Bitcoin, the world’s first decentralized digital currency, was created in 2009 by an anonymous person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. But how much was bitcoin worth when it first started? The answer is not as straightforward as you might think.
When bitcoin was first introduced, it had no real value because it was not traded on any exchange. In fact, the first Bitcoin transaction involved the purchase of two pizzas for 10,000 BTC, which is now famously known as ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day.’
It wasn’t until the first Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, was established in July 2010 that bitcoin began to have a price. At the time, one bitcoin was worth around $0.07. This was the price at which the first bitcoin transaction on an exchange occurred, and it marked the beginning of bitcoin’s price discovery journey.
Over the next few years, bitcoin’s price remained relatively stable, hovering between $0.20 and $0.30 for most of 2011. However, in late 2011, the price began to rise sharply, reaching a high of $31 in June 2011, before experiencing a sharp correction and falling back down to around $2.
In 2013, bitcoin’s price experienced another massive surge, rising from around $13 in January to a high of over $1,100 in December. This was largely driven by increased media attention and speculation, as well as the growing adoption of bitcoin by merchants and consumers.
However, the price of bitcoin crashed again in 2014, falling to around $200 by the end of the year. This was in part due to the collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange, which was handling around 70% of all bitcoin transactions at the time.
Since then, bitcoin’s price has been highly volatile, experiencing both significant ups and downs. In 2017, the price of bitcoin reached an all-time high of almost $20,000, before crashing back down to around $3,000 in early 2019.
Today, bitcoin’s price is hovering around $50,000, marking a significant increase from its early days. However, it’s important to remember that bitcoin’s value is highly volatile and subject to market fluctuations.
So, how much was bitcoin worth when it first started? The answer is that it had no real value until it was traded on an exchange, and even then, its value was highly volatile and subject to change. However, the introduction of bitcoin paved the way for the development of the cryptocurrency industry, which is now worth billions of dollars and has revolutionized the way we think about money and finance.