Ever since its launch in 2008, bitcoin has experienced quite a wild ride. Over the decade, its value has fallen, spiked, crashed and peaked. It recently hit an all-time high with 1 BTC touching USD 60,000 this year.
In 2008, at the times of economic crisis when the world’s economy was tumbling, silently a domain was registered called bitcoin.org. It was the start of a phenomenal journey that would revolutionize digital currencies.
Later that year, a paper consisting of nine pages under the name “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” was published. It explained the bitcoin in detail and elaborated how a cryptocurrency can work.
In 2009, with collaboration with coders, and developers bitcoin started its operations. Just two years later into the phase, the founder Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared. Experts say that he collected millions of bitcoin before vanishing, which could be worth billions in the current market.
A year later, it valued for the first time when two pizzas were purchased for 10,000 bitcoins on 22 May. The day is also celebrated as Pizza bitcoin day.
As Bitcoin increased in popularity and value, other cryptocurrencies immerged. They aimed to improve the original bitcoin design.
During the journey, in 2013, its price crashed. And Later that year, it was linked to illegal activities.
Amid the troubles, bitcoin kept growing, and now it is every man’s want.
Nakamoto’s Identity
There is still a cloud of mystery over the founder of bitcoin. It is linked back to someone with the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. It could be the name of a person or an organization though no one knows for sure.
Nakamoto’s identity holds a significant economic and political importance. The cryptocurrency is a community without a leader that has led to debates over its future. Nakamoto, who still holds millions of Bitcoin has dominant control over the market as he has 5% of the total finite assets. If Satoshi wants, he can flood the market and topple the worth of bitcoins at any moment. But if bitcoin does get on to be the world’s next currency, Satoshi can go on to become the richest man in the world! It would be staggering if the world’s richest person in the world is someone unknown.
The inventor wants to stay anonymous, which could be due to privacy or protection. Experts say if the real identity of Satoshi is exposed. It could have a detrimental effect on cryptocurrency.
The transactions can easily be linked to a user, and if any in’s and out’s are traced back to the founder, it can cause havoc in the market.
There has been considerable effort to unmask the genius behind this phenomenon. Several media outlets have made efforts to uncover the identity, but there has been no clear candidate yet.
The most closest candidate is Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright. He has come out and claimed that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. Reports by outlet Wired claimed to have found evidence like cache and documents from an anonymous source. It is regarded as a hoax. And a majority of the people refuse to believe that Craig is Satoshi.
Final thoughts
All of the bitcoins will be mined by the year 2140, and by looking at the way bitcoin is growing, Satoshi can become the wealthiest person in the world. And if BTC becomes the worldwide currency, bitcoin would achieve the goal of decentralizing the supply of money.
It should not matter who invented it, but to benefit from the system which moves assets safely than ever.
