Written under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the paper (bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf) alleges the possibility of a currency form that does not require a centralized authority. Engineers jumped on the idea and began developing a working system based on the concepts contained within the paper. Bitcoin version 0.1 was released on January 9, 2009, after only a few months of development. This moment marked the beginning of blockchain development as well.
Bitcoins were traded for the first time in the real world on May 22, 2010. Lazlo Hanyecz, a programmer living in Florida, exchanged 10,000 BTC for two pizzas. Those same pizzas would be worth about 42,260,000 USD as of September 2017. Fun fact: May 22 is known as ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day.’
A version of this article originally appeared in Token News, a trusted news source of IBL - Vietnam Blockchain Company.