From its humble beginning in 2008 to its price high in 2017, Bitcoin has taken the globe by storm. In barely over a decade, it has risen to greater heights and plummeted. Bitcoin made history!
Within investment vehicles, Bitcoin has been one of the most volatile. In 2010, the price of a bitcoin Bitcoin rose from a relative pittance to $0.08. Since then, it’s had many rallies and crashes. Some have likened Bitcoin (and its price fluctuations) to the 1990s Beanie Baby craze. In contrast, others have compared it to the 17th century Dutch Tulipmania.
Bitcoin’s price fluctuations reflect investor excitement and disappointment. 1 While Bitcoin has yet to acquire broad acceptance as a commodity, and it has gained popularity as a value store and inflation hedge. After the 2008 financial collapse, Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creator, created it for everyday transactions and bypassed established banking infrastructure.
The Rise of Bitcoin!
By October 2008, amid the height of the crisis, Satoshi Nakamoto, an unknown entity, introduced the world to Bitcoin.
Nakamoto posted a Bitcoin P2P E-cash paper to a cryptographic email group. There was a hyperlink to Bitcoin: The Peer-to-Peer Digital Money System in it.
Nakamoto proposed decentralized digital money in these publications. Decentralization eliminates a central administrator and creates a public ledger of transactions that anyone may access.
The Blockchain was created in January 2009, thus the name. A week later, it made its first transaction. “It was once only available to Bitcoin miners.”
Since Bitcoin had little financial valuation, miners would trade bitcoins for fun.
The initial real-world Bitcoin price was $4 per penny as a result of that transaction. The price of bitcoin was first set arbitrarily.
However, by 2011, miners and developers began building alternative networks like Ethereum and Litecoin and improving the code underpinning Bitcoin’s BlockchainBlockchain.
This broader range of uses drew more users, contributing to Bitcoin’s perceived value.
Trading and storing Bitcoin got simpler once exchanges enabled it in 2010. These exchanges might help price bitcoin versus the dollar.
The History of Bitcoin Price
Bitcoin’s history has been one of rapid growth interspersed by sharp price drops.
BTC’s price reached $1 in February 2011. “Its pricing was around $2 for the first several years as it grew. When it peaked at about $31 in June 2011, it fell back to single digits.”
By April 2013, Bitcoin hit $200 nearly two years later. In November 2017, it jumped tenfold to $10,000! It was valued at over $1,000 by November of the same year.
In mid-December 2017, Bitcoin reached a peak price of around $19,650, with other exchanges having higher peaks. Then it plummeted throughout the years.
Initial currency offerings, or ICOs, fueled the 2017–2018 bubble.
“The trade for Bitcoin has matured as a result of many developments, and critical institutional-grade participants are implementing the required procedures to develop a stable and viable marketplace for trading and investment.
In addition, the 2020 worldwide pandemic has boosted the digital currency value.
Today’s Bitcoin
Bitcoin is now valued at around $20,000. It’s a big cry from its All Time High $60,000.
“Nobody wonders who Satoshi Nakamoto was/is. It’s a topic for discussion, speculation, and maybe even conspiracy theories.
Others say it’s a “secret door project” that, when it grows big enough, a malicious party that has been waiting patiently for over a decade would suddenly grab control of.
Beyond its price history, Bitcoin testifies to two closed views: that money is a commodity like any other, and a market process may create that money.
Even though Bitcoin is still maturing as a measure of wealth and a unit of account, “money isn’t money unless it’s accepted as a tax payment.