An Interactive History of Bitcoin

Scroll through time to see the major events that have shaped Bitcoin's incredible journey from an obscure whitepaper to a global financial asset.

October 31, 2008

Satoshi Nakamoto publishes the Bitcoin whitepaper, "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," to a cryptography mailing list.

January 3, 2009

The "Genesis Block" (block 0) is mined by Satoshi, embedding the text "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."

January 12, 2009

The first-ever Bitcoin transaction takes place between Satoshi Nakamoto and developer Hal Finney.

May 22, 2010

Known as "Bitcoin Pizza Day," Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, marking the first real-world transaction.

October 2011

Litecoin is created by Charlie Lee, becoming the first major "altcoin" and often described as the "silver to Bitcoin's gold."

July 2012

Coinbase is founded, creating a user-friendly platform that would later become one of the world's largest exchanges, simplifying access to Bitcoin for millions.

November 28, 2012

The First Halving occurs. The block reward is reduced from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. The price is ~$12.

October 2013

The FBI shuts down the Silk Road darknet market, seizing its bitcoin and creating a major negative news cycle, associating Bitcoin with illicit activities in the public eye.

February 2014

Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange at the time, collapses after a massive hack, causing a major price crash and a prolonged bear market.

July 9, 2016

The Second Halving occurs. The block reward is reduced from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC. The price is ~$650.

August 2017

The Segregated Witness (SegWit) soft fork is activated, a crucial technical upgrade to improve Bitcoin's transaction scalability and enable Layer 2 solutions like Lightning.

December 2017

Bitcoin's price skyrockets to its then all-time high of nearly $20,000, bringing mainstream global attention.

May 11, 2020

The Third Halving occurs. The block reward is reduced from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. The price is ~$8,600.

September 7, 2021

El Salvador becomes the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

November 2021

Bitcoin reaches its then all-time high of over $68,000.

January 10, 2024

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approves the first spot Bitcoin ETFs, a landmark moment for institutional adoption in the United States.

April 19, 2024

The Fourth Halving occurs. The block reward is reduced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The price is ~$64,000.

July 14, 2025

Bitcoin reaches its current all-time high of over $122,000.