Bitcoin is the best-performing asset of the past decade but this was not always the case. It wasn’t until two years after its inception that it reached $1.
All in all, Bitcoin has had a volatile trading history. Starting from a niche community of cypher funks to a world-renowned digital currency with millions of users. In this article, I will be covering its trading origin story. So without further ado, let’s jump right in.
TL;DR:
Bitcoin started trading in January 2009. This was done peer-to-peer without the mediation of third-party services. It wasn’t until February 2010 that the first cryptocurrency exchanges launched. These services laid the foundation for Bitcoin trading by matching buyers and sellers.
When did Bitcoin start trading?
The first known trade was between the founder of Bitcoin known as Satoshi and one of the core developers Hal Finney. This occurred on January 12, 2009.
At this time the only way to obtain Bitcoin was either peer-to-peer trading or via mining. Early users primarily used forums such as Bitcointalk to set up and plan trades in the early days.
When was the first Bitcoin exchange launched?
The first exchange launched in February 2010 was named Bitcoin market. It was created by a Bitcointalk forum member known as dwdollar and was the first peer-to-peer marketplace for Bitcoin. With this marketplace came new payment integrations such as Paypal.
Essentially, the marketplace would link buyers and sellers. When the trade was conducted the exchange would hold the seller’s Bitcoin in escrow until they received the money.
That being said, the first major cryptocurrency exchange launched on July 18 2010 in the form of Mt. Gox. By 2014 it handled over 67% of Bitcoin trading volume.
Sadly, this exchange fell victim to hacking and shut down in 2014. Overall, 850,000 BTC was stolen over a few years, This accounted for approximately 7% of the Bitcoins supply.
When was the first real-world transaction?
The first transaction for physical goods took place on May 22, 2010, when Laszlo Hanycez purchased two Pizzas from Papa John’s for 10,000 Bitcoin.
At the time these two pizzas cost just $40 whereas if he had kept his Bitcoin they would be valued at over $170 million. As a result, this famous event has been marked by cryptocurrency enthusiasts as Bitcoin pizza day.
What price did Bitcoin start at?
The Bitcoin price started at $0. Instead, the pyseudo anonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin while it was absent from the open market.
Early adopters were rewarded with Bitcoin by validating the network using specialized computers known as miners. This was before any trading occurred. All in all, Satoshi mined over 1 million Bitcoin in its early days.
If you want to view this article in a more visual format then please check out my video below:
FAQ
When did Bitcoin reach $1?
Bitcoin reached $1 on February 11th, 2011. At this point it was at parity with the US dollar however this would not last long as later that year increase by over 500% to reach $5.
What was Bitcoin’s lowest price?
The cheapest price of Bitcoin recorded was $0.09 when trading launched in July 2010.
How much would I have if I invested $100 in 2010?
If you invested $100 when Bitcoin was around 9 cents in September 2010 you would have over 10000 Bitcoins. This would be worth over $17 million.
Conclusion
As you can see, Bitcoin trading started as an underground community and was planned in forums. It was not until a couple of years after it launched that infrastructure started to develop with the launch of cryptocurrency exchanges such as Mt. Gox.
Now it has developed into a behemoth and is being traded by millions of people across the world and in my opinion, this is not going to slow down. I hope you found this article useful and thanks for reading it.
Want to learn about Bitcoin transaction fees? Click here to read my previous article.
