A Beginner’s Guide To Bitcoin’s Price History
Bitcoin is a decentralized virtual currency that is meant to be used as a medium of trade and exchange. It can be referred to as the internet’s version of currency. You can use bitcoin to buy products and services the same you’d use conventional money to buy stuff you need.
Bitcoin employs the use of advanced technology and encryption to retain control over its creation rather than relying on a central body to monitor its development and management. The idea of bitcoin actually came into being by an entirely anonymous individual named Satoshi Nakamoto, who integrated many traditional notions from the Cypherpunk motion into the novel currency’s configuration. Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to be the creator of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The reality that he’s one person or a group of individuals who have worked together is, to date, a mystery.
Before the advent of bitcoin, there were a number of digital monetary systems in existence, all of which were based on the e-cash algorithms developed by David Chaum and Stefan Brands. Bitcoin is the most modern of these inventions, having been developed in 2009. Cynthia Dwork & Moni Naor, two cryptographers, came up with the notion of confronting and solving complicated arithmetic brainteasers for the purpose of earning money and other advantages. Later, Adam Back worked on the same principle and used it to the creation of hashcash, a proof-of-work method for spam elimination that was first announced in 1997 and has since been widely used.
Returning to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s pricing history has been rocky and chaotic since it was initially introduced to the market. A significant change in its pricing can be noted, though and that change is for good, for sure. Indeed, bitcoin has witnessed enormous development over the decades, and now it has cemented itself as a major currency system, both physically and digitally. Though initially reluctant, a number of businesses has now decided to accept bitcoin as a form of payment in lieu of conventional currencies.
Bitcoin is a continually developing asset class, and the elements that influence its price are changing all the time as well. In contrast, while it continues to function as virtual money, the tale of bitcoin has evolved; it now functions as an investment option that enables investors to get ownership to cryptocurrencies while also serving to safeguard capital and guard against inflation as well as stock market instability.
Bitcoin Price Movements in a Snapshot
Since its inception, Satoshi Nakamoto has sought to utilize bitcoin as a currency for ordinary business and commercial transactions and an alternative to conventional banking systems. In contrast to conventional financial organizations, Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency sent over a peer-to-peer channel, enabling people and businesses to bypass conventional banks altogether.
As a result, virtual money has gained broad acceptability as a means of doing business and has attracted the attention of traders who place bets on the coin’s price fluctuations in the short and long term. It has also developed into a distinct kind of investment, serving as a means for retaining money while protecting against inflation.
In recent times, the story of Bitcoin’s value has taken a different turn. As the crypto market continues to flourish, investment companies are starting to join it, and state officials are crafting regulations that are specifically geared to their requirements. Notwithstanding that the value of bitcoin tends to vary, it is now regarded as an original representative of the formal economy rather than a strategic investment asset for traders who are looking for quick profits.
The value of bitcoin has fluctuated dramatically over the last decade since its introduction. Nonetheless, over the long term, the value has been continuously growing, accumulating at a pace of approximately 100 percent to around 200 percent per year. The first Bitcoin owners who have remained committed to their holdings have frequently seen phenomenal profits on their money.
While some people like making comparisons between Bitcoin’s previous pricing chart and other optimistic contemporary movements such as Beanie Babies, speculating is just one of the innumerable aspects that must be considered when predicting Bitcoin’s potential price trajectory.
However, over the course of many years, a pattern in the historical price of Bitcoin has emerged, and that pattern is very consistent. The blockchain system experienced a shift described as “the halving” about every four years, during which the quantity of cryptocurrency tokens issued to miners is cut by half.
There have already been three instances of this happening and that too at regular intervals. The very first Bitcoin halving occurred in 2012, the second occurred in 2016, and in 2020 the last halving took place. Bitcoin reached new all-time peaks the year following each halving event, breaking existing records in the meantime. Later, around 18 months after the valuation of the stock market fell by half; the bear market took hold.
In this article, we’ll look at the price record of Bitcoin, which is the most well-known cryptocurrency in the globe. From 2009 till the moment, we will look at how its price has changed over time. We’d learn how much the cost of BTC has risen in history, where it had its highs and lows, and how much it is rising currently.
Bitcoin Price Movement
2009
On October 31, 2008, the original Bitcoin white paper was published by Satoshi Nakamoto. This research article described BTC as a revolutionary peer-to-peer digital money system that was based on a new type of distributed ledger technology, which was referred to as the blockchain.
Subsequently, on January 3, 2009, the BTC ecosystem was formally introduced for the first time. Genesis became the very first block to be mined, and it said, “Chancellor on the brink of Second Bailout for Banks.” This statement was taken from an article, which was published in The London Times, during the critical economic meltdown that persisted between 2008 and 2009.
Bitcoin is the world’s first digital currency, with a total supply of total 21 million units as per the existing records. Some allude to this virtual asset as “digital gold” as a result of its high value and everlasting potential. Bitcoins, the same was as gold, must always be “mined” instead of being created out of pure nothingness, as is the situation with national currencies, which are created out of thin air. Mining refers to the process of finding solutions to difficult mathematical problems with the use of computer power. As an appreciation and award for the difficult endeavors and for correctly solving a difficult code, the computers and the miner who performs this job are awarded bitcoins created on that very moment.
Nevertheless, the value of bitcoin during 2009 was merely anything above zero. Since it was something entirely different and unique towards the financial sector, buyers and speculators were completely disinterested in it, along with many downright opposing it. Throughout 2009, investors were under the assumption that bitcoin was a vulnerable financial product that may disappear into nothingness at any moment, and as a consequence, only a tiny sum of funds was committed in bitcoin. It turned out, though, that things were about to take a dramatic step in the right direction very soon.
2011
In 2009 as mentioned above, the value of a bitcoin was really only a few cents shy of zero. The true and the actual Bitcoin deployment began to take shape around two years later, for the first moment, as a significant rise in the bitcoin market was observed.
In February 2011, the value of one Bitcoin (BTC) was equal to the value of one US dollar for perhaps the first-ever. Following this, the price of bitcoin on the Mt. Gox trading platform plummeted below $10 before soaring to an all-time high of $30 within hours. Bitcoin’s price has increased exponentially around 100% from its $0.30 value at the commencement of the year. Towards the end of the year, the bitcoin’s price dropped below $5 per bitcoin unit.
Electronic Frontier Foundation accepted Bitcoin as a method of payment in 2011, too. However, this support was for a pretty short period of time as EFF retracted its support soon, in light of the reality that no legislations were in place to regulate and authorize virtual currencies at that point in time.
2012
Founded in September 2012 with the goal of expediting the worldwide recognition and popularity of BTC through standardization, sustainability, and advocacy of open-source innovation, the Bitcoin Foundation did an excellent job in achieving that goal. Gavin Andresen, Jon Matonis, and Peter Vessenes and were a handful of the people that came together to develop this platform. Apart from the development of this bitcoin foundation, there’s another milestone that BTC achieved in 2012. It was in November 2012 when WordPress began taking bitcoin as a medium of online payments. It was since this event that this virtual asset gained more popularity and became more mainstream.
2013
Bitcoin was reinstated as a payment mechanism by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2013, and it has since been adopted by a slew of additional businesses. Indeed, in terms of relative increase when compared to the previous year, the year 2013 has been the most lucrative year in the history of cryptocurrencies. The virtual currency had a 6,600 % spike in value in comparison with the past year only.
Initially trading at $13 at the beginning of the year, BTC values skyrocketed to more than $250 in April before turning direction and plummeting by more than half. The market remained constant for approximately six months until experiencing another spectacular surge during the end of the year when the value hit a peak of $1,100. Throughout this bull run, the market capitalization of Bitcoin topped one billion United States dollars. That is a huge accomplishment!
Additionally, the world’s first Bitcoin ATM installed in Vancouver allowed customers to convert their physical money into virtual money with ease. Since then, many more Bitcoin ATMs have been brought into existence; thereby, making BTC more approachable.
2014
In January 2014, Zynga announced that it was considering using bitcoins to acquire in-game products in seven of its games. According to a report published by USA Today, the D Las Vegas Casino and the Golden Gate Hotel likewise announced that they would begin taking cryptocurrencies in the very same month. It is said in the narrative that the payment will be accepted at five locations, including the front desk of the motel and a couple of other eateries. Shortly after, TigerDirect and Overstock.com also began accepting bitcoin as a means of payment.
Mt. Gox, one of the most known crypto exchanges, briefly ceased remittances in February 2014, alleging that technical challenges had occurred. In the wake of claims that around 744,000 virtual coins were stolen, Mt. Gox ceased operations in Japan and was obliged to shut down its operations there. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that the reputation of Mt. Gox had begun to wane months before the company went bankrupt since consumers were facing difficulties retrieving their funds.
Newegg and Dell started accepting bitcoin as a means of payment in July 2014, respectively. In September 2014, CFTC allowed the use of a bitcoin price-based over-the-counter swap deal. The approval of something like this by a governmental authority was yet another important achievement since it was the first time that a legal regime in the US allowed the use of bitcoin as a budgetary commodity.
In December of 2014, Microsoft decided to accept bitcoins as payment for Xbox games and Microsoft Windows software. Aside from that, numerous humorous bitcoin-themed works, including “Ode to Satoshi,” were produced the same year to correlate with the occurrences described above.
2016
According to the Financial Times, cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, were acknowledged by the Japanese government in March 2016 as serving a function equal to that of actual money. Bitcoin payments were also accepted by Bidorbuy, the leading internet community in South Africa, which accepted BTC payments from all its investors. According to the conclusions of research published in July 2016, the cryptocurrency trade was no longer handled by “sin” organizations but by reputable and trustworthy enterprises.
However, a very unfortunate incident took place the same year, in August 2016. Bitfinex, a well-known payment system, was hacked, which resulted in the theft of about 120,000 bitcoins (equal to around $60 million).
With each passing year, bitcoin garnered more and more academic attention, too; the number of scholarly documents generated citing bitcoin increased from 83 in 2009 to 3580 in 2016; that’s a significant increase for sure!
2017
The value of bitcoin topped $1,100, initiating its major all-time peak, together with marking the completion of an important milestone in the cryptocurrency’s history. One of the most notable elements of this time period was the fact that the general public began to become more of bitcoins for the first time in history. The journalism began to publish pieces on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and thereby, public familiarity towards it increased.
Despite this, views on Bitcoin ranged from thinking it to be a scam to claiming that to be the best development since the creation of the wheel, among other things. This was the period in which bitcoin began to achieve widespread acceptance among the general population, rather than being limited to a small group of wealthy investors. As a result of this massive influx of crypto-related material into the media, the general public’s acquaintance with this virtual instrument began to grow, and so did the investments in it.
2018
South Korea made it mandatory for all bitcoin vendors to divulge their names, thus barring anonymous financial transactions in January 2018. The rule went into force immediately after it was passed. Citing decreased interest, rising costs, and higher transaction latencies, Stripe announced its plan to stop supporting cryptocurrency payments during the later months of 2018.
2021-Present
The world’s largest bitcoin conference occurred in Miami in early June 2021, with an estimated 15,000 speculative investors in attendance. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, on June 1, 2021, announced that his country would become the globe’s very first nation to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
On November 7, 2021, Bitcoin achieved a new all-time peak of $67.549.14, raising the entire market capitalization of the crypto to $675,499.14. A new type of COVID-19, named Omicron, was discovered over the first few weeks of December 2021, causing Bitcoin to drop to $49,243.39 before surging upward.
Final Words
There have been several price spikes and falls in the value of the cryptocurrency. The benefits from Bitcoin for long-term investors will surely beat some from almost all other financial products if the price of bitcoin keeps increasing at even a fourth of the pace at which something has increased over the preceding 12 years. BTC is expected to reach a price of over $100,000 sooner or later. Nothing, on the other hand, can be foreseen with confidence.
