Hashcash proposes proof of work
Adam Back announced a scheme that required a sender to burn measurable computation before a message would be accepted.
READ THE RECORDTHE HISTORY OF AN IDEA IN MOTION 01 / ORIGINS
History doesn’t move
in a straight line.
EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE
One chain. Hundreds
of turning points.
143 CURATED275 ALL EVENTS
b-money describes a currency without a mint
Wei Dai circulated a proposal for money whose creation and ownership were tracked by every participant rather than an issuer.
READ THE RECORDSatoshi contacts Wei Dai
Satoshi Nakamoto emailed Wei Dai about citing b-money in a forthcoming electronic-cash paper.
READ THE RECORDThe Bitcoin white paper is announced
Satoshi Nakamoto announced “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” on the Cryptography Mailing List.
READ THE RECORDThe genesis block is mined
Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin’s first block and embedded a newspaper headline in its coinbase data.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin v0.1 is released
Satoshi Nakamoto released the first public Bitcoin software and announced it on the Cryptography Mailing List.
READ THE RECORDThe first person-to-person Bitcoin transaction
Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney in Bitcoin’s first known transfer between two people.
READ THE RECORDSatoshi announces Bitcoin to the P2P Foundation
Nakamoto introduced the running software to a wider audience and stated the problem it was built to solve.
READ THE RECORDThe first known bitcoin-for-fiat trade
Martti Malmi sold 5,050 BTC to New Liberty Standard for $5.02 sent through PayPal.
READ THE RECORDThe Bitcoin forum opens
Satoshi Nakamoto launched a dedicated discussion board, later known as BitcoinTalk, for the growing project.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin Market opens
Bitcoin Market launched as the first publicly announced marketplace dedicated to trading bitcoin for conventional currency.
READ THE RECORDLaszlo Hanyecz offers 10,000 BTC for pizza
Programmer and miner Laszlo Hanyecz posted an offer to pay 10,000 BTC for two delivered pizzas.
READ THE RECORD10,000 BTC buys two pizzas
Jeremy Sturdivant arranged two pizzas for Laszlo Hanyecz in exchange for 10,000 BTC.
READ THE RECORDGPU mining begins to displace CPUs
The miner known as ArtForz began producing blocks with an OpenCL GPU setup during Bitcoin’s first mining-technology shift.
READ THE RECORDMt. Gox launches as a bitcoin exchange
Jed McCaleb opened Mt. Gox for bitcoin trading after repurposing a domain originally created for game-card exchange.
READ THE RECORDThe value-overflow incident creates 184 billion BTC
A validation bug allowed one transaction in block 74,638 to create outputs totaling more than 184 billion bitcoin.
READ THE RECORDSlush’s Pool mines its first block
Bitcoin Pooled Mining, later known as Slush Pool, found its first mainnet block using cooperative hash power.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin reaches U.S. dollar parity
One bitcoin traded for one U.S. dollar on Mt. Gox for the first time.
READ THE RECORDMark Karpelès takes control of Mt. Gox
Jed McCaleb sold the Mt. Gox exchange to Mark Karpelès as trading activity expanded.
READ THE RECORDSatoshi sends a final known verified email
Satoshi Nakamoto sent Gavin Andresen a final known message emphasizing the project and its contributors rather than the founder.
READ THE RECORDSilk Road coverage links Bitcoin to a darknet market
A widely read Gawker article described Silk Road and its use of bitcoin for transactions.
READ THE RECORDWikiLeaks turns to bitcoin under a payment blockade
WikiLeaks began accepting bitcoin donations after card networks and PayPal cut off its funding.
READ THE RECORDMt. Gox suffers a major security breach
A compromised account enabled fraudulent trades that briefly drove Mt. Gox’s displayed bitcoin price to one cent.
READ THE RECORDThe BIP process gives Bitcoin a way to change
BIP 1 defined how proposals to alter Bitcoin would be written, discussed and recorded.
READ THE RECORDDeterministic wallets replace the key pile
BIP 32 let an entire wallet's keys be derived from a single seed value.
READ THE RECORDPay-to-script-hash activates
Bitcoin activated BIP 16, allowing payments to a script hash rather than exposing the full spending conditions in advance.
READ THE RECORDCoinbase is founded
A Y Combinator-backed startup set out to make buying bitcoin as simple as using a consumer web app.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin Savings and Trust closes
Trendon Shavers announced the closure of Bitcoin Savings and Trust after promising unusually high bitcoin-denominated returns.
READ THE RECORDThe Bitcoin Foundation is formed
Industry participants launched the Bitcoin Foundation to support development, advocacy, and adoption.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin’s first halving
At block 210,000, Bitcoin’s block subsidy fell from 50 BTC to 25 BTC.
READ THE RECORDThe first mining ASICs ship
Avalon delivered the first purpose-built Bitcoin mining chips to customers.
READ THE RECORDAn accidental chain split is resolved
A large block accepted by Bitcoin 0.8 nodes was rejected by many older nodes, splitting the network into two chains.
READ THE RECORDFinCEN issues virtual-currency guidance
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network distinguished ordinary users from administrators and exchangers under money-services rules.
READ THE RECORDA U.S. court treats bitcoin investments as securities
A federal judge held that bitcoin could be used as money and that Bitcoin Savings and Trust interests could fall under securities law.
READ THE RECORDSeed phrases turn a wallet into twelve words
BIP 39 encoded a wallet's master secret as an ordered list of common words.
READ THE RECORDGrayscale opens a bitcoin trust for institutions
A private placement began offering exposure to bitcoin through a conventional securities wrapper.
READ THE RECORDU.S. authorities seize Silk Road
Federal agents shut down the Silk Road marketplace and arrested alleged operator Ross Ulbricht.
READ THE RECORDThe first public Bitcoin ATM goes live
A Robocoin kiosk opened at a Vancouver coffee shop, allowing customers to buy and sell bitcoin for cash.
READ THE RECORDThe U.S. Senate holds landmark Bitcoin hearings
Senators, regulators, law-enforcement officials, and industry witnesses examined the risks and potential of virtual currencies.
READ THE RECORDChina restricts financial institutions from Bitcoin business
Chinese authorities classified bitcoin as a virtual commodity and barred financial and payment institutions from providing Bitcoin-related services.
READ THE RECORD“I AM HODLING”
A forum user posted a misspelled, half-drunk defence of refusing to sell during a crash.
READ THE RECORDOverstock.com begins accepting bitcoin
Overstock.com became the first major online retailer to accept bitcoin across its U.S. catalog.
READ THE RECORDMt. Gox halts bitcoin withdrawals
Mt. Gox suspended bitcoin withdrawals while citing technical problems and transaction malleability.
READ THE RECORDMt. Gox files for bankruptcy protection
Mt. Gox sought bankruptcy protection in Japan after reporting that approximately 850,000 BTC were missing.
READ THE RECORDThe IRS treats virtual currency as property
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said convertible virtual currency would be treated as property for federal tax purposes.
READ THE RECORDGHash.io briefly exceeds half of observed hash rate
The GHash.io mining pool produced more than half of Bitcoin’s blocks over a short observation window.
READ THE RECORDNew York proposes the BitLicense framework
The New York Department of Financial Services published proposed licensing rules tailored to virtual-currency businesses.
READ THE RECORDHal Finney dies
The cryptographer who received the first bitcoin transaction died of ALS at 58.
READ THE RECORDTether issues a dollar-denominated token
A token claiming one-to-one backing by U.S. dollars launched, initially under the name Realcoin.
READ THE RECORDBlockstream is founded
A company formed to fund Bitcoin protocol engineering, employing several of its most active contributors.
READ THE RECORDCoinbase launches a U.S. bitcoin exchange
Coinbase opened an order-book exchange for professional bitcoin trading in parts of the United States.
READ THE RECORDThe Lightning Network paper proposes payments off-chain
Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja described how to move bitcoin payments off the blockchain without trusting a custodian.
READ THE RECORDNew York announces the final BitLicense rules
The New York Department of Financial Services issued its final regulatory framework for virtual-currency businesses.
READ THE RECORDBIP 66 activates and exposes false signaling
Bitcoin began enforcing strict DER signatures, after which miners building without full validation produced short invalid chains.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin XT brings the block-size dispute into production software
Mike Hearn released Bitcoin XT with BIP 101 support for a miner-activated increase to Bitcoin’s block-size limit.
READ THE RECORDThe CFTC classifies bitcoin as a commodity
In an enforcement order against Coinflip, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission held that bitcoin and other virtual currencies are commodities.
READ THE RECORDEU court exempts bitcoin exchange from VAT
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that exchanging bitcoin and traditional currencies is exempt from value-added tax.
READ THE RECORDThe Hong Kong agreement tries to settle the block-size fight
Developers and mining companies signed a statement pairing Segregated Witness with a later block-size increase.
READ THE RECORDCraig Wright publicly claims to be Satoshi
Australian computer scientist Craig Wright told several media organizations that he was Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
READ THE RECORDJapan passes a framework for virtual-currency exchanges
Japan’s Diet approved amendments recognizing virtual currency as an asset-like means of payment and regulating exchange operators.
READ THE RECORDRelative lock-time soft forks activate
Bitcoin activated BIPs 68, 112, and 113, enabling consensus-enforced relative timelocks and CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin’s second halving
At block 420,000, Bitcoin’s block subsidy fell from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC.
READ THE RECORDBitfinex loses nearly 120,000 BTC
A security breach removed approximately 119,756 BTC from Bitfinex customer wallets and forced the exchange to halt operations.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin Core v0.13.1 ships SegWit activation parameters
Bitcoin Core v0.13.1 included validation and miner-signaling support for the Segregated Witness soft fork.
READ THE RECORDBinance launches
An exchange founded weeks before China's crackdown grew into the largest venue in the market.
READ THE RECORDBTC-e is taken offline as U.S. charges are unsealed
U.S. authorities charged BTC-e and alleged operator Alexander Vinnik after the exchange was disrupted by law enforcement.
READ THE RECORDA user-activated soft fork forces SegWit's hand
BIP 148 nodes began rejecting blocks that did not signal support for Segregated Witness.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin
A group favoring larger on-chain blocks launched Bitcoin Cash through an incompatible fork of Bitcoin's transaction history.
READ THE RECORDSegregated Witness locks in
Miner signaling reached the threshold that locked in Segregated Witness for activation during the next difficulty period.
READ THE RECORDSegregated Witness activates on Bitcoin
SegWit activated at block 481824, introducing a new transaction format and effective block-weight system.
READ THE RECORDSegWit2x organizers cancel the planned hard fork
Backers of SegWit2x suspended its two-megabyte hard fork after concluding that the change lacked sufficient consensus.
READ THE RECORDSteam stops accepting bitcoin
Valve removed bitcoin payments, citing high fees and price volatility during the transaction window.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin peaks near $20,000
The 2017 rally topped out just under $20,000 before losing more than four fifths of its value.
READ THE RECORDCME launches cash-settled Bitcoin futures
CME Group began trading a cash-settled Bitcoin futures contract based on its regulated reference rate.
READ THE RECORDLightning Labs releases the first lnd mainnet beta
Lightning Labs released lnd 0.4-beta with support for real-value channels on Bitcoin mainnet.
READ THE RECORDA bug that could have printed bitcoin is quietly patched
Bitcoin Core 0.16.3 fixed a flaw that allowed both a crash and, in some versions, the creation of coins from nothing.
READ THE RECORDBinance reports a 7,000 BTC hot-wallet theft
Binance disclosed that attackers withdrew 7,000 BTC from one of its hot wallets in a coordinated security breach.
READ THE RECORDFATF applies global standards to virtual-asset providers
The Financial Action Task Force adopted guidance applying anti-money-laundering standards, including transfer information duties, to virtual-asset service providers.
READ THE RECORDThe Taproot proposals are published
BIPs 340, 341 and 342 set out Schnorr signatures, Taproot outputs and a new scripting version.
READ THE RECORDIndia's Supreme Court strikes down the crypto banking ban
The court held that the central bank's order cutting exchanges off from banking was disproportionate.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin plunges during the global pandemic sell-off
Bitcoin fell roughly 40 percent intraday as global markets rushed toward cash during the early COVID-19 shock.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin's third halving reduces the subsidy to 6.25 BTC
Block 630000 cut Bitcoin's per-block subsidy from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC.
READ THE RECORDOCC confirms U.S. national banks may custody crypto assets
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said national banks and federal thrifts may provide cryptocurrency custody services.
READ THE RECORDMicroStrategy adopts Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset
MicroStrategy announced a $250 million purchase of 21,454 BTC as part of a new capital-allocation strategy.
READ THE RECORDSquare invests $50 million in Bitcoin
Payments company Square announced that it had purchased approximately 4,709 BTC for its corporate balance sheet.
READ THE RECORDPayPal announces cryptocurrency buying and merchant use
PayPal said U.S. customers would be able to buy, hold, and sell bitcoin and use supported crypto balances at checkout.
READ THE RECORDU.S. announces seizure of over 69,000 BTC linked to Silk Road
The Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture complaint after taking control of bitcoin allegedly connected to the Silk Road marketplace.
READ THE RECORDNigeria orders banks to close crypto accounts
The central bank directed financial institutions to identify and close accounts tied to cryptocurrency exchanges.
READ THE RECORDTesla discloses a $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase
Tesla's annual filing disclosed that the company had invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin under a revised treasury policy.
READ THE RECORDPurpose Bitcoin ETF begins trading in Canada
Purpose Investments launched a physically backed Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
READ THE RECORDCoinbase lists publicly on Nasdaq
Coinbase shares began trading through a direct listing on Nasdaq under the ticker COIN.
READ THE RECORDChina's State Council committee calls for a Bitcoin mining crackdown
A State Council financial committee called for cracking down on Bitcoin mining and trading activities.
READ THE RECORDEl Salvador's president announces a Bitcoin legal-tender bill
President Nayib Bukele announced that he would send legislation making Bitcoin legal tender to El Salvador's assembly.
READ THE RECORDThe FBI recovers a ransomware payment in bitcoin
U.S. authorities seized about 63.7 BTC of the ransom Colonial Pipeline had paid to the DarkSide group.
READ THE RECORDEl Salvador passes the Bitcoin Law
El Salvador's Legislative Assembly approved a law giving Bitcoin legal-tender status alongside the U.S. dollar.
READ THE RECORDTaproot locks in through Speedy Trial
Miner signaling met the Speedy Trial threshold, locking Taproot in for activation at block 709632.
READ THE RECORDDifficulty falls by a record 28%
Bitcoin's largest ever downward difficulty adjustment followed China's removal of roughly half the network's hash rate.
READ THE RECORDEl Salvador's Bitcoin Law takes effect
Bitcoin's legal-tender status began in El Salvador as the government launched the Chivo wallet and related infrastructure.
READ THE RECORDChina declares virtual-currency business activities illegal
Chinese authorities issued a coordinated notice treating a broad range of virtual-currency trading services as illegal financial activity.
READ THE RECORDThe first U.S. bitcoin ETF begins trading
ProShares listed a fund holding bitcoin futures rather than bitcoin itself.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin reaches its 2021 cycle high
Bitcoin traded near $69,000 on major dollar markets before beginning a prolonged decline.
READ THE RECORDTaproot activates on Bitcoin
Taproot activated at block 709632, adding Schnorr signatures, new spending rules, and more flexible scripts.
READ THE RECORDCanada freezes protest-linked accounts under emergency powers
Invoking the Emergencies Act, the government directed banks to freeze accounts tied to the trucker convoy, and named crypto addresses.
READ THE RECORDUkraine publishes addresses for cryptocurrency donations
Ukraine's government shared bitcoin and other cryptocurrency addresses for donations after Russia's full-scale invasion.
READ THE RECORDUnited States issues a government-wide digital-assets order
President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing coordinated federal work on digital-asset risks and opportunities.
READ THE RECORDCentral African Republic adopts Bitcoin as legal tender
The Central African Republic announced legislation making Bitcoin legal tender alongside the CFA franc.
READ THE RECORDTerra's stablecoin system enters a collapse
TerraUSD lost its intended dollar peg and the associated LUNA token entered a hyperinflationary collapse.
READ THE RECORDEU institutions reach political agreement on MiCA
European negotiators reached a provisional agreement on the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.
READ THE RECORDOFAC sanctions a privacy tool rather than a person
The U.S. Treasury added the Tornado Cash mixing contracts to its sanctions list.
READ THE RECORDFTX files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
FTX Trading and more than one hundred affiliates entered U.S. bankruptcy proceedings after a rapid liquidity crisis.
READ THE RECORDOrdinals brings inscriptions to Bitcoin
Casey Rodarmor released the Ordinals protocol and tooling for tracking individual satoshis and attaching inscriptions to them.
READ THE RECORDCentral African Republic removes Bitcoin's legal-tender status
A revised cryptocurrency law removed legal-tender status and guaranteed convertibility for crypto assets in the Central African Republic.
READ THE RECORDCouncil of the EU formally adopts MiCA
The Council completed the legislative adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.
READ THE RECORDThe SEC sues Binance and Coinbase in consecutive days
The agency filed suit against the largest offshore exchange and the largest U.S. one within twenty-four hours.
READ THE RECORDBlackRock files for a U.S. spot Bitcoin product
Nasdaq filed to list BlackRock's proposed iShares Bitcoin Trust as a commodity-based trust holding bitcoin.
READ THE RECORDGrayscale wins its appeal against the SEC
The D.C. Circuit vacated the SEC's denial of Grayscale's proposal to convert GBTC into a spot Bitcoin ETP.
READ THE RECORDBinance and its founder enter U.S. guilty pleas
Binance agreed to more than $4 billion in U.S. resolutions and founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to an anti-money-laundering charge.
READ THE RECORDFASB adopts fair-value accounting for covered crypto assets
The Financial Accounting Standards Board required qualifying crypto assets such as bitcoin to be measured at fair value each reporting period.
READ THE RECORDSEC approves U.S. spot Bitcoin ETP listings
The SEC approved exchange rule changes allowing multiple spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products to list in the United States.
READ THE RECORDU.S. spot Bitcoin ETPs begin trading
New spot Bitcoin products began trading on Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, and Cboe alongside Grayscale's converted trust.
READ THE RECORDU.K. judge rules that Craig Wright is not Satoshi
At the close of trial, the High Court declared that Craig Wright did not create Bitcoin, write its white paper, or use the Satoshi Nakamoto identity.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin's fourth halving reduces the subsidy to 3.125 BTC
Block 840000 cut the block subsidy from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
READ THE RECORDSamourai Wallet's founders are arrested
U.S. prosecutors charged the developers of a bitcoin privacy wallet with money laundering and unlicensed money transmission.
READ THE RECORDMt. Gox begins Bitcoin repayments
The Mt. Gox rehabilitation trustee made the first bitcoin and bitcoin cash repayments through designated exchanges.
READ THE RECORDDonald Trump proposes retaining U.S.-held Bitcoin
At a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged that a future administration would retain federal bitcoin holdings.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin trades above $100,000
Bitcoin crossed the $100,000 level on major dollar markets for the first time.
READ THE RECORDEl Salvador and IMF agree on Bitcoin-policy changes
An IMF staff-level financing agreement called for voluntary private Bitcoin acceptance and reduced public-sector participation.
READ THE RECORDMiCA becomes fully applicable across the EU
The main provisions of the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation began applying after its staged implementation period.
READ THE RECORDSEC staff rescinds SAB 121
Staff Accounting Bulletin 122 removed the SEC staff guidance that had required certain crypto custodians to record safeguarding assets and liabilities at gross fair value.
READ THE RECORDUnited States changes executive-branch digital-asset policy
President Donald Trump signed an order promoting lawful public-blockchain use and creating a presidential working group on digital-asset markets.
READ THE RECORDEl Salvador makes private Bitcoin acceptance voluntary
El Salvador's assembly amended the Bitcoin Law to remove mandatory private acceptance and limit public-sector involvement.
READ THE RECORDBybit loses about $1.5 billion in the largest crypto theft on record
Attackers redirected a routine cold-to-hot wallet transfer, taking the largest single haul in the industry's history.
READ THE RECORDUnited States establishes a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a reserve capitalized with federally held bitcoin that had been finally forfeited.
READ THE RECORDNew Hampshire authorizes limited public-fund Bitcoin investment
Governor Kelly Ayotte signed HB 302, allowing the state treasurer to invest up to five percent of specified funds in qualifying digital assets and precious metals.
READ THE RECORDTexas establishes a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Texas SB 21 took effect after the governor signed legislation creating a special reserve outside the state treasury.
READ THE RECORDThe CLARITY Act passes the U.S. House
A market-structure bill dividing oversight between the SEC and CFTC passed 294 to 134 with bipartisan support.
READ THE RECORDUnited States enacts the GENIUS Act
The GENIUS Act became federal law, creating a regulatory framework for permitted payment stablecoin issuers.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin reaches its all-time high near $126,000
The price peaked at roughly $126,000, the highest level Bitcoin has traded at.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin Core v30 relaxes the OP_RETURN limit
The release raised the default size of data a node will relay in an OP_RETURN output, splitting the developer community.
READ THE RECORDThe largest liquidation event in crypto history
More than $19 billion of leveraged positions were forcibly closed in twenty-four hours after a tariff announcement.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin's worst start to a year on record
The price fell below $61,000, more than 50% down from October's high, in the weakest opening fifty days Bitcoin has had.
READ THE RECORDBitcoin's mined supply passes 20 million BTC
Bitcoin's cumulative issued supply crossed 20 million BTC at block 940,000.
READ THE RECORDStrategy's premium disappears and it starts selling
The largest corporate holder traded below the value of its own bitcoin and began disposing of coins.
READ THE RECORD
HOW WE KNOW
History, with receipts.
Every record includes a direct source wherever one survives: blocks and transactions, BIPs and release notes, court records and enacted laws.
Claims are labelled when dates are estimated or interpretations are disputed. Exchange failures are never described as protocol failures.
The archive is editorially reviewed, versioned, and designed to accept corrections without silently rewriting the past.