Bitcoin; the first cryptocurrency to ever be created. Considered to be the gold standard of crypto by many, its introduction in 2009 has forever changed the world of finance. Although still in its infancy, there is plenty of opportunity for growth.
As for now, let us focus on the origin of Bitcoin and what makes it great. In order to accomplish this, three key elements to both Bitcoin and crypto, in general, must be understood. The first of which is the origin of crypto, the second, blockchain technology, and lastly, its progression from the ‘Silk Road.’
Bitcoin’s Origin
Initially created in 2008 by what is presumed to be a group of unknowns using the alias “Satoshi Nakamoto,” Bitcoin was later launched in 2009 to become the world’s first cryptocurrency. Though it is hard to pinpoint Bitcoin’s initial listing price, it started trading in 2010 from $0.0008 to $0.08. It is hard to imagine that a little over a decade later it is currently trading for upwards of $45,000.
Related Reading | What Is Bitcoin? Guide for the Most Popular Cryptocurrency
Despite all of this, Bitcoin’s greatest achievement comes with blockchain technology. It is important to note that all of crypto is reliant on blockchain technology. Without blockchain technology, there would be no crypto. The two must exist in unison if either hopes to function.
What Is Blockchain Technology?
Simply put, blockchain technology is a database. The greatest takeaway, however, is transparency. Instead of a database that can be accessed by a select few, blockchain offers a massive database that can be viewed by any amount of users with ease. Now, this may seem alarming to many people, but in reality, transparency has plenty of positive features.
Just as of recently, over $660 million was stolen from one of the world’s biggest blockchain, Polygon. Considered to be the greatest crypto heist, one can imagine the amount of outrage in the crypto community. Thanks to blockchain technology, many of the coins stolen were frozen, and the hackers were quickly discovered. Now, most of the coins have been returned with more en route.
Related Reading | What is Blockchain Technology? How Secure is it?
In addition to transparency, blockchain offers a decentralized platform. Again, Bitcoin was the first to truly create a free market system, which can only be embodied within a decentralized platform. Simply put, no one owns Bitcoin or most other cryptos for that matter. This is due to the fact that Bitcoin cannot be created or destroyed. There is a limited supply, and that is all that there is. Now crypto can be be ‘discovered’ via mining, but that is a separate matter.
To clarify, crypto transactions are transparent; everyone can see them. In addition, they are also decentralized, or, owned by no one other than those who have it.
What Was The Silk Road?
As put by CoinDesk, “Named after the historical network of trade routes that connected Europe and Asia, the Silk Road was an online black market founded in February 2011 by the pseudonymous “Dread Pirate Roberts” (later revealed to be Ross Ulbricht).” Luckily, the silk road was later shut down in 2013 and Ross Ulbricht is now serving a life sentence in a penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.
This may certainly come as an alarm to many, but it is important to note that Bitcoin was never intended to operate off of the Silk Road. Furthermore, ‘dark wallets’ and the Tor browser were required to carry out transactions, making it difficult for the average trader to use or even be interested in using.
Bitcoin continues on its upward trend towards 50k | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Thankfully, over $1 billion dollars has been seized as of last year from the Silk Road, much of which can be accredited to the implementation of blockchain technology. Transparency is the name of the game here. Because of the creation of Bitcoin, users are now able to trade coins on a wide variety of blockchains that provide transparency and security for all who use it.
Featured image from iStockPhoto, Charts from TradingView.com
