Bitcoin broke news headlines last month as the price of a single unit of the cryptocurrency crossed $62,500 for the first time.

 Bitcoin has existed since 2009, and the technology behind it dates back even further.

 Since its emergence, Bitcoin has shown enormous growth. For example, an investment of 1 rupee in the initial year of Bitcoin in India would amount up to Rs 1,682,062.692 in the present-day market.

 For a better understanding of Bitcoin, here is a brief history of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Introduction of Bitcoin

Bitcoin software was the first cryptocurrency introduced to the public in the year 2009. It allowed the users to mine – the way for new Bitcoins to be created, transactions to be recorded, and verification to take place on the Bitcoin blockchain. Before its introduction in 2009, it was first mentioned on a mailing list discussion on cryptography. In that mailing, the list discussion was described as ‘A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System ‘ by Satoshi Nakamoto. The true identity of, whose real name is unknown to this day.

 Even though people started mining Bitcoin in 2009, it was only in 2010, the monetary value was assigned to the units of Bitcoins. There is a hilarious story of how Bitcoin’s initial value was decided – for the first time, in 2010, somebody chose to sell their Bitcoins – trading 10,000 of them for two pizzas. On the off chance that the purchaser had clung to those Bitcoins, at the present costs, they would be worth more than $567million.

Competition and Fluctuation

In 2011, cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Namecoin appeared as the competitors of Bitcoins. Many more cryptocurrencies started appearing after that and were often called altcoins. These cryptos generally try to offer a faster mining speed, better anonymity, or some other feature. The main reason behind this sudden boom of cryptocurrency was Bitcoin’s initial success and acceptance of the decentralized and encrypted currency.

 By the year 2013, Bitcoin had already become the virtual currency leader as the cost of a single unit rose up to $1000. But shortly after touching the $1000 mark, the Bitcoin price dropped to around $300 a unit. It took Bitcoin more than two years to touch the $1000 mark again.

Fallbacks of the Crypto Market

Then came 2014, when the biggest virtual scam was carried out. Around 850,000 Bitcoins, which amount up to more than $48.3 billion in today’s market (around $480 million at that time), were scammed through the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox. The anonymity and porosity of Bitcoin became a calamity for the users who lost their Bitcoins in this scam. Investigations were launched but weren’t able to reach the bottom of this scam.

  In 2016 Ethereum – another cryptocurrency challenged Bitcoin for the crown of virtual currency leader but could not dethrone bitcoin. Ethereum utilizes digital money known as Ether to work with blockchain-based agreements and applications. Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) marked the arrival of Ethereum. These are raising support stages that offer financial backers the opportunity to exchange stocks or offers in startup adventures in the same way that they can contribute and exchange cryptographic forms of money. The investors were warned by the SEC in the US that ICOs could be frauds or scams due to the lack of oversight. The Chinese government went one step ahead and banned them.

Bull Run of Bitcoin in the Crypto Market

As the world economy grew bigger and bigger, people started accepting digital currency more widely. This helped Bitcoin cross the $10,000 a unit mark in 2017 and more.

 The steady growth of Bitcoin showed a sudden surge in the pandemic year of 2020. The main reason behind this meteoric rise is that the pandemic provided a perfect environment for its growth. As everyone was in their houses and were searching for methods to earn money. Philanthropists, business tycoons, and MNCs also expressed their interest in Bitcoin quite openly. This provided bitcoin with the required boost to cross the $50,000 mark in Feb 2021.

 Following this trend, it crossed the $60,000 mark in Mar 2021, and in April, it reached its highest ever price of $62,575.

Inferences

Cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, has shown immense potential in its journey till now. The fact that the market cap of cryptocurrencies has increased from 300 bn in 2017 to $600 bn in 2021 proves the same. It is also predicted that Bitcoin will cross the mark of $100,000 by the end of next year.

 In the interim, the innovation behind Bitcoin – blockchain – has started a transformation in the fintech business (and beyond) which is a beginning.

Cryptocurrencies are said to be everything from the future of money to an outright scam. Fearing these claims, many countries, including India, have outright banned cryptocurrencies.

 But as of now, it looks like they are here to stay.

Reference – https://www.plus500.com/Instruments/BTCUSD/The-History-of-Bitcoin~3

Also, Read – https://darshansamachar.in/?p=858&preview=true

Author – Gaurav Shekhar

Connect to the Author – shekhargaurav8@gmail.com