The technology has brought us products and services that we never thought that we’d have. One of the inventions that stands out in the crowd is the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, most of our everyday obligations can be completed from the comfort of our home or on-the-go. Shopping, paying the bills, booking a hotel or a flight are just a fraction of the things that we can do effortlessly. Social media has enabled us to keep in touch with our friends and family every day, as well.
While all of these features are cool, there is one thing that dwarfs them and it goes by the name of Bitcoin. Although most of us are familiar with what Bitcoin is, we wanted to take a closer look at it and explain its history and how it rose to power. Let’s start.
Inception
Bitcoin is a highly decentralized cryptocurrency that was founded in 2008. Its founder’s identity is still unknown, but he/she goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. What we do know is that the first successful transaction was made on January 12, 2009, when Hal Finney purchased 10 Bitcoins from Satoshi.
After mining a million Bitcoins and disappearing in 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto handed the responsibility to Gavin Andresen who became the lead developer at Bitcoin Foundation. After several proofs of transactions, Bitcoin was primarily used on the black market. The first valuation of Bitcoin was in 2011 when it started at $0.3 per 1 Bitcoin.
Peak
After becoming very popular on the black market, the price for 1 Bitcoin started rising in 2013 and 2014. The reason why so many people were fond of the idea of using Bitcoin is that this cryptocurrency cuts out the middleman and in doing so, a lot of people skip the added and/or hidden fees, thus saving some money in the process.
Numerous websites apart from the official Bitcoin site started appearing and they started tracking the latest news and updates on the cryptocurrency. While many of them had the wrong data, one site managed to stand out due to its efficiency and accurate data. The Bitcoin Era App site was praised by many users who were looking for extra information on the cryptocurrency.
As time went on, some banks around the world made trading with Bitcoin legal, but the majority was against it. The reason is that, as we mentioned before, Bitcoin goes around the banks (middlemen) and disables them from making a profit out of the fees. Even though it was illegal in many parts of the world, that didn’t stop the people from trading with it.
2017 was the year when Bitcoin took over the world. After having a few successful years, the price for 1 Bitcoin started rising extremely fast, which is why millions of people started mining them and trading them for money. In December 2017, Bitcoin had the biggest boom since its inception and its price went higher than $19,000. But, good things do not last long and after servers were flooded with transactions, its price plunged within 2 days.
Current State
Even though Bitcoin plunged and spent a year getting back on track, it finally reached a stable state in 2019. As we entered 2020, the price of 1 Bitcoin is around $9,000. Several indicators that the price might go up again have appeared lately. First off, Bitcoin is the most stable cryptocurrency at the moment. Next up, its volatility is at the lowest in the past 2 years. History has taught us that just before spiking, Bitcoin’s volatility has always been at a low. The Hash Rate, which measures the computing power of the cryptocurrency, is also stable.
This may be the perfect time to invest in the cryptocurrency, but make sure you do good research before making any further steps.
Why People Like Bitcoin
As we mentioned before, Bitcoin is highly decentralized and self-sustainable and lets people escape hidden fees with every transaction. Thanks to the digital wallet, users can have a certain anonymity, and most importantly, this is a digital currency which means that is fully optimized for online use and it’s far more effective and efficient than any other payment method. International transactions are easier, lower general fees are applied, and it has great liquidity.
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