History of BTC: 5000 days and counting

Although there are thousands of different digital currencies in circulation, one still remains synonymous with the industry. That is Bitcoin (BTC). Even those who do not know much about cryptocurrencies have still heard of Bitcoin, and everyone has an opinion on its future. It has been 5000 days since the launch of Bitcoin. As such we have compiled a brief re-telling of Bitcoin’s 5000 day history to commemorate this milestone.

In The Beginning: January 2009 - February 2015

At the beginning of 2009, a widely adopted digital currency was still only a theory. But a decentralised currency was not a new idea, there were several digital currencies that rose and fell before Bitcoins genesis block was mined on the 3rd of January 2009. In hindsight, it might feel as though Bitcoin made a splash immediately and rose to its current levels of fame relatively quickly. But this was not the case. The creator, or creators, of Bitcoin went by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The name Satoshi Nakamoto was on the BTC whitepaper, and they were also the one to mine the first ever Bitcoin Block. However, the identity of Nakamoto is still unknown. And by the end of Bitcoin’s first year it’s AUD exchange rate was $0.0010 per Bitcoin.

2010 continued to be an interesting year for BTC. The first official cryptocurrency exchange was created in March of that year, at the time Bitcoin was worth only $0.04 AUD. This was also the year the notorious pizza purchase occurred, where an early adopter spent almost 10,000 Bitcoins on two pizzas via an exchange on a BTC forum. At the time of his pizza purchase Bitcoin was sitting at $0.0012 AUD. It did not get less interesting from there, in 2011 Bitcoin hit its first major milestone, hitting $1.42 AUD in February. There is no good news without bad news however, and only a few months later the founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, vanished. His social media went dark and his name was removed from official documents. Still to this day, it is unknown who they were or where they went.

The bad news seemed to continue for BTC in 2011, with articles regarding the now infamous dark web platform ‘the silk road’ began to go viral. On said platform, you could use digital currencies to purchase almost anything, legal or not. This resulted in a skyrocketing of BTC’s price, even if it was for all the wrong reasons. Going from $14.65 AUD per coin to almost $45 AUD. This did not last long however, BTC quickly went back down to single digit prices only weeks later.

Little over a year later in 2012, BTC seemed to start its slow rise, this was also the year where the first few companies began to accept Bitcoin as a payment method. On the 1st of April 2013, a second major milestone was hit, Bitcoin surpassed $145 AUD per coin. Following this milestone ‘the silk road’ was taken down by the FBI, and Bitcoin lost its status as a currency in the United States. Instead the United States IRS (Internal Revenue Service) began to treat it as a commodity, making it subject to CGT. But there was some good news, by the time 2015 came around thousands of retailers from across the globe accepted Bitcoin as payment. This showed the public that BTC did have applications as a real functioning currency.

A Mid Life Crisis: November 2016 to June 21st 2019

By the time 2016 came around, Bitcoin was becoming more established. Although it could not be labelled mainstream yet, it was becoming more of a household name. This continued in November of 2016, when Donald J Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United states. This resulted in a 5% spike in the BTC price, and eventually BTC broke the $1,000 dollar barrier for the first time ever in December of 2016.

This was not all, 2017 was categorised by a large rise in Bitcoin’s price. Prices went from $1,400 in March, to $3,500 in June of that same year. The smooth sailing did not continue however, with the first major hard fork occurring for Bitcoin. The fork resulted in Bitcoin Cash. The reasoning for this fork largely came down to disagreement between developers, and the continued slowing of the Bitcoin Blockchain due to drastically increased traffic. If you thought this would affect Bitcoin’s price though you would be wrong. By December 2017, Bitcoin was sitting pretty at $22,000 AUD. December was a busy month for the crypto industry, with the first ever DeFi protocol getting into the hands of the public, this particular protocol was called MarkerDAO.

The good times couldn't last forever, and in September 2018 news outlets began to spread the word of the ‘Great Crypto Crash’. This flood of bad news regarding the crypto industry affected investor confidence, and as a result, Bitcoin crashed back down to earth, hitting $8,800 AUD. In 2019, not a great deal changed. It was Bitcoin’s 10th birthday, and it bounced up and down in price. In January it was worth almost $5,000 AUD, and by June it was back to $15,000 AUD. It was forecast that 2020 had much of the same instore for BTC, but predicting the future can be a challenge, as I'm sure no-one predicted the impact COVID-19 would have on the globe.

Don't Call it a Comeback: March 2020 - December 2021

For all of us, March 2020 was the start of a long two years. Markets around the world took a hit, and as a result BTC fell during March, and this was just a taste of things to come. It was a year of contradictions, although Bitcoin fell victim to the COVID market panic, it was also the year the third Bitcoin halving was to occur, and when it did on the 11th of May 2020, support rose again. In July BTC broke the $15,000 barrier again. The good news continued, despite everything, and in October PayPal announced they would accept Bitcoin which continued to raise consumer confidence.

The good news rolled on for the remainder of the year, with BTC hitting a new all time high on New Year's Day 2021, sitting at almost $40,000 AUD. Despite the fact COVID began to sweep across the globe in earnest, 2021 was a historic year for Bitcoin and will no doubt be remembered as such. The first sign of things to come was an immediate 11% rise in the Bitcoin price following Elon Musk’s twitter updates, leading to BTC hitting another insane milestone. On the 16th of February 2021 Bitcoin was sitting at almost $70,000 AUD. In less than a few months it had gained over $30,000 AUD, and that's not the end for 2021. In April a number of major American crypto exchanges went public, and Bitcoin continued to sharply rise. In June El Salvador laid out plans to make Bitcoin legal tender in an effort to stabilise their increasingly unstable national currency. As a result of this news Bitcoin hit another all time high, $82,000. An incredibly impressive number.

The rest of 2021 resulted in a few ups and downs for Bitcoin, in line with the ever changing global situation. Bitcoin crashed when Tesla stated they would not accept BTC for their vehicles due to environmental concerns, and then the Chinese Government cracked down on Bitcoin miners, lowering the coin's price even further. Following this in September of 2021, El Salvador announced Bitcoin will now be legal tender in the nation, helping to boost the coin. Up and down went the price, until October. October and early November 2021 were historic months for Bitcoin, jumping almost 60% in price. At its highest point Bitcoin was worth $94,906 AUD. A staggering achievement. Bitcoin has not managed to reach this price since. From that point on the pinch from COVID was really felt across global markets. The stock market started its slow fall, and inflation began to affect retail investors. As a result, money stopped being spent in most sectors. By the end of 2021 the forecast was not looking positive. As a result no one really knew what 2022 would hold for the King of Crypto.

Long Live the King: January 2022 - July 20th 2022

By the time the first days of 2022 came around, Bitcoin had plummeted by almost 40%. This was due to a number of factors, COVID fears being the main one. However domestic chaos in the central asian countries, mainly Kazakhstan which was now one of the globe's main mining hubs, also contributed to this. By the end of 2022’s first month, Bitcoin was sitting at $62,000 AUD. The bad news continued, news which seems to have defined 2022, with rising tensions in Eastern Europe between Ukraine and Russia. The geopolitical ramifications sent echoes through the global economy. These effects compounded on themselves once Russia invaded in earnest on the 24th of February 2022. Bitcoin continued to slump, hitting $42,000 in May and ending at $30,000 in June. Just as October and November 2021 were historic times for Bitcoin, June of 2022 was also historic but for all the wrong reasons. June of 2022 was the worst month for Bitcoin since it began trading on exchanges almost 12 years ago.

But it was not all grey skies. July brought small gains to Bitcoin for the first time in a while resulting in a 4.3% gain. And this brings us to the present. It is currently September 2022 and some things have changed, while some things have stayed the same. The Ukraine-Russia conflict continues to rage, but does not seem to be destroying the global economy as it once was. COVID also continues to exist, but it is no longer seen as the society destroying virus it once was. And Bitcoin persists. The king of crypto continues despite it all. It has been 5000 days since Bitcoin was created, and in those 5000 days Bitcoin has completely transformed the way we as a society think of currency. It has risen, and it has fallen. But no matter what, it has persisted and continued to be the number one cryptocurrency. From an obscure niche, to a household term. Bitcoin was, and continues to be, the king of crypto.