October 31, 2008 marks the birth of Bitcoin as we know it today after Satoshi published an article titled: Bitcoin: “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”.
The Bitcoin whitepaper explains the problem with centralized electronic payment systems like banks and financial institutions while also proposing how a tamper-proof, decentralized peer-to-peer protocol solves the issue.
Simply put, Satoshi’s solution in the document was to completely eliminate the centralized third-party system, which will allow people to become their own bank and deal with each other without depending on a “third party” to process the transaction. .
The proposed protocol is built on a cryptographically secure system that lays the foundation of what is known as the back-bone of cryptocurrencies today – blockchain technology.
The decentralized system also solves the problem of trust and the Byzantine loophole thanks to its proof-of-work algorithm, which allows new updates to be implemented if at least 51% of the network consents.
The Birth of a Trillion-Dollar Industry
Two months after the whitepaper was published, the first Bitcoin block was mined on January 3, 2009. Cryptocurrency not only became a large sum of money, but it also spawned a trillion-dollar industry. dollars from zero in just over a decade.
According to Coinmarketcap, the total crypto market is worth over $2.5 trillion with Bitcoin holding 44.2% of that value at a market cap of $1.1 trillion, making it the most valuable cryptocurrency, as it has always been.
Bitcoin has risen over 2,066,670,000% since 2010, with the very first recorded trading price of $ 0.003 in the Bitcoinmarket.
Interestingly, unlike most crypto projects, Satoshi Nakamoto did not conduct any public sale or funding raising for the launch of Bitcoin. The main cryptocurrency has been mined by the crypto community and later by huge bitcoin mining companies by the time this is happening these days.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains one of the most enduring mysteries in the crypto space. To this day, no one knows the true identity of the pseudonym that created Bitcoin as it disappeared from the scene in 2010.
Over the years, there has been speculation on who it might be, but despite all efforts to find out who the mysterious founder is, Satoshi continues to remain rather elusive. Some people even believe “he” might be dead.
Meanwhile, Craig Wright has repeatedly claimed to have created Bitcoin and participated in several legal battles in an attempt to prove that he really is Satoshi Nakamoto.
Regardless of who created the protocol, reports claim that he owns more than a million BTC, which is worth more than $60 billion at current market prices. To learn more about Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, read these five facts you probably didn’t know about Satoshi Nakamoto.
