Biggest Events in the World of Bitcoin
Bitcoins are the oldest cryptocurrency we know. It has evolved into one of the most secure, fast, and cost-effective methods to send and receive payments online. Bitcoin wallets which we use today come with some great security features. Apart from that, we get a great user interface that helps to make transactions through Bitcoins easily and improve our user experience. According to Statista, there were as many as 299,733 bitcoin transactions taking place daily at the end of the second quarter of 2020. Security features like Two-factor authentication made transactions through Bitcoins much more secure and reliable.
However, the Bitcoin ecosystem was not always secure as it is today. It has been through many cyber-attacks and faced challenging government policies. Over the years, Bitcoins continuously made headlines through impressive events that took place in the world of Bitcoin. Here are 5 Biggest events in the History of Bitcoins.
Creation of Bitcoins
The creation of Bitcoins is the most significant event in the world of Bitcoins. It was created by a person with the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. However, even after having some suspects we still don’t have enough information to identify the real Satoshi Nakamoto. That being said, the identity of the creator of Bitcoin is still unknown. Bitcoins were created as a reward for people who performed Bitcoin mining on the internet.
First Transaction through Bitcoins
Thousands of Bitcoin transactions are made on the internet daily. However, the receiver of the first-ever Bitcoin transaction was Hal Finney, one of the earliest supporters of Bitcoins. It was a payment of 10 Bitcoins from Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Most Expensive Pizza
The purchase of the most expensive Pizza was made in 2010 by one of the early Bitcoin miners, Laszlo Hanyecz. The transaction was made for 10000 Bitcoins for two pizzas. The present value of 10,000 is as more than $100 million. The usefulness of Bitcoins was very low at the time of purchase of these two pizzas. Hence, it was still a great deal at the time to buy pizzas from some unknown computer code.
BitPay Started in 2011
BitPay is one of the most popular companies in the world of Bitcoins. Founded by Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair, BitPay launched its Bitcoin wallets in 2011. It started as a payment gateway and made many developments in the world of Bitcoins. BitPay also partnered with many companies like WordPress and Newegg to sign one of Bitcoin’s largest partnerships. It instantly became popular because of its simple user interface, multi-language support, integration with many big companies, and impressive security features.
The Collapse of Mt.Gox
Mt.Gox was the largest and most popular Bitcoin exchange until the year 2014. It handled 80% of all the Bitcoin transactions in the world. The reason for its collapse is one of the biggest Bitcoin thefts in history. The owner reported that as many as 7,44,000 Bitcoins were stolen by hackers in a cyber attack. It was 7% of all the Bitcoins available in the market. It created a major setback for investors in the Bitcoin market. It also reduced the value of Bitcoins by 36% and affected the Bitcoin market adversely.
Microsoft Started Accepting Bitcoins
Microsoft is one of the largest firms in the world. However, Microsoft is also one of the earliest adopters of Bitcoins in the world. It started accepting Bitcoin as a mode of payment in the year 2014. This partnership was made in association with BitPay which facilitated all the transactions made through Bitcoins to Microsoft.
The increasing popularity of Bitcoins
Bitcoins witnessed an increase in popularity among the general public from the year 2015 to 2017. Some major events took place between this timeline. It helped increase the confidence of Bitcoin users in the market and proved that Bitcoins are here to stay. In the year 2015, the number of merchants who accepted Bitcoins as a mode of payments reached 1,00,000. Another significant achievement in the world of Bitcoin was when the government of Japan started recognizing Bitcoins as similar to fiat currency. Apart from that, the value of Bitcoin also rose to the highest in the year 2017. It was the year when on the 17th December a Bitcoin cost as much as $19,783.
Regulations from different countries and companies
We know Bitcoins as a form of currency that is not regulated by any third-party organization. However, how people can use Bitcoins depends upon the legal scenario of the country concerning Bitcoins. In the year 2018, South Korea brought a regulation that made it compulsory for Bitcoin users to reveal their identity while making transactions through Bitcoins.
Another setback for Bitcoins occurred when Stripe, an online payment firm removed Bitcoins from its list of accepted payments. The primary reason given by the company was the lack of demand and rising fees. Apart from this, many countries like China and Bangladesh banned Bitcoins due to its decentralized nature.
The Number of Bitcoin ATMs Increased
Even though many countries banned Bitcoins partially or completely, Bitcoin’s infrastructure continued to develop. Many Bitcoin ATMs were built across the world. Bitcoin ATMs were a machine that allowed users to purchase Bitcoins through their credit cards. This purchased Bitcoins much more convenient. The USA, UK, and Australia were the countries with the highest number of Bitcoin ATMs.
The Takeaway
Bitcoins are one of the most widely used cryptocurrencies in the world with thousands of daily transactions. We can pay through Bitcoins directly or indirectly in many online and offline stores. Many popular brands like Wikipedia and WordPress are now accepting Bitcoin payments. Bitcoin have their share of struggle to emerge as the most popular cryptocurrency. It has been through a series of positive and negative events that created headlines. Some of these events created a big disruption in the Bitcoin market while others increased the confidence of investors and merchants using Bitcoins. A popular company like BitPay played a big role in developing Bitcoin infrastructure by creating a payment getaway that can enable customers to pay through Bitcoins. Early adopters like Microsoft also helped to increase the confidence of people in the Bitcoin market.
