*Apologies for the corny title*
I will post a more in depth history and explanation of blockchain in later posts. This timeline will have 3 major events for every year (2018 is put in there but only goes to mid February since we are only ~2 months in). This does not mean there aren't other major events. I tried to pick the 3 I feel are most important. I plan on making one with all major events.
Bitcoin is also referred to as BTC
2008
‣ August- Bitcoin.org is registered‣ Bitcoin White Paper is written by Satoshi Nakamoto‣ Bitcoin "project" is registered on SourceForge.net
‣ August- Bitcoin.org is registered‣ Bitcoin White Paper is written by Satoshi Nakamoto‣ Bitcoin "project" is registered on SourceForge.net
2009
‣ The Genesis Block is mined
‣ First Bitcoin transaction occurs between Satoshi and Hal Finney
‣ Exchange rate of USD to BTC is established at $1 = 1,309.03 BTC
2010
‣ First real world transaction, 10,000 BTC is spent on 2 pizzas
‣ An exploit in BTC code is found allowing between 92 billion and 184 billion BTC to be hacked into existence but was fixed after being found
‣ First mobile to mobile bitcoin transaction takes place on Nokia N900
2011
‣ Bitcoin reached parity with the US Dollar, 1 USD for 1 BTC
‣ Bitcoin surges to an all time high (at the time) of $31 per BTC and tanks to an ~$2.28 per BTC following a number of hacks, thefts, and a security breach of an exchange
‣ Satoshi Nakamoto officially leaves Bitcoin when he emailed a fellow developer to say "I've moved on to other things." He has disappeared completely and still remains a mystery to this day.
2012
‣ Coinbase is founded (one of the most popular BTC exchanges for people in the US)
‣ The Bitcoin Foundation is started
‣ Block reward halves for the first time, reducing to 25 BTC from 50 BTC
2013
‣ Bitcoin glitch causes the blockchain to split into 2 independent chains which resulted in a sell off and a 23% fall in price
‣ First Bitcoin ATM launched in San Diego, CA
‣ Bitcoin price surges to an all time high (at the time) of $1,242 per BTC although hacks, bans, and heists brought the coin to ~$500 per BTC
2014
‣ Mt. Gox (largest BTC exchange) files for bankruptcy and shuts down after it claims to have been hacked with a huge sum of 744,000 BTC to have been stolen
‣ TeraExchange, LLC, received approval from the U.S. CFTC to begin listing over-the-counter swap product based on the price of Bitcoin
‣ Microsoft began to accept bitcoin to buy Xbox games and Windows software
2015(relatively quiet year)
‣ New York Stock Exchange becomes an investor in Coinbase’s $75M funding round
‣ Bitstamp hacked and losses 15,000 BTC
‣ Estimated about 160,000 merchants accept Bitcoin
2016
‣ Steam (PC Gaming Platform) starts accepting Bitcoin payment
‣ Block reward halves for the second time, reducing to 12.5 BTC from 25 BTC
‣ Cabinet of Japan recognized bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as having a function similar to real money
2017
‣ Japan recognizes BTC as Legal Tender through the Virtual Currency Act
‣ Bitcoin hardforks after no compromise to fix its scaling solution. Bitcoin splits into Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
‣ Bitcoin surges to an all time (still currently the highest ever) of $19498.63 before crashing to ~$13,800 5 days later
2018
‣ South Korea is attempting to regulate bitcoin traders by requiring them to reveal their identity, which enacts a ban on anonymous trading of bitcoins.
‣ U.S. have Senate Banking Committee met with CFTC chairmand and SEC chairman to discuss potential danger of digital currencies as investments. It was stated by CFTC Chairman Giancarlo "We owe it to this new generation to respect their enthusiasm for virtual currencies, with a thoughtful and balance response, and not a dismissive one"
‣ Circle acquires Poloniex (U.S. based Cryptocurrency Exchange) for $400 million
