The 9 Biggest Moments in Crypto History
It’s been a long 15 years, and as 2024 draws to a close, we want to take a few minutes and look back at some of the notable moments in cryptocurrency history. Some of them are critical, while others are just funny and a joy to look back on.
No matter what brought you to this article, we invite you to sit back and relax as we go through some of the best moments in cryptocurrency history.
**Please note that these are in no particular order. This isn’t a ranking, but a collection.
1. The First Bitcoin Transaction
On January 12th, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto didn’t know it yet, but he was about to change the world. On this day, he sent Bitcoin to one Hal Finney, which was the first step to bringing a whole new peer-to-peer currency to the public.
While Satoshi Nakamoto has since disappeared, we can still thank this magical day for the fact that Bitcoin is now a household name.
2. Vitalik Buterin Does the Badger Dance
It’s a bit sad for Bitcoin fans that we will likely never get to meet the creator of the project, as the individual going by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto has disappeared entirely. The same can’t be said for Ethereum fans, as creator Vitalik Buterin is still around.
In fact, he’s more than around, and he continues to meet fans around the world at various crypto conferences. Our favorite is Edcon in 2018, when he did a badger dance for the audience. If you’re a fan of Vitalik Buterin and missed this moment, be sure to watch it now!
3. Bitcoin is Used to Buy Pizza
The first recorded Bitcoin purchase of pizza was on May 22, 2010, and it was made by one Laszlo Hanyecz. Although this event might not have been as significant as others on this list, it was the first time Bitcoin was exchanged for a physical good and as a result, it did create a new holiday known as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
Of course, Hanyecz did end up paying 10,000 BTC for the pizza, and we are sure he is kicking himself over it now. But hey, at least he got to start a holiday!
4. Bitcoin Sign Guy
On July 11, 2017, Janet Yellen was at a congressional hearing when a man in the background randomly held up a “Buy Bitcoin” sign. Fans of the crypto found this hilarious, and those who hadn’t heard about it yet likely went to look it up after this moment.
The man holding the sign originally remained anonymous, likely due to the fact that he was worried he would get in trouble, but has since been revealed to be Christian Langalis. This moment would go down in history as the first peaceful protest against the US dollar, and we are glad that Bitcoin got to have this fun moment.
5. Mt. Gox Hack
This next entry on our list is a bit sad. It kicked off one of the first big downfalls of crypto and it is none other than the Mt. Gox Hack. Prior to the hack, this Bitcoin exchange, known as Mt. Gox, held over 70% of all available crypto—which is why this hack was so devastating. It resulted in the loss of 850,000 BTC and affected users around the world.
While this event was sad, it was also critical, as it displayed the need for more strict security protocols on exchanges. Of course, we would have rather it not happened, but it did, and we are just glad it happened sooner rather than later.
6. Bitconnect Scam Creator Indicted
Unfortunately, the cryptocurrency world is riddled with scams. One of those was Bitconnect, which came about during the crypto bull market of 2017. The scam worked somewhat like a Ponzi scheme, paying old investors with the investments made by new investors.
The scam was eventually revealed, and while it was initially sad that everyone who invested lost everything, the US government remained on the hunt for the creator, Satisk Kumbhani, and he was indicted on February 25th, 2022.
7. Bitcoin’s First Fork
The number one complaint about Bitcoin is that it is not adaptable and “too slow” to truly be legal tender. While this may be the case for the original blockchain, there have been several forks (or splits) over the years that have yielded some interesting Bitcoin-based projects.
That brings us to the next entry on our list, which is the first Bitcoin fork in 2014, which yielded Bitcoin XT. While the proponents of this hard fork eventually lost interest, the first fork of the Bitcoin platform was a major moment in crypto history and would serve as a catalyst for later splits, some of which have become critical players in the crypto world.
8. PayPal Facilitates Crypto Transactions
When cryptocurrency was first launched, it wasn’t accessible to everyone. In order to trade crypto, you would have to go through several steps to make it happen, and there was often a lot of risk involved. All this changed in October 2020.
This is the year that one of the largest payment processors in the world, PayPal, added functionality for users to send and spend crypto on their platforms. This made it possible for almost anyone to pay with crypto if they so choose. While we know many people didn’t actually end up using this functionality, it was still a major step forward for crypto as a whole.
9. Bitcoin Becomes Legal Tender
When Bitcoin was launched in 2009, there were many individuals who assumed it would never become legal tender. All of this changed on September 7th, 2001, when the president of El Salvador announced that Bitcoin would be a legal currency within the country.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, as many local families didn’t understand how to use or spend BTC when this was announced. But with some developments in infrastructure, this decision became a minor success for the country and put them on news platforms around the world.
