A One-Minute Guide to the True History of Cryptocurrency

🟠 Origins of Cypherpunks
In 1993, Eric Hughes published the "Cypherpunk Manifesto," advocating for the use of cryptographic technology to defend personal privacy and resist systemic surveillance.
🟠 Early Experiments
In the 1990s, electronic currency concepts like DigiCash and B-money emerged one after another, but all failed to sustain due to reliance on centralized architectures.
🟠 Birth of Bitcoin
On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the white paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," laying the foundation for decentralized digital currency.
🟠 Genesis Block
On January 3, 2009, the Bitcoin network officially launched, with the first block embedded with the title "The Second Bailout for Banks," metaphorically highlighting the plight of traditional financial systems.
🟠 First Physical Transaction
On May 22, 2010, programmer Hanyecz used 10,000 Bitcoins to buy two pizzas, forming the first recognized exchange rate: approximately 0.004 USD per Bitcoin.
🟠 Dark Web Catalyst
From 2011 to 2013, platforms like Silk Road used Bitcoin for anonymous transactions, promoting early circulation and triggering regulatory and technological upgrades.
🟠 Era of Smart Contracts
In 2014, Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum and introduced programmable smart contracts, expanding blockchain application scenarios.
🟠 ICO Frenzy
In 2017, the Ethereum ERC-20 standard simplified token issuance, sparking the first token issuance bubble, with thousands of projects raising over $20 billion.
🟠 Bull Market Peak
In 2017, Bitcoin's price approached $19,000, with a total market cap surpassing $300 billion, and the "blockchain revolution" became a global focus.
🟠 Regulatory Tightening
In 2018, many countries cracked down on ICO chaos, with the market dropping over 80%, and the industry entered a period of adjustment.
🟠 Institutional Adoption
Starting in 2020, publicly listed companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla incorporated Bitcoin into their asset allocations, promoting compliance.
🟠 Ecosystem Explosion
In 2021, Bitcoin broke through $68,000, with the total cryptocurrency market cap exceeding $3 trillion, and innovative applications like DeFi and NFTs flourished.
🟠 Crisis and Rebirth
In 2022, events like the Luna crash and FTX bankruptcy occurred one after another, Bitcoin fell to $16,000, and the market entered a winter period, beginning the next cycle.
🧩
Cryptocurrency is a product of the intertwining of cryptographic idealism and financial speculative frenzy.
It attempts to solve core issues of traditional finance: the trust costs of centralization, cross-border payment barriers, and currency devaluation due to excessive issuance.
But over more than a decade of development, the ideal of decentralization has continually compromised reality: Bitcoin has evolved from "peer-to-peer electronic cash" to "digital gold"; Ethereum has shifted back to proof of stake for scalability; exchanges have become the de facto new centers.
More importantly, human nature in finance has never changed: leverage, speculation, Ponzi schemes, and regulatory arbitrage are replayed in more extreme forms in the crypto market.