Bitcoin emerged as a response to the 2008 financial crisis, when trust in traditional banking systems plummeted. In October, a mysterious developer under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper describing the concept of a decentralized digital currency with a limited supply of 21 million coins. Unlike traditional financial systems, this technology allowed transactions to be conducted without intermediaries, such as banks. At the heart of Bitcoin is the blockchain, a distributed ledger maintained by a network of users and miners.
On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block of Bitcoin, also known as Block 0. It was the very first transaction, marking the beginning of the blockchain’s operation. The block reward was 50 BTC, but they remain unspent to this day.
In this block, Nakamoto embedded a strong political message reflecting the motivation for creating the Bitcoin network as an alternative to centralized financial systems. It was a headline from the British newspaper The Times: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”.
After surpassing the $100,000 mark in 2024, expert predictions range from $75,000 to $250,000, although some even suggest $1 million. Key factors include institutional adoption, regulatory policy changes, and macroeconomic trends: