Since the invention of Bitcoin between 2008-2009, We've seen and experienced many events in the last couple of years. This thread outlines major events that have happened since Bitcoin's
exception. From the
| January 3, 2009 | | Genesis Block Established |
| -------------------------- | | The first Bitcoin transaction. The initial Bitcoin program and its source code are released by Satoshi Nakamoto six days later. |
| October 5, 2009 | | New Liberty Standard opens a service to buy and sell #bitcoin, with an initial exchange rate of 1,309.03 BTC to one U.S. Dollar |
| -------------------------- | | The rate is derived from the cost of electricity used by a computer mine a $BTC |
| October 12, 2009 | | The First Bitcoin-to-Fiat Exchange Occurs |
| --------------------- | | Using PayPal, NewLibertyStandard buys 5,050 BTC from Sirius for $5.02, equating to roughly one tenth of a cent per bitcoin. BTC |
| May 22, 2010 | | Two Pizzas Are First Material Item Purchased Using Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | BitcoinTalk user laszlo pays 10,000 $BTC for two pizzas (valued at about $25). This assigns the first concrete valuation to #bitcoin - about $0.0025 per coin. |
| July 18, 2010 | | Mt. Gox Opens For Business |
| --------------------- | | Jed McCaleb, a programmer best known for creating the successful eDonkey peer-to-peer network in 2000, announces the launch of Mt. Gox, a new full-time bitcoin exchange. |
| August 15, 2010 | | Bitcoin Protocol Bug Causes Hard Fork |
| --------------------- | | Unknown person creates a fraudulent transaction that generates 184,467,440,737.08554078 bitcoins – nine thousand times as many as can legitimately exist in the entire system. |
| --------------------- | | Issue was spotted and fixed within hours |
| February 9, 2011 | | Bitcoin Price Hits $1.00 USD |
| --------------------- | | Just two years old, Bitcoin achieves parity with the U.S. Dollar on the Mt. Gox exchange. |
| June 1, 2011 | | Gawker Publishes Article About The Silk Road Titled “The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable” |
| --------------------- | | The article starts an enormous upswing in price that beats all previous records, reaching over $31 per #bitcoin just one week after publication. |
| June 19, 2011 | | Mt. Gox Hacked |
| --------------------- | | By gaining access to the credentials of an official auditor working for the Mt. Gox bitcoin BTC exchange, a hacker downloads a slightly out-of-date copy of the website's user database, including email addresses and insecurely hashed passwords. |
| November 15, 2012 | | Wordpress Accepts Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | Wordpress: “PayPal and many credi card companies block access from over 60 countrie. We don’t think an individual blogger from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere" |
| November 28, 2012 | | Halving Day |
| --------------------- | | In line with the original design for BTC Bitcoin's maturation, the number of coins created to reward miners undergoes its first reduction. |
| March 25, 2013 | | Cyprus Bail-In |
| --------------------- | | A sizezable levy was collected from all bank accounts with holdings above €100,000. |
| --------------------- | | Many account holders began buying #bitcoin driving a price rally - bringing the price from 80 to 260 dollars. |
| October 1, 2013 | | Dread Pirate Roberts Arrested |
| --------------------- | | Following a trail of clues left carelessly across the internet, the FBI manages to identify the alleged operator of the dark web marketplace, which saw most of its sales in illicit drugs. Ross Ulbricht. |
| November 18, 2013 | | US Senate Holds Hearing On Bitcoin BTC |
| --------------------- | | Announced under the title "Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies," Many of the panelists and Senators agree that Bitcoin BTC holds great promise. |
| November 20, 2013 | | People’s Bank of China OK's Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | Speaking in Chinese at an economic forum, Mr. Yi says that “people are free to participate in the Bitcoin market,” |
| December 5, 2013 | | Chinese Government Bans Financial Institutions From Using Bitcoin BTC |
| --------------------- | | Putting its first restraints on Bitcoin's surging popularity, the People's Bank of China declares Satoshi Nakamoto's novel invention not to be a currency. |
| February 24, 2014 | | Mt. Gox's website and trading engine go blank without official comment - leaked internal document showed that over 744,000 BTC were lost by the company. |
| March 6, 2014 | | Newsweek Claims Dorian Nakamoto is Bitcoin's Creator |
| --------------------- | | In an article titled "The Face Behind Bitcoin", journalist Leah McGrath Goodman writes that an unemployed engineer in Temple City, California is in fact Bitcoin's creator. |
| March 26, 2014 | | IRS Declares Bitcoin To Be Taxed As Property |
| --------------------- | | The IRS declares Bitcoin to be property not currency subject to capital gains tax. Tax calculated against every change in buying power for a given amount of bitcoin, from the time it's acquired to the time it's spent |
| June 13, 2014 | | Mining Pool GHash Reaches 51% |
| --------------------- | | GHash's popularity and partnership with CEX to sell mining shares of their own mining hardware, the mining pool giant gains a sole majority of the Bitcoin network, and the ability to launch a successful 51% attack on the network |
| June 27, 2014 | | US Marshals Service Auctions 29,656 Seized Bitcoins |
| --------------------- | | Nearly 30,000 government seized Bitcoins, obtained by the US Marshals Service during the October 2013 bust of the Silk Road website, are auctioned off in chunks of 3,000 bitcoins
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| July 17, 2014 | | New York DFS Releases Proposed “BitLicense” |
| --------------------- | | Benjamin M. Lawsky, Superintendent of New York's Department of Financial Services, announces a proposed set of regulations for businesses that interact with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. |
| July 18, 2014 | | Dell Accepts Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | Founder Michael Dell announces on Twitter that @Dell now accepts Bitcoin. BTC Customers in the United States (only) can purchase any product listed on Dell's online marketplace using Bitcoin BTC |
| December 11, 2014 | | Microsoft Accepts Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | @Microsoft revealed it will accept Bitcoin from US customers for "apps, games and other digital content" offered on the Windows and Xbox online stores. |
| December 19, 2014 | | Charlie Shrem Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison |
| --------------------- | | Labeled Bitcoin's "First Felon", Charlie Shrem, the CEO of bitcoin exchange BitInstant, was sentenced to 2 years in prison for his role in laundering money for users of the Silk Road |
| January 4, 2015 | | Bitstamp Hacked |
| --------------------- | | Unknown hackers were able to steal 18,866 bitcoins from Bitstamp's operational hot wallet, worth roughly $5.2 million dollars. |
| January 26, 2015 | | Coinbase Launches US Licensed Exchange |
| --------------------- | | The VC backed startup Coinbase Inc., a popular Bitcoin outlet and payment processor, announced the release of its own Bitcoin trading platform. |
| May 19, 2015 | | Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison |
| --------------------- | | fter a month-long jury trial that ended in Ulbricht's conviction, Judge Katherine Forrest sentenced Ulbricht to life in prison without parole. |
| July 1, 2015 | | 2 Federal Agents Plead Guilty to Silk Road Theft |
| --------------------- | | Former Federal agents Carl Force IV (DEA) and Shaun Bridges (Secret Service) pleaded guilty to stealing Bitcoins for their personal gain during their active investigation of the Silk Road marketplace |
| August 1, 2015 | | Mark Karpeles Arrested |
| --------------------- | | Mark Karpeles, the CEO of the failed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, was arrested in Japan on charges of fraud and embezzlement in relation to collapse of the exchange |
| September 18, 2015 | | BTC Bitcoin declared as a commodity by the US regulator |
| --------------------- | | "In this order, the CFTC for the first time finds that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are properly defined as commodities". |
| October 8, 2015 | | Gemini Exchange Launched |
| --------------------- | | Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss released their own US based Bitcoin exchange dubbed "Gemini". Upon launch, the exchange was licensed to operate in 26 states and was able to "service both individual and institutional customers" |
| October 31, 2015 | | Bitcoin Featured on Front Page of The Economist - |
| --------------------- | | @TheEconomist a globally popular British publication focused on economic liberalism, made it's article "The Trust Machine" the featured cover story of it's weekly print edition. |
| April 27, 2016 | | Steam Accepts Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | The popular gaming platform Steam began accepting Bitcoin BTC as payment for video games and other online media. |
| May 2, 2016 | | Craig Wright Claims to be Bitcoin's Creator |
| --------------------- | | Following a five month absence from the public eye, Craig Wright publicly announced he was Satoshi Nakamoto by means of a blog post. |
| July 9, 2016 | | Second Halving Day |
| --------------------- | | The block reward was decreased for the second time in Bitcoin's history, resulting in a new reward of 12.5 bitcoins per mined block. |
| August 2, 2016 | | Bitfinex Hacked |
| --------------------- | | Bitfinex, the largest Bitcoin exchange by volume, announced that 119,756 bitcoins of customer funds had been stolen via a security breach, a value roughly equivalent to $72 million USD. |
| January 3, 2017 | | Bitcoin price breaks $1000 for the first time in 3 years |
| --------------------- | | After rallying for most of the second half of 2016 Bitcoin breaches the $1000 mark for the first time in 3 years. |
| March 10, 2017 | | SEC denies Winkelvos ETF |
| --------------------- | | the US government denied the application of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss |
| April 1, 2017 | | Japan Declares Bitcoin BTC as Legel Tender |
| --------------------- | | Japan recognizes bitcoin as a legal method of payment. |
| August 1, 2017 | | Bitcoin BTC "splits" into Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) - |
| --------------------- | | After years of debating about how Bitcoin should scale the code split in two different directions. One supporting the optimization through Segwit, while the other supports bigger blocks of up to 8mb. |
| September 3, 2017 | | China bans companies from raising money through ICOs |
| --------------------- | | Projects raising cash or other virtual currencies through cryptocurrencies are banned. It added that authorities are cracking down on related fraudulent practices. |
| September 12, 2017 | | Jamie Dimon, head of JP Morgan calls Bitcoin as fraud |
| --------------------- | | JPMorgan Chase Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he would fire any employee trading bitcoin BTC for being “stupid.” The cryptocurrency “won’t end well,” |
| September 15, 2017 | | China Is Shutting Down All Bitcoin BTC and Cryptocurrency Exchanges |
| --------------------- | | Chinese authorities have ordered exchanges to cease trading and immediately notify users of their closure, signaling a widening crackdown by authorities on the industry. |
| October 31, 2017 | | CME announces to launch Bitcoin futures |
| --------------------- | | CME Group announced that it plans to introduce trading in bitcoin futures by the end of the year, only a month after dismissing such a plan. |
| November 28, 2017 | | Bitcoin price breaks $10,000 for the first time |
| --------------------- | | Bitcoin has finally surmounted the greatest psychological barrier of all, passing $10,000. |
| December 11, 2017 | | CBOE Bitcoin Futures are launched |
| --------------------- | | Futures on the world’s most popular cryptocurrency surged as much as 26 percent from the opening price in their debut session on Cboe Global Markets |
| December 18, 2017 | | Bitcoin price hit all time high just below $20,000 |
| --------------------- | | Bitcoin hits a new record high, but stops short of $20,000 |
| December 28, 2017 | | South Korea threatens to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges |
| --------------------- | | Bitcoin price tumbled after South Korea announced to regulate bitcoin trading, including a potential shutdown of exchanges, amid volatile moves in the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency market. |
| January 26, 2018 | | Japanese CoinCheck Exchange halts withdrawals after being hacked |
| --------------------- | | One of Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, CoinCheck has halted all withdrawals amidst rumors of a large-scale hack. Ripple worth $123 million was withdrawn |
| January 30, 2018 | | Facebook bans all ads promoting cryptocurrency |
| --------------------- | | Facebook has banned people entirely from advertising bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Facebook said it had found a huge number of people using the site to advertise misleading and dangerous offers. |
| March 14, 2018 | | Google bans crypto advertisements |
| --------------------- | | Google said it is banning online advertisements promoting cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings from June. |
| March 26, 2018 | | Twitter announces ban on cryptocurrency ads. |
| --------------------- | |
Twitter announced it would ban advertising for cryptocurrencies, following Google and Facebook's crackdown that aims to protect investors from fraud |
| May 2, 2018 | | Goldman Sachs announces to open a Bitcoin BTC trading operation |
| --------------------- | | One of the largest investment bank announced, Goldman is about to begin using its own money to trade with clients in a variety of contracts linked to the price of Bitcoin. |
| July 16, 2018 | | BlackRock looks into crypto and blockchain |
| --------------------- | | Bitcoin jumped as the news spread that BlackRock sets up a working group to look into cryptocurrencies and blockchain |
| August 3, 2018 | | NYSE's owner (ICE) announced the launch of Bakkt, a federal regulated market for Bitcoin. |
| --------------------- | | NYSE's Intercontinental Exchange together with @Starbucks, @Microsoft and @BCG, among others, announced they are working to launch a new company called @Bakkt |
| August 7, 2018 | | SEC delays decision on Bitcoin ETFs |
| --------------------- | | The price of bitcoin fell sharply after the Securities and Exchange Commission postponed its decision on whether it would approve a bitcoin ETF proposed by VanEck and SolidX |
| September 5, 2018 | | Goldman Sachs drops crypto trading plans |
| --------------------- | | Goldman Sachs is abandoning plans to open a trading desk for cryptocurrencies. Goldman still sees the regulatory environment as ambiguous. |
| October 15, 2018 | | Fidelity launches institutional platform for cryptocurrencies |
| --------------------- | | Fidelity Investments is spinning off a stand-alone company dedicated to bringing cryptocurrencies to institutional investors. Called Fidelity Digital Assets |
| October 31, 2018 | | Bitcoin turns 10 years old |
| --------------------- | | On October 31 2008, Bitcoin's mysterious founder Satoshi Nakamoto published a nine-page long academic style paper called "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" |
| January 18, 2019 | | Coinstar Machines Start Selling Bitcoin at Grocery Stores Across US |
| --------------------- | | Bitcoin ATM company Coinme is partnering with coins-to-cash converter Coinstar to allow bitcoin purchases through Coinstar kiosks in a number of U.S. states |
| February 1, 2019 | | Canadian Crypto Exchange QuadrigaCX Goes Bankrupt |
| --------------------- | | Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX says it cannot repay $190 million in client holdings after the founder,the only person who knew the passwords to its “cold storage,” unexpectedly died in India. |
| March 1, 2019 | | Facebook is Working on its own Cryptocurrency |
| --------------------- | | Facebook's much-rumoured cryptocurrency appears to be close to fruition, with reports suggesting the technology giant is within a few months of launching its own bitcoin-style currency. |
| April 8, 2019 | | China wants to ban Bitcoin BTC mining |
| --------------------- | | China’s state planner wants to eliminate bitcoin mining in the country - impling the power consumed by the industry contributes to pollution and wastes resources. |
| April 15, 2019 | | Major exchanges delists Bitcoin SV |
| --------------------- | | The world's largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Binance, has said "de-listed" Bitcoin SV, striking it from the exchange as of April 22 as it no longer meets the high level of standard they expect. |
| April 26, 2019 | | Bitfinex and Tether faces investigation over alleged $850M shortfall |
| --------------------- | | The New York attorney general accused the operator of bitcoin exchange Bitfinex and tether issuer Tether Limited of hiding an $850 million loss. |
| May 8, 2019 | | Binance exchange hackers steals $41M worth of Bitcoin |
| --------------------- | | Hackers stole 7,000 bitcoin from major cryptocurrency exchange Binance. They used a variety of methods to carry out the “large scale security breach,” Exchange covered losses, no user funds were affected |
