On January 3, 2009, just a few months after the original Bitcoin whitepaper publishes, the code for the Bitcoin blockchain writes.
The “genesis block” credits Satoshi Nakamoto, the well-known but mysterious Bitcoin developer. To avoid going via a financial institution, Nakamoto designed Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash trade.
The new financial culture emerged the moment Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney on January 12, 2009. But during this infancy period of Bitcoin, its value was still insignificant and it is not yet attractive.
Previously, users exchanged bitcoins as a token of appreciation for the positive comments they received and provided in forums. On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins, which was equivalent to $30 at the time. Now, 10,000 bitcoins would be worth around $38 million.
With the current value of bitcoin, Laszlo Hanyecz would be able to afford two pizza restaurants.
Groups
Since Bitcoin launches, its users divide into three groups: original investors who strongly believe in Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency; blockchain technology enthusiasts; and risk-takers who simply want to make money. But recently, another group of users joined the Bitcoin system, which views as an old-fashioned, conformist financier.
Bitcoin’s value increased by over 1,000% in 2017. This explains why professionals are interested in cryptocurrencies. In December 2017, Bitcoin hit $20,000 USD. Currently, venture capital firms, hedge funds, mainstream investors, and secretive bitcoin “whales” trade cryptocurrency.
Hence, investors can trade cryptocurrencies like stocks, bringing them closer to the system that will replace by ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds).
The sudden popularity of Bitcoin beyond the financial community is not without cost. At this time, a lot of people are mining bitcoin. Which doubles the price of the powerful chips utilized by scientists. Unfortunately, this makes astronomers’ jobs more difficult, among other things.
Climate hawks are also getting nervous as bitcoin users need to be more cautious about the number of emissions produced when they consume a lot of energy in order to successfully mine bitcoins.
