🟠Origins of Cypherpunk
In 1993, Eric Hughes published the (Cypherpunk Manifesto), advocating for the defense of personal privacy and resistance to systemic surveillance using cryptographic technology.
🟠Early Experiments
In the 1990s, concepts of electronic currencies such as DigiCash and B-money emerged, but they failed to sustain due to reliance on centralized architecture.
🟠The Birth of Bitcoin
On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released the (Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System) white paper, laying the foundation for decentralized digital currency.
🟠Genesis Block
On January 3, 2009, the Bitcoin network was officially launched, with the first block embedding the title 'Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks', a metaphor for the plight of the traditional financial system.
🟠First Physical Transaction
On May 22, 2010, programmer Hanyecz used 10,000 Bitcoins to buy two pizzas, forming the first recognized exchange rate: 1 Bitcoin is approximately equal to $0.004.
🟠Dark Web Catalyst
From 2011 to 2013, platforms like Silk Road used Bitcoin for anonymous transactions, promoting its early circulation and triggering regulatory and technological upgrades.
🟠Era of Smart Contracts
In 2014, Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum and introduced programmable smart contracts, expanding the application scenarios of blockchain.
🟠ICO Frenzy
In 2017, the Ethereum ERC-20 standard simplified the token issuance process, sparking the first token issuance bubble, with thousands of projects raising over $20 billion.
🟠Bull Market Peak
In 2017, Bitcoin's price approached $19,000, and its total market value surpassed $300 billion, making the 'Blockchain Revolution' a global focus.
🟠Regulatory Tightening
In 2018, multiple countries rectified the chaos of ICOs, with the market falling over 80%, entering an adjustment period.
🟠Institutional Acceptance
Starting from 2020, publicly listed companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla incorporated Bitcoin into their asset allocation, promoting the process of compliance.
🟠Ecosystem Explosion
In 2021, Bitcoin broke through $68,000, and the total market value of cryptocurrencies exceeded $3 trillion, with innovative applications like DeFi and NFTs thriving.
🟠Crisis and Cycle
In 2022, events such as the LUNA crash and the FTX bankruptcy occurred one after another, Bitcoin fell to $16,000, and the market entered a winter phase, starting the next cycle.
🧩
Cryptocurrency is a product of the intertwining of cryptographic idealism and financial speculation frenzy.
It attempts to solve the core pain points of traditional finance: the cost of centralized trust, barriers to cross-border payments, and currency overissuance and depreciation.
But over more than a decade of development, the ideal of decentralization has continually compromised with reality: Bitcoin has transformed from 'peer-to-peer electronic cash' to 'digital gold'; Ethereum has shifted back to proof of stake for scalability; exchanges have become the new centers in practice.
More importantly, the human nature of finance has never changed: leverage, speculation, Ponzi schemes, regulatory arbitrage, are replayed in the cryptocurrency market in more extreme forms.
