On this day in 2008, an unknown person with the alias Satoshi Nakamoto announced the creation of the bitcoin ÒPeer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.Ó
At the very beginning, bitcoin had no value at all until March 2010 when it was worth $0.003. Now, one coin is worth over $6,000, and its market capitalization is greater than Goldman Sachs, Bayer or UPS. For an early investor, $1 in bitcoin nine years ago is worth over $2,000,000 today.
The bitcoin whitepaper is still available on the original bitcoin.org wallpaper.
ÒA purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution,Ó
it says.
ÒDigital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending. We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network.Ó
While there are three million users of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the number is expected to hit 200 million by 2024.
Bitcoin sees it trading at about $6,100 on its birthday. The world’s largest cryptocurrency peaked at a price of $6,306.58, just 10 days after it broke the $6,000 ceiling for the first time.
Many market observers have compared the sharp returns in digital currencies to the technology boom of the 1990s. This eventually led to the so-called dot-com bubble, where tech stocks soared before crashing. Others compare it to the tulip mania bubble during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, which saw prices for some tulip bulbs reach extraordinarily high levels and then dramatically collapse.
