The calendar of digital financial history has January 10th marked in indelible ink, connecting two seemingly opposite but intrinsically linked eras.
What began in 2009 as a cryptographic experiment, in the solitude of a personal computer, was transformed —exactly 15 years later— into a financial asset recognized by the highest regulatory authority in the United States.
This date—January 10—represents the convergence between the technical vision of the pioneers and the validation of the traditional market. While the industry celebrates the maturity achieved after the approval of exchange-traded fundsIt is impossible to ignore the temporal symmetry with the exact moment when the network became operational outside the environment of its anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
This temporal coincidence serves today as a reminder of the resilience of a protocol that managed to scale from a home software execution to becoming the center of attention on Wall Street.
Buy Bitcoin today and celebrate with Bit2MeHal Finney's digital legacy in the Bitcoin ecosystem
The American engineer Hal Finney He starred in one of the most emblematic and humble moments of modern technology, when he used his Twitter account, now known as X, to publish a brief but momentous message on January 10, 2009.
Under the text “Running bitcoin”Finney announced to the world that he had succeeded successfully run the software which Satoshi Nakamoto had provided directly. This act made him the second person to operate a node on the network and the first external validator who believed in the viability of the protocol when it was barely an idea written in code.
But Finney's involvement with Bitcoin went far beyond simple software testing, as he actively worked on bug detection and maintained constant communication with Nakamoto to refine the network during its early days. This technical collaboration culminated in another historic milestone, as Finney was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction which was carried out between two parties, demonstrating that the digital currency could be transferred effectively.
Although the developer passed away in 2014 due to complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), his enthusiasm and technical dedication laid the foundation for what is now a global industry. The community... recognizes not only as a pioneer, but as the first bitcoiner in history, whose passion helped sustain the network when its monetary value was nonexistent and its future completely uncertain.
Buy BTC on a historic day like todayBitcoin's arrival on Wall Street and its regulatory validation
Fifteen years after that solitary tweet from Finney, the narrative shifted its setting to the offices of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
On January 10, 2024, the regulatory body issued the authorization that allowed the Listing and trading of exchange-traded funds for cashThis marks a decisive step towards institutional adoption. The decision came after a divided vote, but was sufficient to give the green light to globally renowned asset managers who had been waiting for a positive response for months, even years. The measure allowed investment vehicles such as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust would become ETFs and new Bitcoin-based products would enter the market to compete for corporate capital.
Among the approved applications were heavyweight names in traditional finance such as BlackRock with its iShares Bitcoin Trust, Fidelity with its Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund y franklin templeton.
The proposals also received authorization from Bitwise, hashdex, Valkyrie, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, vaneck y WisdomTreeThe market response was immediate and decisive, as the next day, January 11, the markets opened with unprecedented strength, leading Bitcoin to break trading volume records in its debut as a stock market product.
To date, funds like BlackRock's IBIT have positioned themselves among the fastest-growing ETFs in the history of financial markets, demonstrating the voracious appetite of institutional investors for exposure to the digital asset within a regulated framework.
Source: Prepared by the author using data from SoSo Value
The Bitcoin journey: a legacy of evolution and legitimacy
From that experiment spearheaded by Hal Finney to the billions of dollars now being traded in ETFs, Bitcoin's history reflects an evolution marked by resilience and unwavering confidence in its value. What began as a visionary project within the crypto community has become a cornerstone of global finance, present in the portfolios of small investors as well as on the balance sheets of multinational corporations and governments.
Today, Finney's legacy remains a moral and technical compass, a reminder of the fundamental principles of decentralization and transparency that gave rise to Bitcoin. At the same time, new financial products offer liquidity and reach that extend its influence far beyond what Satoshi Nakamoto could have anticipated.
Therefore, each January 10The crypto ecosystem looks back to celebrate and acknowledge how a technology born in digital forums managed to break into the world's major financial markets without abandoning the philosophy that gave it birth. Bitcoin not only survived market cycles but also established itself as a bridge between technological innovation and traditional finance.
