Difference between revisions of "History of Bitcoin"

(Copy from Core)
 
 
(4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
The following is a list of notable events in the history of Bitcoin.
  
 +
===2008===
  
 +
Satoshi Nakamoto publishes the [https://bitcoinsv.io/bitcoin.pdf the Bitcoin white paper] on The Cryptography Mailing List at metzdowd.com ([https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]&q=from:%22Satoshi+Nakamoto%22 Satoshi's posts])  describing the Bitcoin protocol.
  
 +
===2009===
  
 +
The Bitcoin network comes into existence on the 3rd of January with the release of the first Bitcoin client, wxBitcoin, and the issuance of the first Bitcoins. Satoshi includes a message in the [https://whatsonchain.com/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f first block] via the coinbase transaction: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".
  
==History==
+
===2010===
{{main|History}}
 
  
A cryptographic system for untraceable payments was first described by David Chaum in 1982.<ref>[http://blog.koehntopp.de/uploads/Chaum.BlindSigForPayment.1982.PDF David Chaum, Blind signatures for untraceable payments], Advances in Cryptology - Crypto '82, Springer-Verlag (1983), 199–203.</ref> In 1990 Chaum extended this system to create the first cryptographic anonymous electronic cash system.,<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|last1=Chaum|first1=David|last2=Fiat|first2=Amos|last3=Naor|first3=Moni|title=Untraceable Electronic Cash|url=http://blog.koehntopp.de/uploads/chaum_fiat_naor_ecash.pdf}}</ref> which became known as ecash.
+
The first exchange rates for Bitcoin are set by individuals on the bitcointalk forums. In May, Laszlo  Hanyecz purchases two pizzas with 10,000 Bitcoin.
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.12/emoney.html|publisher=Wired|title=E-Money (That's What I Want)|date=1994–2012|author=Steven Levy}}</ref> In 1998 [[Wei Dai]] published a description of an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system which he called "b-money".<ref>{{cite web|title=B-Money|url=http://www.weidai.com/bmoney.txt|author=Wei Dai|year=1998}}</ref> Around the same time, Nick Szabo created ''bit gold''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/bitcoin-the-cryptoanarchists-answer-to-cash/0|title=Bitcoin: The Cryptoanarchists’ Answer to Cash|publisher=IEEE Spectrum|quote=Around the same time, Nick Szabo, a computer scientist who now blogs about law and the history of money, was one of the first to imagine a new digital currency from the ground up. Although many consider his scheme, which he calls “bit gold,” to be a precursor to Bitcoin}}</ref><ref name="bitgold">{{cite web|title=Bit gold|url=https://unenumerated.blogspot.co.uk/2005/12/bit-gold.html|author=Nick Szabo|quote=My proposal for bit gold is based on computing a string of bits from a string of challenge bits, using functions called variously "client puzzle function," "proof of work function," or "secure benchmark function.". The resulting string of bits is the proof of work.... The last-created string of bit gold provides the challenge bits for the next-created string.}}</ref> 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.<ref name="bitgold"/>
 
  
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a [[Bitcoin_white_paper|paper]]<ref name="whitepaper">{{cite web
+
===2011===
|last= Nakamoto
 
|first= Satoshi
 
|title= Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
 
|url= http://www.cs.kent.edu/~JAVED/class-P2P12F/papers-2012/PAPER2012-p2p-bitcoin-satoshinakamoto.pdf
 
|accessdate = 14 December 2010
 
|date= 24 May 2009
 
|postscript=
 
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 
|url= https://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.encryption.general/12588/
 
|title= Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper
 
}}</ref> on The Cryptography Mailing list at metzdowd.com<ref>[https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]&q=from:%22Satoshi+Nakamoto%22 Satoshi's posts to Cryptography mailing list]</ref> describing the Bitcoin protocol.
 
  
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>{{cite web |title=Block 0 – Bitcoin Block Explorer |url=https://blockexplorer.com/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg10142.html |title=Bitcoin v0.1 released}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://sourceforge.net/news/?group_id=244765 |title=SourceForge.net: Bitcoin}}</ref>
 
A year after, the initial exchange rates for Bitcoin were set by individuals on the bitcointalk forums.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} The most significant transaction involved a 10,000 BTC pizza.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin|url=https://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/11/mf_bitcoin/|publisher=Wired|accessdate=13 October 2012}}</ref>
 
Today, the majority of Bitcoin exchanges occur on the [[Bitstamp]] Bitcoin exchange.<ref>{{cite web | title = Exchange volume distribution | work = by market | publisher = [[Bitcoin Charts]]  | date = April 15, 2014 | url = https://bitcoincharts.com/charts/volumepie/ | accessdate = 2014-04-15 }}</ref>
 
  
In 2011, Wikileaks,<ref>{{cite news
+
===2012===
|last= Greenberg
 
|first= Andy
 
|url= http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/06/14/wikileaks-asks-for-anonymous-bitcoin-donations/
 
|title= WikiLeaks Asks For Anonymous Bitcoin Donations – Andy Greenberg – The Firewall – Forbes
 
|publisher= Blogs.forbes.com
 
|date= 2011-06-14
 
|accessdate = 2011-06-22
 
}}</ref> [[Freenet]],<ref>{{cite web
 
|url= https://freenetproject.org/donate.html
 
|title= /donate
 
|publisher= The Freenet Project
 
|date=
 
|accessdate = 2011-06-22
 
}}</ref> Singularity Institute,<ref>[http://singinst.org/donate/ SIAI donation page]</ref> Internet Archive,<ref>[https://www.archive.org/donate/index.php Internet Archive donation page]</ref> Free Software Foundation<ref>[https://my.fsf.org/donate/other/ Other ways to donate]</ref> and others, began [[Receiving_donations_with_bitcoin|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>{{cite web
 
|url= https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/eff-and-bitcoin
 
|title= EFF and Bitcoin &#124; Electronic Frontier Foundation
 
|publisher= Eff.org
 
|date= 2011-06-14
 
|accessdate = 2011-06-22
 
}}</ref> Some small businesses had started to adopt Bitcoin. LaCie, a public company, accepts Bitcoin for its Wuala service.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wuala.com/en/bitcoin |title=Secure Online Storage – Backup. Sync. Share. Access Everywhere |publisher=Wuala |date= |accessdate = 2012-01-24}}</ref>
 
  
In 2012, BitPay reports of having over 1000 merchants accepting Bitcoin under its payment processing service.<ref>{{cite web|title=BitPay Signs 1,000 Merchants to Accept Bitcoin Payments|url=http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_176/bitpay-signs-1000-merchants-to-accept-bitcoin-payments-1052538-1.html|publisher=American Banker|accessdate=12 October 2012}}</ref>
+
[https://www.americanbanker.com/news/bitpay-signs-1-000-merchants-to-accept-bitcoin-payments BitPay] reports having over 1000 merchants accepting Bitcoin under its payment processing service.
 +
 
 +
===2013===
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===2014===
 +
 
 +
“Silk Road”, a goods exchange platform which used Bitcoin for primarily criminal activity, is shut down completely. This is the first example of the Bitcoin public ledger being used in criminal prosecutions.
 +
 
 +
===2015===
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===2016===
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===2017===
 +
 
 +
Developers trying to introduce radical changes fork the Bitcoin network, conducting a social networking attack on investors, miners and exchanges to allow the newly created BTC airdrop to introduce changes that break the legal basis of Bitcoin's ownership traceability through Segregated Witness which removes digital signatures from Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin is given the name Bitcoin Cash.
 +
In December, the price of Bitcoin reaches $4000 and BTC reaches almost $20,000 per coin giving the Bitcoins exchanged for pizzas in 2010 a value over $200 million.
 +
 
 +
===2018===
 +
 
 +
Bitcoin is again attacked by developers who attempt to limit scaling by enforcing blocksize limits and canonical transaction ordering requirements while simultaneously introducing opcodes that enable illegal activities to be anonymously validated by miners. The attacking developers conduct an organised campaign with exchanges to keep the Bitcoin Cash name and ticker for their airdrop while Bitcoin is given the name Bitcoin Satoshi Vision or BitcoinSV.
 +
 
 +
===2019===
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===2020===
 +
In 2020, Bitcoin SV delivers the Genesis upgrade that reverts many changes to the original protocol, and removed all hard limits inserted by developers. This represents an exchange of power from developers to miners.

Latest revision as of 14:57, 14 February 2020

The following is a list of notable events in the history of Bitcoin.

2008

Satoshi Nakamoto publishes the the Bitcoin white paper on The Cryptography Mailing List at metzdowd.com (Satoshi's posts) describing the Bitcoin protocol.

2009

The Bitcoin network comes into existence on the 3rd of January with the release of the first Bitcoin client, wxBitcoin, and the issuance of the first Bitcoins. Satoshi includes a message in the first block via the coinbase transaction: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".

2010

The first exchange rates for Bitcoin are set by individuals on the bitcointalk forums. In May, Laszlo Hanyecz purchases two pizzas with 10,000 Bitcoin.

2011

2012

BitPay reports having over 1000 merchants accepting Bitcoin under its payment processing service.

2013

2014

“Silk Road”, a goods exchange platform which used Bitcoin for primarily criminal activity, is shut down completely. This is the first example of the Bitcoin public ledger being used in criminal prosecutions.

2015

2016

2017

Developers trying to introduce radical changes fork the Bitcoin network, conducting a social networking attack on investors, miners and exchanges to allow the newly created BTC airdrop to introduce changes that break the legal basis of Bitcoin's ownership traceability through Segregated Witness which removes digital signatures from Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin is given the name Bitcoin Cash. In December, the price of Bitcoin reaches $4000 and BTC reaches almost $20,000 per coin giving the Bitcoins exchanged for pizzas in 2010 a value over $200 million.

2018

Bitcoin is again attacked by developers who attempt to limit scaling by enforcing blocksize limits and canonical transaction ordering requirements while simultaneously introducing opcodes that enable illegal activities to be anonymously validated by miners. The attacking developers conduct an organised campaign with exchanges to keep the Bitcoin Cash name and ticker for their airdrop while Bitcoin is given the name Bitcoin Satoshi Vision or BitcoinSV.

2019

2020

In 2020, Bitcoin SV delivers the Genesis upgrade that reverts many changes to the original protocol, and removed all hard limits inserted by developers. This represents an exchange of power from developers to miners.