Bitcoin is primarily a digital currency, but in 2013, Mike Caldwell of Salt Lake City, Utah took it upon himself to physicalize the currency by minting the first Bitcoin coin.
In traditional sterling, the piece by artist Mike O'Connor would be expected to fetch between £25,000 and £30,000 (between $32,000 and $38,000)
This piece is available to buy in Bitcoin at Dadiani Gallery in London. It's a sculpture made out of a used Formula 1 car engine.
Since the the first one was introduced in Vancouver, Bitcoin ATMs have sprung up across the planet, including this one in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now accepted by businesses of all kinds -- and while some, like this bar in Berlin, are no doubt trading off the novelty factor, many see it as the future of their industry.
The first ever Bitcoin ATM was installed at Vancouver's Waves Coffee House in 2013. "I wanted to try out this new machine that hopefully will change the world," said owner Curtis Machek.
Instructions
Bitcoin and a subsequent raft of cryptocurrencies first landed in the early part of the decade, many people -- including noted economists and finance experts -- dismissed them as a fad. These new forms of digital money were viewed as little more than capitalist Tamagotchis, currencies with no value to anyone except those looking to buy illicit items.
The raft of coffee shops selling lattes for Bitcoins have gone some way to disprove these negative perceptions, but the availability of luxury items like jewelry, cars and even fine art have really stated cryptocurrencies' case for permanence -- nearly a decade after they first came about.
"Many economists dismissed it as a flawed form of money, something that could never achieve the level of adoption that it has," said Dr. Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
"Today we estimate 5 to 10 million unique active users of cryptocurrencies, and in my opinion that's nothing short of a minor economic miracle."
Bitcoin rules
The market leader is still Bitcoin, its name now so engrained in this alternative economy that it has become a catch-all moniker for other currencies, just like "Hoover" has become a name for all vacuum cleaners.
Despite fluctuations in value, withdrawal issues, a potentially dangerous "hard fork" schism and what Hileman calls "internal governance challenges," Bitcoin has defied expectations and passed the $4,000 mark for the first time in August.
Only six years ago, in mid-2011, one Bitcoin was worth just $1. One expert, Saxo Bank's Kay Van Petersen, believes that in 10 years, the price of Bitcoin could reach as much as $100,000.
Art for Bitcoin
With cryptocurrencies seemingly here for the long run, more and more industries are using them. Microsoft and Paypal are among the more established companies now accepting Bitcoin, alongside all kinds of businesses across the world -- including pubs, plumbers and tattoo parlors.
One market that could prove something of a game-changer is the ever-investing art world, where art-for-Bitcoin is being pioneered by London gallery owner Eleesa Dadiani, of the eponymous Dadiani Gallery.
Written by Clive Martin,