Bitcoin is the leading cryptocurrency in the world. It is a peer-to-peer currency and transaction system based on a decentralized, consensus-based public ledger called blockchain that records all transactions.
Now, Bitcoin was envisioned in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, but it was the product of many decades of cryptography and blockchain research, not just the work of one person. The utopian dream of cryptographers and free trade advocates was to have a decentralized, borderless, blockchain-based currency. Their dream is now a reality with the increasing popularity of Bitcoin and other altcoins around the world.
Now, the cryptocurrency was first implemented on the consensus-based blockchain in 2009 and was first traded that year. In July 2010, the price of Bitcoin was only 8 cents, and the number of miners and nodes was much less compared to tens of thousands now.
Within a year, the new alt currency rose to $1 and became an interesting prospect for the future. Mining was relatively easy and people made good money doing trades and even paying with them in some cases.
Within six months, the currency doubled again to $2. Although the price of Bitcoin is not stable at a certain price point, it has been showing this pattern of insane growth for some time. At one point in July 2011, the coin went crazy and reached an all-time high of $31, but the market soon realized that it was overvalued compared to the gains made on the spot and corrected it back to $2.
December 2012 saw a solid rally to $13, but the price would soon explode. In the four months to April 2013, the price had risen to a whopping $266. It later corrected back to $100, but this astronomical increase in price raised its fame for the first time and people started discussing the real scenario with Bitcoin.
It was around this time that I became familiar with the new currency. I had my doubts, but the more I read about it, the more it became clear that currency was the future since there was no one to manipulate it or force it. Everything had to be done with complete consensus and that was what made him so strong and free.
So 2013 was the breakout year for the currency. Major companies began to publicly support the adoption of Bitcoin, and blockchain became a popular subject for computer science programs. At the time, many people thought that Bitcoin had served its purpose and would now settle down.
But the currency became even more popular as Bitcoin ATMs were set up around the world and other competitors began to show muscle in different corners of the market. Ethereum developed the first programmable blockchain, and Litecoin and Ripple started as cheaper and faster alternatives to bitcoin.
The magic $1,000 mark was first broken in January 2017, and since then it has already quadrupled by September. This is truly a remarkable achievement for a coin that was worth just 8 cents just seven years ago.
Bitcoin even survived the hard fork on August 1, 2017 and has risen almost 70% since then, while even the Bitcoin Cash fork managed to see some success. This is all due to the appeal of the coin and the stellar blockchain technology behind it.
While traditional economists claim that this is a bubble and the entire crypto world will collapse, this is simply not the case. There is no such bubble as it is a visible fact that it has actually eaten up the stocks of fiat currencies and money transaction corporations.
The future is extremely bright for Bitcoin and it is never too late to invest in it, both in the short and long term.