12 years today since the first known price was set for BTC

[Lucius]

Oh man did anyone notice that first BTC payment was actually made on PayPal ??
That’s crazy and I am literally startled with this article. I am not sure why PayPal did not take the chances of officially accepting the BTC payment right after they made the first transaction ? Why Elon was not aware about this before; it’s really thinkable I guess?

You have a completely wrong idea when you think that way, because it is true that Martti Malmi (forum name Sirius) sold BTC in 2009 in a way that he got paid through PayPal - but that does not mean that PP had anything to do with Bitcoin.

Furthermore, the way you think is completely illogical, because how else to describe your surprise that PayPal or EM did not react to Bitcoin back in 2009 - and how many people even knew that Bitcoin existed at the time? I believe they had no idea about it at that time, just like you, me, and 99% of today's forum members.

[SFR10]

I remember stumbling upon that archived page from a thread on the "Project Development" board before ^{[it was using those prices as a reference for older dates]}, but I never paid enough attention to the formula that was responsible for those prices, until you created this thread ^{[thank you for mentioning it here]}.

• It'd be interesting to see what the prices would've been if we were still using that formula ^{[obviously we have to tweak the first and the last part of the formula so it could apply to the current situation that we're in at the moment (ASICS)]}!

Thanks to your reference links, they brought "another interesting thread" to my attention.

[Pejoh Asu]

I have known bitcoin for almost 9 years and at that time it was easy to earn bitcoin from various faucets and giveaways, I still remember when I participated in the lottery and won 2 btc, if I was patient and didn't use 25 btc for gambling, and HYIP in 2012 of course I can buy new sports cars, apartments and so on.

[davis196]

Oh man did anyone notice that first BTC payment was actually made on PayPal ??
That’s crazy and I am literally startled with this article. I am not sure why PayPal did not take the chances of officially accepting the BTC payment right after they made the first transaction ? Why Elon was not aware about this before; it’s really thinkable I guess?

And yes, the price rose pretty smart way considering the mining was so easy and transaction were cheapest one. I can imagine now how peeps at the time would have seen their project grow like this! The purest transactions of the time. May be experimental too?

Was Elon Musk even a shareholder of PayPal back in 2009?I think that he sold his stocks earlier.
Anyway,why would PayPal adopt a newly founded experimental cryptocurrency,that has almost no users,except a few geeks and nerds?This doesn't make any sense from a business perspective.
Between 2001 and 2009 PayPal were still developing their partnerships with Mastercard,VISA and various banks.They have also acquired a few payment companies like VeriSign and Braintree,in order to improve their security and become more user friendly,AFAIK.
Bitcoin simply wasn't on their radar.
The information about New Liberty Standard is pretty interesting.I guess that this is the day Bitcoin became an investment tool and a financial asset.

[BITCOIN4X]

It is interesting to remember the old story when the price of bitcoin was not as expensive as it is now. I am an interested user in bitcoin after the hype of bitcoin and ICO 2017 (ATH 2017) reached my ears. Precisely in march 2018 I signed up for a forum account and started doing something to earn bitcoin by joining some bullshit bounty campaign because I really didn't get anything there.

I don't have to regret anything because to be honest I didn't have enough money to buy bitcoin in 2018 before I finally managed to make some bitcoin through the signature campaign. I firmly believe that the average person would probably be disappointed today if they didn't buy a lot of bitcoin when they were still quite cheap around November - December 2018 because only 3.5 years lags they would have made enough money on that investment. Bitcoin trading has grown quite rapidly and has never stopped in the last 12 years. We will see today as history in the next 12 years as well. $51K is the price at the time I'm writing.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

• It'd be interesting to see what the prices would've been if we were still using that formula ^{[obviously we have to tweak the first and the last part of the formula so it could apply to the current situation that we're in at the moment (ASICS)]}!

<…>

I gave it a wee go, but failed to backtrack properly the initial formula to the number of mined blocks over the past 30 days (in order to ensure having interpreted the formula properly before trying to replace values with current day values). Not sure why I can’t interpret the formula numerically properly (which is why it’s best to represent it numerically, with all the parenthesis and such, and not in a textual manner).

If anyone gives it a go, and manages to bring it to date with scenarios of 1..n ASICS, ot would be interesting to see.

Note: By the 04/03/2010, the price took (his) supply and demand into consideration:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70.msg631#msg631

[worle1bm]

How times have changed, majority of people at the time had little idea at the time that this technology was going to have such a huge impact.

That was quite an interesting way to determine the price of Bitcoin, and how different the market would be if it was used today. I assume it would be quite difficult to do now as Bitcoin is now worldwide and determine a cost of electricity is not feasible, so there cannot be a definite value.

The variation in price from one day to another is, I figure, due to the change in the "bitcoins generated by my computer(*) over the past 30 days" part, which will change as the 30 day window slides forward another day. Later on, price calculus was modified to include moving averages and the cost of data bandwidth.

Would the my be the computer of there person behind the price speculation?

I also feel aroused about how far bitcoin has come along in this journey of 10-12 years and now prices already above $50k  and this data is quite good about how the fluctuations in setting $1 per bitcoin in 6 months on exchange like going from 1300 bitcoins to 800 within short time period.Three to four years ahead you would be finding the $50k mark way too low when they will be at that year ATH.The time really moves fast than we thought it would be.

[layoutph]

Bitcoin is one of the greatest regret of my life. 12 yrs ago I was curious what Bitcoin is but forget about it when I focused on freelance job. I wish I can go back time again, and buy atleast 10,000 Bitcoins at $0.10 each.

[batang_bitcoin]

Time flies so very fast and it's more than a decade already but a lot has happened to bitcoin. From good stories to bad stories including the FUD. If it's not for those contributors who really did well in the past, where could bitcoin be? It took a long time before PayPal did adopt bitcoin when in fact the first payment transaction did was with their payment processor. We're already on the middle stage IMHO but it's still not too late for everyone to buy bitcoin.

[Welsh]

How times have changed, majority of people at the time had little idea at the time that this technology was going to have such a huge impact.

That was quite an interesting way to determine the price of Bitcoin, and how different the market would be if it was used today. I assume it would be quite difficult to do now as Bitcoin is now worldwide and determine a cost of electricity is not feasible, so there cannot be a definite value.

I'll be honest, I was very much one of these people that overlooked Bitcoin, albeit I got in much later than 2009. I'm definitely not going to be claiming that I foreseen the possibilities, and technical advantages that Bitcoin would bring to the world, at least not initially. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, I initially looked into Bitcoin, and decided not to get into it after a brief bit of research. I can't actually remember what convinced me to take a look at it again, there wasn't a awful amount of news around this time, and I was probably just looking at alternatives to payment processors.

I think it's safe to say since then Bitcoin has significantly impacted my life, even from a lifestyle point of view, and has also shaped some of my views around the banking systems, and how much to value privacy. Even things which aren't directly connected to Bitcoin.

[tippytoes]

Time flies so very fast and it's more than a decade already but a lot has happened to bitcoin. From good stories to bad stories including the FUD. If it's not for those contributors who really did well in the past, where could bitcoin be? It took a long time before PayPal did adopt bitcoin when in fact the first payment transaction did was with their payment processor. We're already on the middle stage IMHO but it's still not too late for everyone to buy bitcoin.

That situation is really ironic here. It took more than a decade for PayPal to finally include crypto in their system, and yes, looking back, it was their platform that made it possible for the first payment. They should be very proud as they were already part in the early history of bitcoin. Who knows bitcoin will achieve this level of popularity and price level? A lot have their regrets why they haven't gotten early. But it is not too late to get involved if you truly believe btc will have a brighter future.

[Upgrade00]

I'll be honest, I was very much one of these people that overlooked Bitcoin

I think almost everyone was guilty of this at a point.
I for one never got the chance to overlook Bitcoin cause I got in at a much later time and there was already so much information and hype around it that I got hooked in instantly, finding it out through this forum was an extra advantage.

What I usually tell people who say they wish they had invested in Bitcoin earlier and then sell of in 2017 for huge profits is that; if you cannot hold for the next ten years now with the price history, you would have not held when there was little information about it even if you knew about it.

[ILuckyGuyI]

I'm just looking at Bitcoin about from where it has come to this high levels. And I'm just surprised every time I see this. I wonder if there are still some people who have been holding their coins from the start. I mean except Satoshi Nakamoto.     Bitcoin has always proven that the investors can make great profits when they make long-term investments and be patient about them even for years. Bitcoin is special also as it is the first ever cryptocurrency in the market. I just enjoy using it.

[Imran232]

This is insane. Time shows its power. People always say that time will change everything. I think this is a perfect example of that line. And this is for those people who change their lives at that time. I still think I am dreaming such things, but the thing is, it is happening. This is truly an interesting thing. And I have to admit, when I saw this type of achievement in bitcoin, I was truly inspired to do more in bitcoin. Today, bitcoin is also my life changer, and this thing will be lots of people’s life changers in 10 years.

[velosepur]

Time runs so fast. 12 years already - oh. Hal Finney received the first Bitcoin transaction.  That was start of everything probably  and the crypto started and continuing till today. Hard to predict future regarding this but I expect even bigger usage of crypto.

[DarkDays]

How times have changed, majority of people at the time had little idea at the time that this technology was going to have such a huge impact.

Looking at the history of Bitcoin and how it and the technology evolved over these 12 years is really fascinating, and of course, not what many people thought was possible.

The progressive outlook shows the this coin when from strength to strength, and whoever thinks this is the end are far from mistaken. We already see so many implementations of both BTC version (i.e. alts) and the technology it brought with it. I'm so excited about the wonders and possibilities we have from here...

To me one thing is certain, BTC is going to grow even more, it is only a matter of time until the regulatory hurdle (though I'm aware it's a big one) is slowly slowly getting tackled, and more countries as well as retailers see crypto as the 'go-to' problem to solving many challenging issues regarding identity, transparency etc.

[Welsh]

What I usually tell people who say they wish they had invested in Bitcoin earlier and then sell of in 2017 for huge profits is that; if you cannot hold for the next ten years now with the price history, you would have not held when there was little information about it even if you knew about it.

It's a common thought process, but you're likely right. This is usually the argument I bring up when someone says they wish they got in earlier, to make a profit back into Bitcoin. In all likelihood they would have sold before it ever got to the all time high. However, it's within our psychology to regret something that was probably unlikely to happen, even if you were to do x at the right time. It's the butterfly effect in well...effect. If they invested at the best possible time, two years later they would have doubled, tripled their money, and likely would have thought that was the best time to withdraw.

The thing is, there's two ends of the spectrum, either you regret not getting in early or you actually believe in Bitcoin as a currency, and could potentially miss the best money making opportunity in your life. I for one, can't promise anyone what the best thing to do is despite having quite a strong belief in Bitcoin. Though, it certainly has its faults, and  I've mentioned it before, it might not actually be THE solution to our problem, however it most certainly is the step in the right direction, and might actually prove to be the foundation that we build on for better control over our money, whether that means Bitcoin will be the currency to solve our problems depends on the world's needs, and the progress we make with development, adoption, and various other factors. However, it is possible that Bitcoin gets replaced by something better, hence why it would be the foundations that created the thought process needed to better our control over our own money.

I don't actually think we're close to that though, and it might never happen. I think it all depends on how Bitcoin is perceived by the masses, and it's development in the next few years, and whether anything else revolutionary comes into play.

[icopress]

[...] If they invested at the best possible time, two years later they would have doubled, tripled their money, and likely would have thought that was the best time to withdraw. The thing is, there's two ends of the spectrum, either you regret not getting in early or you actually believe in Bitcoin as a currency, and could potentially miss the best money making opportunity in your life. [...] However, it is possible that Bitcoin gets replaced by something better, hence why it would be the foundations that created the thought process needed to better our control over our own money.

I confess I dreamed about something like that a couple of times, but after waking up, some kind of incomprehensible feeling of regret remains, even though I did not even hear about bitcoin at all in those times in which my subconsciousness transferred me. In addition, like any Bitcoiner, I have repeatedly thought about which strategy would be the most acceptable for me personally, and came to the unequivocal conclusion that it is best to mentally prepare myself for the long-term hodling of Bitcoins. Simply because I have repeatedly become frustrated selling too early in the hope of buying more bitcoins, or buying too late. 

[yazher]

That was great progress after 12 years and now I can't even afford to buy 1 bitcoin. New projects back in the days attract investors with this story of bitcoin where it started almost zero value and now it reaches up to the point where most of the people cannot afford to buy a single one. That's why there are lots of people discouraged when the result of the project they invested their money with, didn't become what they expected instead they lose all their capital. That's why older investors are more clever not to believe those sweet words and they already know what's coming especially to those project that hasn't been having anything to show.

[traderethereum]

Bitcoin is one of the greatest regret of my life. 12 yrs ago I was curious what Bitcoin is but forget about it when I focused on freelance job. I wish I can go back time again, and buy atleast 10,000 Bitcoins at $0.10 each.

Many people are now thinking to back to the old-time but that is impossible as time goes by.
We can only try what we can while still hope that we can join in every time the coin gets a bull run to make a big profit.
At least, we can still buy bitcoin with the price now, although the price is at a high price to us.
If we think about how high bitcoin price will increase in the future, we should prepare before everything changes and we can not follow the bitcoin journey.