Bitcoin: The world’s first cryptocurrency

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The history of Bitcoin is full of mysteries and to this day, no one knows for sure who created this cryptocurrency, considered the first to be mined in the world.The history of Bitcoin ( BTC ) is full of mysteries. The world’s first cryptocurrency was launched 13 years ago, but to this day no one knows the true identity of the person – or people – behind the project. There are suspicions, but none capable of unraveling the enigma.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer (peer-to-peer) form of electronic money that can be transferred without the intermediary of financial institutions. In practice, this means that two individuals, even if they live in different countries, can send BTC to each other without needing a bank or an international remittance company.

 

Transactions are confirmed on the blockchain , a massive database that records all user trades. This technology was born together with Bitcoin, and it works in such a way that the participants themselves are the network’s auditors. As there is no third party involved, sending Bitcoin from one country to another is often cheaper and faster than transferring fiat currencies.

 

BTC is digital, decentralized and not controlled by governments, companies or people. Therefore, no Mint needs to print it and no Central Bank has the power to control its price. Its value mainly depends on the law of supply and demand.

When did Bitcoin emerge

Bitcoin came into existence on October 31, 2008 . On that day, the creator (or creators) of the cryptocurrency, who hides under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto , sent an email to a list of people interested in cryptocurrencies. In the body of the message, he wrote that he had been working “on a new fully peer-to-peer electronic cash system with no trusted third parties.”

 

He also inserted a link to the white paper (manual) of the cryptocurrency, in English. In the nine-page document, Nakamoto briefly described the fundamentals of Bitcoin, based on four main points:

 

It is a peer-to-peer network to avoid double spending (possibility to send the same coins more than once); no intermediaries such as banks; allows the anonymity of the participants; and uses Proof of Work (a type of algorithm) to generate Bitcoin (a process that earned the name mining) and prevent such double spending.

 

In the manual, Nakamoto also stipulated that BTC has finite supply. In total, only 21 million units can be mined (crafted) by 2140, which makes it scarce. By the end of October 2021, according to the aggregator Coingecko, 18.8 million Bitcoins had already been issued.

 

Although Bitcoin was launched at the end of 2008, the first block (name of the file with information about transactions) of the cryptocurrency blockchain was only mined on January 3, 2009. In the block, called Genesis, Nakamoto wrote the message encrypted “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”.

Who created Bitcoin?

The creator of Bitcoin hides behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Who he is, however, remains a mystery. Some people have gone public claiming to be the character, but no one has actually been able to prove anything. What is known so far comes from traces of his online life. In November 2009, for example, he launched BitcoinTalk – a cryptocurrency discussion forum. Nakamoto was very active in the space and, over the course of almost a year, posted around 600 messages. None, however, gives concrete clues about his true identity.

 

His last move on the forum was on December 12, 2010. In the post, he gave some pointers on network security. After that, he didn’t post anything else on BitcoinTalk. That same year, he also passed the Bitcoin code repository to Gavin Andresen, a software developer who was involved in the cryptocurrency project.

 

In late April 2011, in what was his last ‘online appearance’, he sent a farewell email to his closest developers. In the message, Nakamoto “passed the buck” of Bitcoin to other developers: “I moved on to other things. This (Bitcoin project) is in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”

 

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