Bitcoin began with a white paper and has been running for more than a decade. Along the way, there have been many milestones worth remembering: the first block, the first transaction, the first time Bitcoin was used to buy something, and several important protocol upgrades.
The network of $BTC launched in January 2009 and has been running for more than a decade. Current price: 81,688.01 (24h -1.84%).
▍From White Paper to Genesis Block
On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper (Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System), proposing an electronic cash system that did not rely on a central authority.
On January 3, 2009, the Bitcoin genesis block was created, embedding a front-page headline from that day’s Times. On January 12 of the same year, Block 170 recorded the first person-to-person Bitcoin transaction: Satoshi Nakamoto sent Hal Finney 10 bitcoins.
▍From Pizza to Forks
On May 22, 2010, a programmer traded 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas—an early example of Bitcoin being used to buy something in the real world. The day later became known as “Bitcoin Pizza Day.”
In 2017, the community became sharply divided over how to scale Bitcoin. On August 1, Bitcoin underwent a hard fork, creating Bitcoin Cash (BCH). On August 24, Segregated Witness (SegWit) activated at block height 481824.
▍A Few Major Upgrades
SegWit separated signature data from the transaction body, replaced the original block-size limit with “block weight,” and fixed the transaction malleability issue. It also paved the way for Layer 2 solutions such as the Lightning Network.
On November 14, 2021, the Taproot upgrade activated at block height 709632. It introduced Schnorr signatures, making transactions such as multisig transactions look more like ordinary transfers on-chain while also taking up less space.
▍Reaching More People
In early 2023, the Ordinals protocol made it possible to inscribe data such as images and text into Bitcoin transactions, and BRC-20 tokens followed. In January 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first spot Bitcoin ETFs. On April 20 of the same year (UTC), Bitcoin completed its fourth halving at block height 840000.
▍In Closing
Looking back at these milestones, it’s clear that every major change to Bitcoin takes broad acceptance from developers, miners, and node operators to put into practice—no single group can decide on its own. Only invest what you can afford, and leave yourself room to maneuver.
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