Bitcoin Introduction

1. Genesis (2008 - 2009)

November 2008: The mysterious figure Satoshi Nakamoto published the whitepaper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," aiming to create a decentralized digital currency that doesn't rely on any institution.
January 3, 2009: Satoshi mined Bitcoin's first block (genesis block) and received a reward of 50 bitcoins, officially launching the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin whitepaper: https://bitcoin.org/files/bitcoin-paper/bitcoin_zh_cn.pdf

May 2010: The first real-world transaction in Bitcoin history occurred, when a programmer exchanged 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas.
July 2010: The world's first Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, was established, providing a platform for Bitcoin trading.
2011: Bitcoin price reached $1 for the first time, but then began to show its high volatility characteristics, once falling from $30 to under $2.

Bitcoin price soared from about $13 at the beginning of the year to nearly $1,000 at the end of the year, attracting global attention.
In December of the same year, the People's Bank of China and four other departments jointly issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks," explicitly stating that Bitcoin does not have legal status equivalent to currency and cannot be used as currency in market circulation.

February 2014: Mt. Gox, then the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, suffered a hacker attack, losing 850,000 bitcoins and ultimately filed for bankruptcy, dealing a heavy blow to Bitcoin price and market confidence.
September 2017: The People's Bank of China and seven other departments jointly issued the "Announcement on Preventing Financing Risks from Token Issuance," classifying ICO (Initial Coin Offering) as an illegal financing activity.
Despite tightening regulation, driven by the global ICO boom, Bitcoin price reached a new all-time high of nearly $20,000 at the end of 2017.

2018: Bitcoin entered a bear market, with prices falling significantly from their highs.
March 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered turmoil in global financial markets. Bitcoin briefly plummeted to $3,800 but quickly rebounded, breaking through $20,000 by year-end.
2021: Bitcoin entered another bull run, with significant institutional investor participation becoming an important feature. The price touched $64,800 in mid-year and again attacked $69,000 at year-end.

2022: Affected by multiple factors including Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, Bitcoin price entered a downward channel, with an average annual price of about $19,000.
January 2024: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first batch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, providing a more convenient and compliant investment channel for traditional financial market investors, which is a significant positive for Bitcoin.
2025: Bitcoin's highest price has reached $120,000.

Low transaction efficiency
- Limited by block size and block time, the number of transactions processed per second is limited. During network congestion, confirmation times can take several hours.
Cannot support smart contracts.
How to maintain mainnet security decades from now, when block rewards are very small?
- https://x.com/evilcos/status/1967825798800548122