On January 3, 2009, a person or group of people using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto launched the main Bitcoin network. On this day, the so-called genesis block was mined, for which a reward of 50 $BTC was received. In the hash of this block, Nakamoto placed the headline of an article from the British newspaper The Times — "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks," which many consider a hint at the problems of the traditional financial system at that time.
Even before the network launch, on October 31, 2008, Satoshi published the Bitcoin white paper—a document outlining the principles of a new decentralized payment system. The first transaction in the Bitcoin network took place on January 12, 2009: Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to programmer Hal Finney. A few days before this, on January 9, the first version of the software—Bitcoin 0.1—was released.
The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, as well as his true motives for creating Bitcoin, remain unknown to this day. This mystery continues to spark interest and debate both within the cryptocurrency community and beyond.
One of the possible reasons for the emergence of Bitcoin is considered to be the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. During that period, the bankruptcy of the largest investment banks occurred, there was a sharp decline in production volumes, a drop in demand and prices for raw materials, a rise in unemployment, as well as large-scale government intervention in the economy and the banking system.
Over time, Bitcoin has become the largest cryptocurrency in the world. In October 2025, it updated its historical maximum, reaching $126,080. At the time of writing, Bitcoin, often referred to as 'digital gold', is trading around $90,000, and its market capitalization is about $1.8 trillion.
