (βλ. http://www.cryptocoincharts.info/coins/info)
The cryptocurrency market today hosts over 2,500 digital currencies and the list is still expanding.
Visit for more information: https://coinmarketcap.com/
The number of Bitcoin ATMs continues to grow, more stores have begun to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, and cryptocurrencies are increasingly used for day-to-day transactions.
ATM Bitcoin
(https://coinmap.org/view/#/world/44.90257800/24.43359375/5/atm)
Εταιρείες και επαγγελματίες που δέχονται Bitcoin στην Ελλάδα:
Companies and professionals who accept Bitcoin worldwide:
https://coinmap.org/view/#/world/44.90257800/24.43359375/5/