Difference between revisions of "Bitcoin until today"
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Lead in paragraph.
 
  
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This is intended to be something of a diary of Bitcoin. Over time it would be interesting to see this grow into a catalog of all of the ups and downs that have taken place over the last (almost 11) years.
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==Core Technology Discoveries==
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Bitcoin was developed over the decade preceding its release and melds numerous technologies that were well established in the computing and cryptography industries.
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*[[wikipedia:Merkle Tree|Merkle Trees]] which Bitcoin uses as a means to immutably condense the record of a block of unbounded size into just 32 bytes were patented by [[wikipedia:Ralph Merkle|Ralph Merkle]] in 1979.
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*The use of elliptic curves in cryptography was suggested independently by both [[wikipedia:Neal Koblitz|Neal Koblitz]] and [[wikipedia:Victor S. Miller|Victor S. Miller]] in 1985. The [[Digital Signatures (ECDSA)|Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm]] which builds on this technology to enable signing of messages using ECC keypairs and is used heavily in Bitcoin.
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*[[wikipedia:Forth (programming language)|Forth]] is a programming language created by [[wikipedia:Charles H. Moore|Charles H. Moore]] in the late 1960's. The scripting language used to build Bitcoin transactions is based heavily on Forth.
  
 
==Digital Cash systems pre-bitcoin==
 
==Digital Cash systems pre-bitcoin==
  
 
===eCash===
 
===eCash===
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A cryptographic system for untraceable payments was first described by David Chaum in 1982 in the paper "Blind signatures for untraceable payments, Advances in Cryptology - Crypto '82, Springer-Verlag (1983), 199–203. In 1990 Chaum extended this system to create the first cryptographic anonymous electronic cash system which became known as [[wikipedia:Ecash|Ecash]].
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===b-money and Bit Gold===
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In 1998 Wei Dai published a description of an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system which he called "b-money". Around the same time, Nick Szabo created bit gold. Like Bitcoin, Bit gold was a currency system where users would compete to solve a proof of work function, with solutions being cryptographically chained together and published via a distributed property title registry. A variant of Bit gold, called Reusable Proofs of Work, was implemented by Hal Finney.
  
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A cryptographic system for untraceable payments was first described by David Chaum in 1982 in the paper "Blind signatures for untraceable payments, Advances in Cryptology - Crypto '82, Springer-Verlag (1983), 199–203. In 1990 Chaum extended this system to create the first cryptographic anonymous electronic cash system which became known as [[wikipedia:Ecash Ecash]].
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===Liberty Reserve===
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[[wikipedia:Liberty Reserve|Liberty Reserve] was a centralized digital currency service that allowed users to register and transfer money to other users with only a name, e-mail address, and birth date. The site was siezed by US authorities in a co-operative operation across 17 countries after it was discovered to be facilitating money laundering activities.
  
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In 1998 Wei Dai published a description of an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system which he called "b-money". Around the same time, Nick Szabo created bit gold. Like Bitcoin, Bit gold was a currency system where users would compete to solve a proof of work function, with solutions being cryptographically chained together and published via a distributed property title registry. A variant of Bit gold, called Reusable Proofs of Work, was implemented by Hal Finney.
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==Release of the Bitcoin whitepaper==
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In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper titled "Bitcoin: a peer to peer electronic cash system" on The Cryptography Mailing list at metzdowd.com describing the Bitcoin system.
  
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In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper<ref name="whitepaper">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> on The Cryptography Mailing list at metzdowd.com<ref>Satoshi's posts to Cryptography mailing list</ref> describing the Bitcoin protocol.
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==Establishment of the Bitcoin Network==
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The Bitcoin network came into existence on 3 January 2009 with the release of the first Bitcoin client, wxBitcoin, and the issuance of the first Bitcoins. A year after, the initial exchange rates for Bitcoin were set by individuals on the bitcointalk forums.
  
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The Bitcoin network came into existence on 3 January 2009 with the release of the first Bitcoin client, wxBitcoin, and the issuance of the first Bitcoins.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A year after, the initial exchange rates for Bitcoin were set by individuals on the bitcointalk forums.Template:Citation needed The most significant transaction involved a 10,000 BTC pizza.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Today, the majority of Bitcoin exchanges occur on the Bitstamp Bitcoin exchange.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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The first significant transaction involved the exchange of 10,000 BTC from Laszlo Hanyecz for “a couple of pizzas” supplied by Jeremy Sturdivant. The record of this transaction can be found [https://whatsonchain.com/tx/a1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d here]]
  
 
In 2011, Wikileaks,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Freenet,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Singularity Institute,<ref>SIAI donation page</ref> Internet Archive,<ref>Internet Archive donation page</ref> Free Software Foundation<ref>Other ways to donate</ref> and others, began to accept donations in Bitcoin. The Electronic Frontier Foundation did so for a while but has since stopped, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems, and because they "generally don't endorse any type of product or service."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some small businesses had started to adopt Bitcoin. LaCie, a public company, accepts Bitcoin for its Wuala service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
 
In 2011, Wikileaks,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Freenet,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Singularity Institute,<ref>SIAI donation page</ref> Internet Archive,<ref>Internet Archive donation page</ref> Free Software Foundation<ref>Other ways to donate</ref> and others, began to accept donations in Bitcoin. The Electronic Frontier Foundation did so for a while but has since stopped, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems, and because they "generally don't endorse any type of product or service."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some small businesses had started to adopt Bitcoin. LaCie, a public company, accepts Bitcoin for its Wuala service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Revision as of 23:43, 1 January 2020


Core Technology Discoveries

Bitcoin was developed over the decade preceding its release and melds numerous technologies that were well established in the computing and cryptography industries.

  • Merkle Trees which Bitcoin uses as a means to immutably condense the record of a block of unbounded size into just 32 bytes were patented by Ralph Merkle in 1979.
  • The use of elliptic curves in cryptography was suggested independently by both Neal Koblitz and Victor S. Miller in 1985. The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm which builds on this technology to enable signing of messages using ECC keypairs and is used heavily in Bitcoin.
  • Forth is a programming language created by Charles H. Moore in the late 1960's. The scripting language used to build Bitcoin transactions is based heavily on Forth.

Digital Cash systems pre-bitcoin

eCash

A cryptographic system for untraceable payments was first described by David Chaum in 1982 in the paper "Blind signatures for untraceable payments, Advances in Cryptology - Crypto '82, Springer-Verlag (1983), 199–203. In 1990 Chaum extended this system to create the first cryptographic anonymous electronic cash system which became known as Ecash.

b-money and Bit Gold

In 1998 Wei Dai published a description of an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system which he called "b-money". Around the same time, Nick Szabo created bit gold. Like Bitcoin, Bit gold was a currency system where users would compete to solve a proof of work function, with solutions being cryptographically chained together and published via a distributed property title registry. A variant of Bit gold, called Reusable Proofs of Work, was implemented by Hal Finney.

Liberty Reserve

Liberty Reserve] was a centralized digital currency service that allowed users to register and transfer money to other users with only a name, e-mail address, and birth date. The site was siezed by US authorities in a co-operative operation across 17 countries after it was discovered to be facilitating money laundering activities.

Release of the Bitcoin whitepaper

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper titled "Bitcoin: a peer to peer electronic cash system" on The Cryptography Mailing list at metzdowd.com describing the Bitcoin system.

Establishment of the Bitcoin Network

The Bitcoin network came into existence on 3 January 2009 with the release of the first Bitcoin client, wxBitcoin, and the issuance of the first Bitcoins. A year after, the initial exchange rates for Bitcoin were set by individuals on the bitcointalk forums. The first significant transaction involved the exchange of 10,000 BTC from Laszlo Hanyecz for “a couple of pizzas” supplied by Jeremy Sturdivant. The record of this transaction can be found [https://whatsonchain.com/tx/a1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d here

In 2011, Wikileaks,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Freenet,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Singularity Institute,<ref>SIAI donation page</ref> Internet Archive,<ref>Internet Archive donation page</ref> Free Software Foundation<ref>Other ways to donate</ref> and others, began to accept donations in Bitcoin. The Electronic Frontier Foundation did so for a while but has since stopped, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems, and because they "generally don't endorse any type of product or service."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some small businesses had started to adopt Bitcoin. LaCie, a public company, accepts Bitcoin for its Wuala service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012, BitPay reports of having over 1000 merchants accepting Bitcoin under its payment processing service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>


https://wiki.bitcoinsv.io/index.php/History_of_Bitcoin

Bitcoin Satoshi Vision

https://wiki.bitcoinsv.io/index.php/Bitcoin_Satoshi_Vision

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