When exactly 12 years ago(January 4, 2009) a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto presented their digital innovations – blockchain technology and their cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the news may have been looked at only by some IT experts, but at that time not even most computer scientists could not explain exactly what it was about and how it worked.
Meanwhile, the digital world has mastered blockchain technology, so at the moment there are several thousands of cryptocurrencies, most of which are directly related to Bitcoin, and tens of millions of people around the world now look at monitors every now and then following the price of cryptocurrencies on the market.
Although the world of cryptocurrencies is still a great mystery for “ordinary mortals”, the impact that digital money has had on the global market is above all expectations, even the most optimistic ones who said ten years ago that cryptocurrencies are the future of the world economy.
During yesterday alone, the total turnover of trade in which Bitcoins were paid amounted to over 80 billion dollars, and only on that basis it is clear that cryptocurrencies are no longer the future, but the very present present of the world economy.
In the beginning, of course, this was not the case because the unknown technology did not immediately gain the trust of potential users of digital money and it was difficult(not much easier now) to explain that transaction security is guaranteed and that a set of data on a computer can be converted into real(paper) money.
What is being bought with Bitcoin today?
In 2009, when BTC was launched, it was not entirely clear how and where it could be spent. Now you can buy practically everything.
For example, large companies such as Microsoft and Del receive Bitcoin payments for a range of their products and digital content.
Bitcoins can be used to pay for airline tickets to about thirty airlines around the world, and tickets for some London theaters can also be paid for.
Other options include paying for hotels and buying property, settling bills at various bars and restaurants, betting at an online casino and making charitable donations.
There are also a variety of online markets that trade in everything from illegal substances to high-end, luxury items.
What critics of cryptocurrencies constantly point out is that the anonymity of transactions is conducive to all types of gray economy, including the payment for goods and services in classic crime.
It is known from the start that 21 million Bitcoins have been prepared globally, of which a little more than 18 million have been “mined” so far, while the remaining 3 million are still waiting for miners around the world to dig them up and assemble them into Bitcoins.
One pizza was worth 10.000 Bitcoins!
The first commercial transaction was recorded in 2010, when a certain Laszlo bought two pizzas in the American pizzeria chain “Papa Yon”, paying for them with 10,000 Bitcoins(which would be worth 400 million dollars today).
Shortly after that, the price of Bitcoin began to rise, so at the beginning of 2011, one Bitcoin was worth 30 American cents, and at the end of that year, it was priced at around 5.5 dollars for Bitcoin, which was considered a real miracle at the time.
At the beginning of 2013, the price started at 13.3 dollars and since then it has grown until September 2017, reaching 4,950. Then, the price fell and fell throughout October 2017. The reason was the cancellation of transactions in China.
After that, the price started to increase again, to reach 20000 dollars in December 2017.
The price continued to rise until December, when a record of almost 20,000 dollars for one Bitcoin was set. After that peak, there was a drastic decline that lasted practically throughout 2019 and in the first few months of 2020.
In that period, the price of Bitcoin fell below $3,500, but the pandemic and the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies with the announcement of their introduction in official cash flows, re-launched the price of Bitcoin, which yesterday exceeded 40 thousand dollars per piece.
The price of Bitcoin was negatively affected by thefts and hacks of cryptocurrency exchange, so during the first six months of 2018, theft of cryptocurrencies worth 761 million dollars was reported, which shook the image of impeccable security of Bitcoin transactions, but these incidents did not significantly slow down development.
As a phenomenon that is still new and not very easy to understand, the division over the use and application of cryptocurrencies is still very present.
On the one hand, critics claim that cryptocurrencies are a scam and that the bubble will one day burst, while on the other hand, some experts who follow this market, a couple of years ago claimed that the price of one Bitcoin will soon be around half a million dollars.
These statements were initially listed in the “conspiracy theories” section, but at the moment they do not seem impossible…
