With a gigantic jump of 15,6% in the last 24 hours, Bitcoin celebrates its 12th birthday, since the birth of the genesis block on that historic January 3, 2009.
January 3rd of each year became a special date for all of us, a day that marked the beginning of a new era for our society; because Bitcoin (BTC), cryptocurrency The most popular and well-known cryptocurrency today was born on this date, exactly 12 years ago. And although at that time, the launch of this cryptocurrency was significant only for a few, today there are millions of people around the world who are aware of what Bitcoin is and what it represents: Freedom! That is why, at Bit2Me News we dedicate a space to celebrate, together with our readers, the anniversary of the most important technological innovation of our times.
The birth of a new era
Although for some it may still sound a bit exaggerated, the birth of Bitcoin marked a before and after in our society, but to understand it better, let's take a brief look at the economic situation that existed when Bitcoin came into the world.
In 2006, the housing bubble burst in the United States. Banks and financial institutions granted high-risk mortgage loans without any kind of control, which led to the collapse of the real estate sector in that country and then caused a real estate and stock market crisis, which spread until it became the great recession by 2008. The measures taken by the central bank and the US government at that time, to control the crisis and financially rescue the banks from their liquidity problems, precipitated a bank run, where millions of people rushed to withdraw their funds and savings from the banks in a short time, leading several of the banking entities in this country to total bankruptcy. This, in turn, caused the major stock markets and exchanges to also collapse and the economic crisis to spread worldwide, affecting the entire system.
The Great Recession of 2008
By 2008, the employment crisis, the food crisis, the overvaluation of products, the fall in tax revenues, and many other consequences, led governments to make social cuts to protect themselves, leaving the responsibility for their own mistakes, and their consequences, on millions of people who were left without jobs, without food and without a home. The panic, chaos, uncertainty and destitution that existed at that time, and which still has consequences to this day, exposes and makes clear the inefficiency, ineptitude and failure of the traditional banking and financial system, and of the ray of light and hope that is Bitcoin.
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First presented on October 31, 2008, in a technical document called the Bitcoin Whitepaper, your Creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, explained what would be the world's first virtual currency, completely decentralized and independent of banks, which showed great potential to overthrow the old unbalanced and fraudulent scheme of the traditional financial system. A cryptocurrency governed by its own community, capable of returning absolute control and financial freedom to all its users.
The Genesis of Cryptocurrencies
Although Satoshi Nakamoto first introduced Bitcoin in October 2008, it was not until January 3, 2009 that the new decentralized system saw the light of day. It was on this date that the first block of the Bitcoin network, known as the Genesis Block, which is also the “Genesis” (or creation) of all the cryptocurrencies we know today, which were generated after the arrival of Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin genesis block that was generated on January 3, 2009 contains a single transaction, being the first block without a predecessor in the network, but it also contains a curious fact that will be immortalized within the blockchain forever. The coinbase in this block contains a headline from The Times newspaper, which reads: “The Chancellor is considering a second bailout for the banks.”
This message, for the entire crypto community, is a clear revelation that reflects Satoshi Nakamoto's vision with his creation. An act of heroism and rebellion against a nefarious system that has caused so much harm to society and that seeks to forge a new path of justice and equity for all of us. Bitcoin is the seed that was planted to give rise to a new decentralized financial model, free from the dominance and will of governments; that in the end, regardless of whether their decisions and actions are right or wrong, never directly affect them, but rather society, innocent and unprotected.
Blockchain, another great milestone for history
While Bitcoin is a symbol of freedom and power, it would not have been possible without what we know as Blockchain. This technology, the underlying technology behind Bitcoin, is what gives life to the concept of digital currency or decentralized cryptocurrency. Thanks to its way of working, Bitcoin can keep a unique, detailed, transparent and unalterable record of all commercial operations that are carried out with the cryptocurrency.
The Bitcoin blockchain is maintained by thousands of computers, known as nodes., which are interconnected to the network, regardless of the place or geographical location from where they are located. Each of these nodes keeps an identical copy of the blockchain, which is constantly updated, guaranteeing the total decentralization of the network and solving the problem of double-spending which previous attempts at digital currencies before Bitcoin faced, but were unsuccessful.
The early days of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is one of the most successful cryptocurrencies today, the most well-known and popular and the most adopted in the world, and not only by developers and common users, but also by retail and institutional investors, who took the risk of looking for new investment alternatives and adopted Bitcoin as their first and most reliable option. Despite this, and its incredible price and current valuation, Bitcoin was born as a digital currency that had no value, and was known, discussed and used only by some fans, programmers and cypherpunks who participated in forums where the right to privacy was defended using cryptographic techniques.
2011, parity with the US dollar
Bitcoin first reached parity with the US dollar in early 2011, and then in April 2013 it reached and surpassed the $100 USD mark. On November 27 of that same year, Bitcoin reached a value of $1.000 USD per unit, although in the following years it experienced a great fall and volatility and remained oscillating between $350 and $650 USD. Then, in 2017, the year that until recently we remembered as Bitcoin’s best year, the cryptocurrency reached new levels, surpassing $5.000, $10.000, $15.000 and even $20.000 USD per unit, although the meteoric rise was not sustained and the price of Bitcoin collapsed for different reasons and events in the following years.
2020, institutional investment comes to Bitcoin
Thus, we arrive at 2020, the year in which a new global crisis, accelerated by a pandemic, hit us, showing us once again the hidden face of the traditional financial system.
2020 will be remembered as the year in which the world's governments began to print large amounts of money again to overcome the crisis and not be affected, devaluing the value of fiat currencies and, therefore, the savings capacity and purchasing power of society. 2020 will also be remembered as the year in which financial institutions began to place their trust in Bitcoin, with billions of dollars invested in this cryptocurrency to escape the crisis of inflation and devaluation of fiat money; and the year in which large multimillionaire investors began to appreciate Bitcoin as an alternative investment asset and much more profitable than gold, causing the price of Bitcoin to grow meteorically.
In fact, several analysts believe that society's dissatisfaction with the financial decisions of central banks and governments in this new crisis, which has been coming for some years but was accelerated by the arrival and global spread of COVID-19, and which still has vestiges of the Great Recession of 2008, will make Bitcoin look much more like a viable alternative solution to the financial disaster caused by the big banks with their immoderate and exaggerated measures. In 2020, Bitcoin broke new all-time highs, surpassing the $20.000 USD achieved in December 2017, and ending the year with a maximum value of $29.300 USD.
2021, a year that promises to be incredible for the industry
As 2020 was a great year for Bitcoin, 2021 couldn't start with anything less, so this year started in a big way for this cryptocurrency. Just a few days after reaching new highs, Bitcoin is breaking new levels, and for this 12th birthday it reached a value of $34.684 USD; a great reason to celebrate for the entire crypto community.
Likewise, on the social network Twitter, Bitcoin is again trending in several countries, such as Spain and Argentina; in addition, it occupies the place N º 16 among the most important currencies in the world by capitalization.
Bitcoin, the promise of a change
Although the future is still uncertain, all the events that Bitcoin is causing, and all the signs it shows us, give us confidence that this system is here to stay, and that the cryptocurrency will continue to grow and consolidate over time.
The addition of new investors every day ensures the organic growth of Bitcoin; the multi-million dollar investments of dozens of companies dedicated to Bitcoin mining, in facilities and new mining equipment, secure, strengthen and robusten the network; the innovation of many others, to generate economic and sustainable energy through waste, such as associated gas in oil exploitations, also demonstrates the long-term interest in guaranteeing the sustainability of this activity without affecting the environment; the creation of new products and investment instruments based on Bitcoin, and the growing institutional interest in investing in BTC as the cryptocurrency becomes scarcer, gives us confidence that its price will remain more stable than in the past and that it will continue to grow and consolidate in the future.
At the time of this edition, Bitcoin has a value of $33.504 USD, and his Market capitalization exceeds $625 billion, surpassing the capitalization of many multi-billion dollar companies and businesses, including Berkshire Hathaway of Warren Buffett, who in May 2018 reached make fun of Bitcoin, stating that this cryptocurrency is not creating anything and that it would probably become “rat poison squared”.
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