BLOCKCHAIN HISTORY
History of Blockchain
Blockchain’s origin is widely credited to cryptography David Chaum, who first proposed a blockchain-like protocol among a decentralized node network in a 1982 dissertation. Its first traces, however, go all the way back to the 1970s, when computer scientist Ralph Merkle patented Hash trees, also known as Merkle trees, that makes cryptographic linking between blocks of stored data possible.
These theories would come together in 1991, with the launch of the first-ever blockchain product. In an effort to create tamper-proof records in a digital era, scientist Stuart Haber and cryptographer Scott Stornetta developed a computational solution that would time-stamp documents using hash function in a chronological chain of digital certificates. Thanks to the help of mathematician David Bayer, Merkle trees were incorporated into the design the following year, so that data could be consolidated into one block — similar to what we know blockchain’s functionality to be like today.
Then, in 2009, Bitcoin — the world’s first cryptocurrency — debuted. Launched under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the peer-to-peer electronic cash system not only established a digital alternative to fiat currency, it also introduced the concept of a public, decentralized blockchain that drops third party intervention. This project was largely responsible for introducing blockchain into our everyday vernacular, and wasn’t rivaled until 2015, with the launch of the Ethereum platform. Its creator, Vitalik Buterin, advances blockchain tech through smart contracts — self-executing programs that automate transaction verification — and decentralized applications, or DApps, that enable developers to partake in Web3 by building their own applications.
And while blockchain is near-synonymous with Web3 and cryptocurrency, the distributed ledger technology has found its way into a number of industries — from easing logistics bottlenecks to providing transparent patient care — in the two decades since its initial real-world application.
Blockchain Timeline
(2008) Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for a person or group, publishes “Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System.”
(2009) The first successful Bitcoin (BTC) transaction occurs between computer scientist Hal Finney and the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.
(2010) Florida-based programmer Laszlo Hanycez completes the first ever purchase using Bitcoin — two Papa John’s pizzas.
(2011) 1 BTC = 1 USD, giving the cryptocurrency parity with the US dollar.
(2011) Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wikileaks and other organizations start accepting Bitcoin as donations.
2013) BTC market cap surpasses $1 billion, and Bitcoin reaches $100/BTC.
(2013) Buterin publishes the “Ethereum Project” paper, suggesting that blockchain has other possibilities besides Bitcoin (like smart contracts).
(2014) The first-known NFT is minted.
2015) Number of merchants accepting BTC exceeds 100,000.
(2015) NASDAQ and San-Francisco blockchain company Chain team up to test the technology for trading shares in private companies.
(2016) Tech giant IBM announces a blockchain strategy for cloud-based business solutions.
(2017) Bitcoin reaches $1,000/BTC.
(2017) Cryptocurrency market cap reaches $150 billion.
(2018) IBM develops a blockchain-based banking platform with large banks like Citi and Barclays signing on.
(2019) China’s President Ji Xinping publicly embraces blockchain as China’s central bank announces it is working on its own cryptocurrency.
(2019) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announces the creation of Bakkt, a digital wallet company that includes crypto trading.
(2020) BTC almost reaches $30,000 by the end of 2020.
(2020) PayPal announces it will allow users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies.
(2020) The Bahamas becomes the world’s first country to launch its central bank digital currency.
(2021) Bitcoin surpasses $1 trillion in market value.
(2021) Popularity for the implementation of Web3 rises.
(2022) Cryptocurrency loses $2 trillion in market value, due to economic inflation and rising interest rates.
(2022) The U.K. government proposes safeguards for stablecoin holders.