Fifteen years ago, on January 3, 2009, the bitcoin network was born with the mining of the first block, known as the Genesis Block. This monumental event marked the beginning of a new era in digital currency and decentralized finance.
The Genesis Block occupies an important place in the history of cryptocurrencies, not only for starting the btc blockchain but also for its embedded message: a Times headline: “Chancellor on verge of second bailout for banks.” This message was seen as a political statement and a reflection of bitcoin's anti-establishment spirit.
In the midst of the great financial crisis of 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced bitcoin, envisioning a currency independent of traditional banking systems. The Genesis block contained the first 50 btc and the reward for this block was sent to the address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa.
Fun fact: this address has become a kind of digital address. Monumentamassing over 72 btc to date, as enthusiasts continue to send small amounts to pay tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin.
Breaking barriers: how bitcoin evolved
Over the past 15 years, btc has evolved from a novel concept to a mature asset class. Its trajectory is marked by overcoming skepticism, obtaining widespread acceptance and evolving into a fundamental player in the global financial system.
Large corporations like MicroStrategy and Tesla have integrated btc into their balance sheets, considering it a viable store of value and a hedge against inflation. Countries like El Salvador and the Central African Republic (CAR) have even adopted bitcoin as legal tender, showing its potential in national economies.
bitcoin has also seen significant improvements through improvement proposals (BIPs) such as Segregated Witness (SegWit) and Taproot. These upgrades have improved transaction speed, profitability, privacy, and smart contract capabilities, contributing to bitcoin's resilience and its zero-attack track record. Additionally, the introduction of features such as ordinals, which enable the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has expanded bitcoin's role in the decentralized finance (DeFi) economy.
With more than 575,000 daily transactions (according to blockchain.com data), btc adoption continues to increase. One of btc's notable transitions is its move from being perceived as a “money laundering instrument with no intrinsic value” to an asset that is now on the verge of being offered as ETFs by some of the world's largest asset managers, like BlackRock and Fidelity. This change in perception underscores the growing acceptance and legitimacy of bitcoin in the financial world.
Criticism of the energy-intensive nature of mining has been tamed as supporters have demonstrated bitcoin's potential to be the world's first carbon-negative asset. btc is already the greenest industry in the world.
As bitcoin celebrates its 15th anniversary, it has also achieved a major milestone in terms of market capitalization, now ranking as the ninth largest asset globally. This prominent position places it among leading entities such as Gold, Apple, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Silver and NVIDIA, which currently have higher market capitalizations.
Gold, in first place, has a staggering market capitalization of $13.879 trillion. To put btc's growth into perspective, its current market capitalization of $890.11 billion would need to increase about 15 times to match the market capitalization of gold.
In short, bitcoin's 15th anniversary is not just a celebration of its longevity but a testament to its impact on redefining money, finance, and trust. It symbolizes a decentralized future, where financial inclusion knows no borders and power is distributed algorithmically.
However, probably the most important achievement in the spirit of Satoshi Nakamoto was highlighted by Ross Stevens, founder of Stone Ridge Asset Management ($20 billion AUM) and NYDIG, in his latest investor report. letter:
In a world where state money is increasingly degraded, censored and surveilled, bitcoin represents optimism, fairness, justice, truth and beauty. As the people's money, bitcoin is unstoppable in the face of borders, devaluation, censorship or mass surveillance.
At the time of publication, btc was trading at $45,167.
Featured image created with DALL·E 3, chart from TradingView.com
