Did you know, today, January 9th, 2018 marks the 9th anniversary of Bitcoin?
Some fun anecdotes...
Despite common lore, the first transaction on the Bitcoin network was not to buy pizza it was in fact Hal Finney. Hal received 10 Bitcoins from Satoshi Nakamoto.
Today that's worth about $140,000 USD.
The pizza transaction did in fact happen though. Through the forums, Telegram, Slack, and all the other communication tools, not to mention any online exchange didn't exist. A deal was made. if anyone could get 2 pizzas delivered to his house, the poster would pay 10,000 Bitcoins.
Today that is worth about $140,000,000 USD.
In an interesting twist...
In June 2011, Wikileaks began accepting Bitcoin donations earning a cool 50,000% return over and above the money they've received.
In 2013, The Silk Road (a "dark web" site for drug and illicit crime) was shut down after the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts and seized approximately 26,000 Bitcoin.
Today that is worth approximately $364,000,000
In 2014 Mt. Got was "hacked" and filed for bankruptcy in Japan as an estimated 744,000 Bitcoins had been stolen.
Today that is worth approximately $104,160,00,000
The price of bitcoin on January 1, 2017 was at about $999, and on Dec 31, the price of Bitcoin was $13,769. Bitcoin reached an all time high earlier in December of $19,891.
The volatility is certainly a major feature of Bitcoin having experienced six 30% or worse *crashes in 2017, yet the price continues higher.
Happy 9 years Bitcoin! Just like the Honey badger you keep taking a beating and come back stronger.