The revolution of 2009 went unnoticed by most people because it was peaceful, orderly and profoundly technological. In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto released open source software by which peer-to-peer transfers of digital wealth, called bitcoins, flashed over an immutable and transparent ledger, called the blockchain.
A new model challenged the existing reality and peacefully rendered it obsolete. Instead of toppling a government only to have another rise in its place, the new model rendered all governments irrelevant through a new technology and a private currency unlike anything seen before. Bitcoins move seamlessly through a world without states or borders, obeying only the command of individuals who choose to deal with each other. Immune to currency manipulation and inflation, they do not serve the powerful elites at the expense of average people; it is a people's currency.
A new model challenged the existing reality and peacefully rendered it obsolete. Instead of toppling a government only to have another rise in its place, the new model rendered all governments irrelevant through a new technology and a private currency unlike anything seen before. Bitcoins move seamlessly through a world without states or borders, obeying only the command of individuals who choose to deal with each other. Immune to currency manipulation and inflation, they do not serve the powerful elites at the expense of average people; it is a people's currency.
Read more at https://news.bitcoin.com/introduction-to-the-satoshi-revolution-new-book-by-wendy-mcelroy-exclusively-on-bitcoin-com/.
EDIT: Note that Bitcoin went public in the middle of the housing crash. Any significance?