📄It All Started with a Whitepaper...

In 2008, while most of us were worrying about the global financial crisis, someone named Satoshi Nakamoto dropped a 9-page document on the internet. It was called:

🧾 Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System

And just like that, the world’s first cryptocurrency was born — not with a bang, but with a brainy blog post.

💻 Who (or What?) Is Satoshi Nakamoto?

No one knows who Satoshi really is — a person? A group? A time-traveling spreadsheet wizard?
Whoever it was, they had one big idea:

“What if money didn’t need a bank?”

So they built Bitcoin, a form of digital money that could be sent between people directly, without a middleman.

🍕 The First-Ever Bitcoin Purchase Was... Pizza?

Yep. In 2010, someone paid 10,000 BTC for two large pizzas.
Today, those coins would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

🍕 May 22nd is now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day.

🌐 From Nerd Hobby to Global Movement

At first, crypto was a techy underground thing — but by 2017, Bitcoin hit $20,000, and suddenly everyone (including your nan) was talking about it.

Since then, thousands of new coins have launched, crypto exchanges opened, NFTs popped off, and governments… well, they’re still figuring it out. Some things don't change.

Bitcoin didn’t just create a new currency — it created a new way to think about who controls money.

💸Why It Still Matters Today

Bitcoin kicked off the crypto revolution. It showed that:

• You can control your own money
• Transactions don’t need banks
• Digital value is real value
• It’s not just magic internet money. It’s a new idea of what money can be.

Before we move on, check out this timeline and how far crypto has come already!

🧱 2009 – The Birth of Bitcoin

• A mysterious figure (or group?) called Satoshi Nakamoto launches Bitcoin.
• The first block (aka the Genesis Block) is mined on January 3, 2009.
• It’s worth… nothing. Just a cool experiment.

Fun fact: The Genesis Block contains a hidden message from a Times newspaper headline about banks getting bailed out. Oof, subtle.

🍕 2010 – The First Real Bitcoin Purchase

• On May 22, 2010, a programmer named Laszlo buys two pizzas for 10,000 BTC.
  (Today that’s worth... millions. Ouch.)
• Bitcoin gets its first market value: $0.003 per coin.
• May 22 is now celebrated as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Laszlo is both a legend and a cautionary tale.

📈 2011–2013 – From $1 to $1,000

• 2011: Bitcoin hits $1, and people start taking it seriously.
• Competitors pop up, like Litecoin and Namecoin.
• 2013: Bitcoin briefly hits $1,000, then crashes down again (get used to this pattern).

⚠️ 2014 – Mt. Gox Collapse

• Mt. Gox, a major Bitcoin exchange, is hacked and goes bankrupt, losing 850,000 BTC.
• People start asking: “Is crypto safe?”
  (Spoiler: Yes... if you’re careful.)

🔥 2017 – The First Crypto Boom

• Crypto goes mainstream. ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) are everywhere.
• Bitcoin hits $20,000 in December — then falls hard in 2018.
• People who bought in early? Rich.
• People who FOMOed at the top? Not so rich.

🐻 2018–2019 – The Crypto Winter

• Prices fall across the board. Bitcoin drops to around $3,000.
• Projects go bust. Scams get exposed.
• The media declares crypto is dead. (Spoiler: it isn’t.)

🚀 2020–2021 – The Comeback & NFT Craze

• Bitcoin hits $64,000 in April 2021. Ethereum follows suit.
• NFTs explode. Everyone’s buying digital apes.
• Big names like Tesla, Visa, and El Salvador (yes, the country) adopt Bitcoin.
• The buzzword of the year: Web3.

🧊 2022 – Crash, Scandals & the FTX Implosion

• Crypto markets crash again.
• LUNA and TerraUSD collapse.
• FTX, one of the biggest exchanges, implodes in a very public disaster.
• The word of the year? Probably “scam.”

🔁 2023–2024 – Recovery & Regulation

• Bitcoin starts recovering and stabilises around $30–$40K.
• Real World Assets (RWAs) and tokenisation become the next big thing.
• Bitcoin ETFs are approved in the U.S., letting traditional investors in.
• Governments talk tougher on crypto, but clearer rules = more trust.

👀 2025 and Beyond – What's Next?

• Will Bitcoin break $125K?
• Will your grandma finally own ETH?
• Will crypto actually replace banks?
• Time will tell — but the story is still being written.

Now that we have that covered, let's delve into what a Blockchain is, the building blocks of crypto.