Bitcoin: the history of the rate and what will happen next
Early period: 2009 — 2014
On January 3, 2009, the world's first blockchain protocol was launched, and Bitcoin was obtained. From this moment, the history of the entire crypto industry begins. At that time, Bitcoin had no price, and the only way to get cryptocurrency was by mining or sending it to another user.
The New Liberty Standard was the first exchange to buy Bitcoin cryptocurrency. On October 5, 2009, a cryptocurrency market was established for the first time: for a total of $ 1, it was possible to purchase 1,309.03 BTC. In other words, the price of one bitcoin was only $ 0,00076.
In July 2010, the famous MT GOX crypto-rope was launched. In early November, the Bitcoin exchange rate on this exchange for the first time reached $ 0.5, although a month earlier a year was only $ 0.06. Then, the capitalization of Bitcoin, for the first time in history, exceeded $ 1 million.
In March 2011, the price of Bitcoin had already reached $ 1, and on June 2, it got a maximum of $ 31.91, according to the MT Gox crypto account. After only ten days, the rate rolled up to $ 10. Then, the first exchanges appeared to exchange BTC for pounds sterling (GBP) and Brazilian realities (BRL).
On June 19, the MT Gox exchange was hacked for the first time: hackers stole logins, hashs passwords and email addresses of 60,000 exchanges. As a result of the attack, the BTC rate fell from $ 17.5 to $ 0.01.
In October, the famous Bitpay payment provider published a report stating that the number of sellers worldwide accepting Bitcoin exceeded 1000. On November 28, 2012, the first halving occurred in the Bitcoin network, due to which miners' reward for the block's production decreased from 50 to 25 BTC.
In March 2013, the capitalization of Bitcoin exceeded $ 1 billion, and in April, the price of BTC first overcame $ 100. In November of the same year, the first cryptocurrency course also overcame the $ 1000 mark after the famous American developer of online games the Zynga supported Bitcoin. The number of Bitcoin transactions every month exceeded 1 million.
Despite the achievement of new price maximums, 2013-2014 became not the most prosperous for Bitcoin and the crypto industry as a whole: China prohibited the use of cryptocurrencies within its country, as a result of which one of the world's largest BTC China cryptocurrency was closed. In 2013, MT GOX, against the backdrop of cryptocurrency distribution, attracted the attention of the American FINCEN regulator. In February 2014, it went bankrupt after the theft of 744,000 BTC — this is an absolute record among such incidents, and at the time of writing, the amount of damage was $ 32 104 939 200.
In August 2015, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin for payment exceeded 160,000. Most of the time, the bitcoin exchange rate varied between $ 200 — $ 300, and only at the end of the year exceeded $ 400.
In December 2016, the rate was again fixed above $ 900. The second Bitcoin halving took place in the same year, and the network hash rate exceeded 1 EH/S for the first time. The number of crypto maps also reached a record — 771 Bitcoin ATMs were installed worldwide.
The first wave of Cryptobum: 2017 — 2020
2017 was the last year when Bitcoin could be purchased at less than $ 1000. Then, Bitcoin gained worldwide fame, and many large media began to write about cryptocurrency actively. The number of Bitcoin users 2017 increased to 34.82 million, while in 2016, there were only 5.78 million. The activity in the Bitcoin blockchain became so high that in December, the average cost of the network commission reached $ 55, according to Bitinfocharts.
Since the beginning of 2017, the price of Bitcoin increased from $ 998 to $ 7,403 in November, and in December, it updated the historical maximum (ATH) to $ 19,345. If, at the beginning of the year, the first cryptocurrency was $ 16 billion, then at the price of the price, it reached the peak of $ 320 billion. After that, in 2018, a long period of correction began, called "cryptowinter": in just 16 days after reaching the peak, the price of BTC fell more than 2 times to $ 7,000.
By the end of 2018, the BTC rate fell below $ 4000 for the first time since October 2013. In June 2019, the price of Bitcoin again rose above $ 10,000, after which it remained in the range of $ 7,000 — $ 10,000 until March 2020.
In March 2020, the price of the first cryptocurrency again fell below $ 4000 against the backdrop of the fall of stock indices related to the WHO announcement about the pandemic's beginning. However, by May, when the third and last at the moment, the halving, the price of cryptocurrency rose above $ 9000. Already in December 2020, the price of BTC reached a new maximum, rising above $ 20,000.
2021 — 2023
In 2021, a new bitcoin radiation began, and the first cryptocurrency rate began to update ATH again: first $ 40,000 in January and then $ 61,500 in April. After this rapid growth, by July of the same year, the rate fell to $ 31,000 but then quickly began to recover and reached a new maximum of $ 68,789 on November 10.
After reaching the new ATH, the price began to fall quickly and, by the end of 2022, decreased to $ 16,600. Throughout 2023, the price of BTC was restored, and in December, the annual maximum rose above $ 43,000.
What expects Bitcoin?
Analysts have been waiting for a new bitcoin radiation in the next few years. This is due to at least two events:
- Firstly, the upcoming Bitcoin halving should take place on April 23, 2024. If you look at the previous periods' statistics, the BTC price updates its maximum about two years after halving.
- Secondly, the possible approval of SEC applications for launching Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock and other large investment companies. Some experts believe that the US Securities and Exchange Commission may approve applications in December 2023; however, the deadline for their consideration in March 2024 is just before halving.
Analysts from Vaheck believe that in the event of approval of applications at the end of 2023, Bitcoin ETF will be able to attract $ 2.4 billion in early 2024. Cryptoquant believes that by this time, the BTC rate can already reach $ 50,000, and Matrixport will predict a Bitcoin growth of up to $ 125,000 by the end of 2024.