Bitcoin’s Genesis Block: A 15-Year Retrospective

On January 3, 2009, an individual or group operating under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin mainnet, mining the genesis block containing 50 BTC.

Embedded in its hash is the headline from The Times: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

Shortly before the network’s launch, on October 31, 2008, the Bitcoin white paper was published.

The first transaction occurred on January 12, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney. Three days prior, Bitcoin software version 0.1 was released.

The identity of Nakamoto and the motivations behind Bitcoin’s creation remain a mystery, intriguing both the crypto community and outsiders.

One likely reason for Bitcoin’s creation was the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, marked by the collapse of major investment banks, widespread production declines, falling demand and commodity prices, rising unemployment, and significant government intervention in the economy.

In November 2021, the first cryptocurrency reached a record high of $69,000. At the time of writing, digital gold is trading at $45,000, with a market capitalization of $883 billion.

Read more about the history of the first cryptocurrency and the possible identity of Satoshi Nakamoto on ForkLog: