Bitcoin

Pre-history Bitcoin borrows from nearly three decades of research by academics, cypherpunk practitioners, and hobbyists who tried to create similar payment protocols. Some of the most prominent projects that preceded Bitcoin include: Digicash, b-money, Hashcash, e-gold, and Bit Gold. Bitcoin is often associated with Austrian economic theories, anarcho-capitalist principles, and general libertarian politicking by virtue of the exclusive developer community to whom Nakamoto first released their white paper, certain protocol design characteristics, and the political affiliations of early Bitcoin investors. Conception to Launch On October 31, 2008,... Learn more about Bitcoin's background.

Satoshi Nakamoto created the first bitcoins on January 3, 2009, by mining the genesis block. The genesis block mining reward (50 BTC) is unspendable due to the original client's block database and transaction database configuration. The coinbase of the first block included the following text: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" This text has been interpreted both as a proof that the block was created on January 3, 2009, as well as a comment on fractional-reserve banking. Hal Finney... Learn more about Bitcoin's supply & distribution.