Bitcoin's history

Satoshi Nakamoto, the name used by the person or people who designed bitcoin, began working on the Bitcoin concept in 2007.

In august 2008, bitcoin.org domain was official registered at anonymousspseech.com, a site that allows users to register domain names anonymously.

Later, in January 2009, the first 50 bitcoins ever was mined, which is also know as the Genesis Block.

Couple of days later, the version 0.1 of Bitcoin is released. It included a Bitcoin generation system that would create a maximum total of 21 million Bitcoins through the year 2040.

The first Bitcoin transaction was between Satoshi and Hal Finney, a developer and cryptographic activist.

On october fifth 2009, an exchange rate was established. The New Liberty Standard publishes a Bitcoin exchange rate that establishes the value of a Bitcoin at US$1 = 1,309.03 BTC, using an equation that includes the cost of electricity to run a computer that generated Bitcoins.

The Bitcoin mining difficulty increases for the first time on December 2009.

The first real-world transaction took place in Florida in May 2010. Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer, offered to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for a pizza on the Bitcoin Forum. At the time of the transaction, the total value of those Bitcoins for that pizza was around $25.

In november 2010, the Bitcoin economy exeeds over $1 million. The price on MtGox reached about $0.50 USD/BTC.

In 2011, Silk Road opens for business. This is an illicit marketplace with Bitcoin as a payment option. In other words, it was the eBay for drugs.

In January 2011, more than 25% of the total Bitcoins were generated. This is over 5.25 million Bitcoins. It is worth noting that the mining difficulty keeps rising.

In February 2011, Bitcoin thouches $1 USD/BTC at MtGox. It was the first time it reaches parity with the US dollar.

In June 2011, Bitcoin reaches an exchange rate of $10 per BTC at MtGox.

Only 6 days later, Bitcoin exchange rate peaked at $31.91 USD/BTC. This evenment is know has the Great Bubble of 2011.

A couple days later, a Bitcoin Forum member, allinvain, claimed that over 25,00 Bitcoins were stolen from his Bitcoin Wallet. This was close to $375,000 USD at the time.

Coinbase, one of the biggest Bitcoin Wallet was founded in June 2012 in San Francisco, California.

In November 2012, WordPress.com accepts Bitcoin as a payment option. This site powers more than millions of websites.

In early 2013, Bitcoin value goes back to $30 USD/BTC for the first time since 2011.

In March 2013, Bitcoin spikes to $74.90 USD/BTC after two days of major increase.

In late March 2013, the total Bitcoin market cap reaches 1 billion US dollars.

In early April 2013, value of Bitcoin exeeds $100 USD/BTC for the first time on MtGox.

A couple days later, a Bitcoin Bubble strikes again bringing Bitcoin's value at $266 USD/BTC. One year earlier, Bitcoin's value was at only $13 USD/BTC.

In late April 2013, the Bitcoin Central is hacked. Those hackers made a few hundreds of Bitcoins that was recovered by the site owner.

In October 2013, the FBI shuts down the online drug marketplace Silk Road, they also seized over $3.6 million dollars worth of Bitcoins.

Due to that, Bitcoin price drops from $139 USD/BTC to $109.71 USD/BTC in less than three hours. Hopefully, it then recovers to $128 a few hours later.

In November 2013, Bitcoin price increases significantly up to $503.10 USD/BTC on MtGox.

In late November 2013, Senate talks about Silk Road: Potential risks, threats and promises of virtual currencies, discusses legitimacy and challenges of virtual currencies.

Afer Senate hearings, Bitcoin price reaches a record of $1242 USD/BTC on November 19, 2013.

In early December 2013, China’s central bank bans financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, causing a major price drop in Bitcoin value, below to $1000 USD/BTC.

Due to that, Baidu, a Chinese web services company headquartered at the Baidu Campus in Beijing's Haidian District, stops accepting Bitcoins after China ban.

In late December 2013, Bitcoin crashes to nearly $500 USD/BTC due to Bitcoin's ban.

Buy Bitcoin

When bitcoin was first created, it was introduced as a public, distributed peer-to-peer electronic cash system. In order for bitcoin to succeed without a third party like a bank to mediate, verify, and manage transactions, the concept of a blockchain ledger was developed alongside the currency as a way to verify and track transactions and prevent fraud. That is why it takes some time to verify each transaction made on the bitcoin network.

Settlement with a high level of certainty is a requirement for a payment system to function, otherwise people could make transactions, receive goods, request funds back, then make more transactions.

Bitcoin is portable, fungible, divisible, and irreversible. Payment methods, like credit cards also include some of these properties, but their transactions are not irreversible.

A credit card transaction can be easily reversed in the form of a chargeback, which can happen days or weeks after a transaction has initially processed.
Unfortunately, this comes with friction and costs because the network has to be maintained by an intermediary. Most of the time, merchants lose money every year due to that.

From a merchant’s perspective, bitcoin presents an increasingly convenient alternative to credit cards that ensures they can avoid the inconvenience of chargebacks, and cut transaction costs such as fees.
For the consumer, bitcoin also presents similar benefits, but it’s extremely important to double check the recipient’s address and amount are correct before sending your funds, because only one small mistake can cost you a lot of money.

Bitcoin can be comparable to cash in real life because you can pay for something with bitcoin or cash and neither transaction can be reversed unless the recipient returns the funds back to you. The only difference is that bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and it fluctuates.
Some people might say: ''It is way easier to lose bitcoin due to a simple typing mistake then lose cash in real life!''

Let’s take a look at those two scenarios to explain this further. One with bitcoin, and the second with cash.

First, you accidentally sent bitcoin $20 to the wrong address. Without knowing the identity of who controls the address you sent your funds to, you have no way to contact the accidental recipient and ask them to send the funds back. Sadly, you know you won't get your bitcoin back.

Second, you accidentally dropped a $20 bill while walking on the sidewalk and failed to take notice.
Shortly after, someone you don’t know picks up your cash and keeps it.
Unless you were present to see the person pick up your cash, you have no reasonable way to track them down and retrieve it.

Those scenarios happens everyday around the world.
In both scenarios, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see either forms of money again.
While bitcoin does paint a clear path of where your funds went (by looking on the blockchain).
Though, bitcoin addresses don’t have conventional forms of ID associated with them like a first or last name, or government ID.

How are Bitcoin mined?

This video only explains the basic of Bitcoin mining. However, in real life, it is not as simple as that! Watch this next video of a Chinese mining facility to see how complex it really is.

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FAQ

What is a Bitcoin Faucet?

Bitcoin faucets are a reward system, that dispenses rewards in the form of a satoshi for visitors to claim in exchange of completing a simple task. For example, solving a captcha.

How much is a Satoshi?

A Satoshi is a hundredth of a millionth BTC.

How do I withdraw my Satoshi to my bitcoin wallet?

In order to withdraw your Satoshi earned, you first need to reach the minimum threshold required on FaucetBox.com. Then, you can easily transfer your bitcoin to your bitcoin wallet.

How does the referral system work?

You simply need to share your referral link to earn 50% of the referee's earnings!

How do I report bugs or give suggestions?

You can email me directly at [email protected]