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Bitcoin History: When DDoS Attacks Made BTC’s Price Drop
7.3.2020
As anyone who has read the Bitcoin History series (or lived through the period in question) will know, the Bitcointalk forum was the crucible of debate in the early days. What’s less known is that – to quote one poster – “DDoSing this forum coincided with dumps on the then...
Bitcoin History Part 24: Celebrating the First Halving in 2012
25.2.2020
As the third Bitcoin halvening approaches, a handful of OGs will wistfully recall the first such event, which occurred in November 2012. Back then, following the completion of block 210,000, the mining reward halved from 50 to 25 BTC. To commemorate the milestone, early adopters threw parties...
Bitcoin History Part 23: The First BTC Escrow
9.1.2020
Before the emergence of crypto exchanges and trustless multi-sig, early bitcoiners saw the need for an escrow service – a mediator to act as a go-between for strangers transacting online. Given the panoply of options now available, it is strange to think that escrow was once provided by a...
Bitcoin History Part 22: The New Wealthy Elite
19.12.2019
“I am pretty confident we are the new wealthy elite, gentlemen, even with a sum as small as 10 bitcoins … The world just isn’t going to be the same and we have been blessed as the pioneers.” When these remarks were made in June of 2011, they seemed hopeful to the point...
Bitcoin History Part 21: Miners Pour One out for Satoshi
10.12.2019
There are a few ways of looking at bitcoin mining. As an ostensibly selfish enterprise, wherein miners are seeking to extract precious coins for profit. And as a community of individuals who envisage a better way of generating, handling and using money, and are motivated to secure the Bitcoin...
Bitcoin History Part 17: That Time Mt. Gox Destroyed 2,609 BTC
21.9.2019
Technically speaking, it’s impossible to destroy bitcoins. But it is possible to send coins to an unspendable address, rendering them redundant to all intents and purposes. In October 2011, that’s exactly what Mark Karpeles did when he consigned 2,609 BTC to eternal oblivion due to...
Roger Ver Shares His Story in New Video Series
10.9.2019
As someone who was there from virtually the start, Roger Ver has seen and done it all in Bitcoin. A tireless evangelist for Bitcoin since long before it was cool, Ver remains a vocal proponent of the benefits of peer-to-peer cash and its power to effect positive change in the world. Every day this...
Bitcoin History Part 16: The First Mt. Gox Hack
25.8.2019
No one remembers the first Mt. Gox hack. It was a small sum, even by 2011’s standards, and the exchange reimbursed all users. The incident was to prove significant, however, for it set in motion a string of attacks on other bitcoin platforms that began the very next day. By the time the dust...
Bitcoin History Part 15: Silk Road Is Born
18.8.2019
Silk Road launched in February 2011 as the darknet’s first bitcoin-based marketplace. Within four months, it would be the darknet’s most notorious site whose reputation extended all the way to the U.S. Senate. The origins of the drugs marketplace can be traced back further, however,...
Bitcoin History Part 14: The 1,000 BTC Poker Game
9.8.2019
Bitcoin and poker have a history that stretches back to the very start. Perhaps, even, to before the start of Bitcoin as we know it, for there is evidence that Satoshi had a background in poker. What’s beyond dispute is that in March 2010, the world’s first bitcoin poker tournament took...
From Spartacus to Satoshi: A Brief History of Economic Rebellion
7.8.2019
Government dominance of human beings via slavery and violent economic oppression is as old as government itself. For thousands and thousands of years kings and rulers, usually held to be “appointed by God,” have used free, non-violent individuals as their tax farm livestock to exploit...
Bitcoin History Part 13: The First Mining Pool
19.5.2019
The notion that anyone could solo mine bitcoin – on a CPU no less – seems positively quaint today. But in 2010, this method wasn’t just possible – it was the norm. With an exponentially lower hashrate, less competition and a 50 bitcoin block reward, there was enough pie...
Bitcoin History Part 12: When No One Wanted Your BTC
12.5.2019
Today, bitcoin is so precious that its hodlers are prone to locking their keys away inside nuclear bunkers, bank vaults, and military grade hardware wallets. But things weren’t always that way. Back in the early days, bitcoin was deemed so undesirable that you would have struggled to give...