Connoisseurship of investment and asset management that you want to improve from your 20s (33) History of Bitcoin spread and beyond | Mynavi News Mynavi News Mynavi
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Cryptographic engineers around the world brush up
The history of Bitcoin, the world's first virtual currency (cryptocurrency), is the history of virtual currency itself and the history of its widespread use. Bitcoin has been attracting attention several times in Japan, but what kind of history does it take to reach the present?
Bitcoin began on October 31, 2008, when a person or team named Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper on the electronic currency Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list. Bitcoin was born from papers on the Internet, not academic papers.
The Satoshi Nakamoto paper was published, and in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto will release the first edition of Bitcoin Core (version 0.1). At the same time, the operation of Bitcoin started, and anyone can participate in the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin was born with improvements to version 0.1 by programmers (cryptographic engineers) around the world who agreed with Satoshi Nakamoto's dissertation. It is said that more than 90% of the original program has been improved. I'm surprised at the "90% or more improvement", but it's amazing because the Bitcoin system has been operating without stopping since 2009. No matter how good your marketing is, if you don't have a solid product, you can't do anything about it.
The first block in the Bitcoin lockchain is called the "Genesis block", which was created by Satoshi Nakamoto. Genesis Block was born on January 3, 2009, and the world's first Bitcoin holder was Satoshi Nakamoto.
And on January 12, the same year, the world's first Bitcoin transaction will take place. Satoshi Nakamoto sent (money) 50 BTC to Hal Finney, a programmer and cryptographic research expert. Finney, who was first interested in Satoshi Nakamoto's dissertation sent to the cryptography mailing list, became the Bitcoin holder.
On October 5th of that year, the New Liberty Standard (handle name) presented the exchange rate for Bitcoin and fiat currency for the first time. The price at this time was 1309.03 BTC per dollar, which was calculated from the electricity charges required for Bitcoin mining.
As of 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto's paper was published and in 2009, the number of people who knew Bitcoin was very small in the world, and it can be said that it was a minor currency known to some people.
Opening an exchange and introducing Bitcoin payment
In February 2010, the online exchange "The Bitcoin Market", which exchanges Bitcoin for US dollars, was opened in the United States, and it is now possible to buy and sell Bitcoin. The first transaction on The Bitcoin Market was 1 BTC = 8 cents.
On May 22, the same year, the world's first Bitcoin payment was completed in Florida, and it became a hot topic. Engineer Laszlo Hanets posted on May 18th, "I want to buy pizza with Bitcoin," on a bulletin board called the Bitcoin Forum for discussing cryptocurrencies, and the transaction was closed four days later. It is. This is a famous episode known as "Bitcoin Pizza Day".
At that time, Mr. Hanetsu got two pizzas for about $ 25 for 10,000 BTC. However, the pizzeria did not recognize the value of Bitcoin, it was just a proxy purchase. However, it can be said that the payment of these two pizzas suggested various possibilities of Bitcoin.
On July 18th of that year, programmer Jed McCaleb opened the Bitcoin exchange and named it "Mt. Gox". It is an exchange created by reviving the domain name used for the online exchange that buys and sells cards of trading card games, which was launched in 2007 but was in a dormant state. After that, exchanges will be opened all over the world besides The Bitcoin Market and Mt. Gox.
In March 2011, Jed McCaleb will sell Mt. Gox to Tokyo-based French programmer Tiban (based in Japan), a web hosting operator run by Mark Karpelès. This made Mt. Gox the first Bitcoin exchange operated by a company with headquarters registered in Japan. As of 2011, there was no license such as "virtual currency exchange company" by the Financial Services Agency of Japan, so no special license was required.
In the same month, the UK's first Bitcoin exchange, Britcoin (later renamed Intersango, but closed in 2012), was opened in the UK, and Bitcoin Brazil was opened in Brazil. In April, the bit market eu was opened, and it became possible to trade between multiple currencies including the euro and zloty (Polish currency) (due to financial difficulties at the end of October 2013). close).
When thinking "I want to own Bitcoin or virtual currency", the most familiar means of obtaining it is the exchange, so I am grateful as a holder that the number of legitimate exchanges will increase all over the world.
Other than the exchange, in October 2013, the world's first Bitcoin ATM was installed in Vancouver, Canada. Bitcoin ATM is an automated teller machine that allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin by depositing cash. As of September 2020, it has been installed in 71 countries around the world, and the number has exceeded 10,000.
In 2014, various companies around the world announced the introduction of Bitcoin payment and became a hot topic. In January of the same year, the American online sales giant "Overstock.com" introduced Bitcoin payment. In June, a major online travel agency, Expedia, introduced Bitcoin payments for hotel reservations. In July, the major PC company Dell introduced Bitcoin payment in the United States. In September, PayPal announced the start of support for Bitcoin payments. In December, Microsoft began accepting Bitcoin payments exclusively for residents of the United States. 2014 may be called the "first year of Bitcoin payment".
In Japan, Bitcoin payment became possible on DMM.com in March 2016. DMM.com is the first major Japanese company to introduce Bitcoin payments.
Diffusion and rule maintenance due to media exposure
Recently, we have seen more and more topics about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the news. As of 2009, Bitcoin was a minor currency known to some people, but since 2010, there are more opportunities to pay attention to it.
On July 11, 2010, Bitcoin was taken up on the American electronic bulletin board "Slashdot", which mainly deals with computer news, and the existence of Bitcoin became known to people other than some people. I did.
In April 2011, Time magazine in the United Kingdom featured Bitcoin as a "true digital cash" and became a hot topic. It was noticed for the first time that it was taken up by major media and that Bitcoin was used to settle drug transactions on the dark site "Silk Road" that was smuggling weapons etc. It rose to US $ 31.91 at one point (the FBI closed the "Silk Road" in October 2013).
At first glance, it is negative information to be used in crimes such as dark sites, but from a different point of view, it is also a proof that there is a specific demand for Bitcoin transactions, and it is a positive that raises the value as an investment target. There must have been many people who considered it information.
In Japan, NHK first featured Bitcoin on the program on December 4, 2013. It can be said that many Japanese became aware of Bitcoin in the wake of this broadcast and the 2014 Mt. Gox incident. The power of the media is amazing, isn't it?
On the other hand, the development of rules regarding Bitcoin and virtual currencies has also been promoted. On August 8, 2015, the New York State Finance Bureau enforced the Bitcoin-related business license system "Bit License" for the first time in the world. This made it necessary to obtain a license to operate a Bitcoin-related business in New York. The examination was extremely rigorous and complicated, and many crypto-related businesses were withdrawn from New York State. However, from the perspective of Bitcoin users, it also means that the selection of excellent businesses has been carried out, and it can be said that the sense of security regarding transactions has increased.
In Japan, the "Revised Funds Settlement Law" came into effect on April 1, 2017. This law defines a "cryptocurrency exchange business" and requires registration for "cryptocurrency exchange operators" who meet the requirements. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions will be supervised by the Financial Services Agency. I think that it is not only a disadvantage to have rules in place, because by making rules, companies that were difficult to enter until now will enter the industry and expand the possibilities.
The key is how to raise your social status
It can be said that Bitcoin has become widespread through the ingenuity of holders, such as opening exchanges, introducing payments, installing Bitcoin ATMs, spreading through the media, and establishing rules. Recently, the commercialization of financial products such as "Bitcoin ETFs" and "virtual currency investment trusts" has become a hot topic in each country. When these are approved, inflows from channels other than exchanges will increase.
With the increasing entry of traditional financial companies into the industry, how long will it take for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to become commonplace in corporate and personal portfolios?
Brian Estis, the founder of investment company Off the Chain Capital, seems to think it's "10 years" as of 2020. That may be the norm in 2030.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Estis said, "By 2029 and 2030, 90% of US households and people will use cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. In that case, not only the US economy but also stability And it will be part of the world economy. "
Evidence's 2030 forecast is based on an analysis of the S-curve. "The time it takes for a new technology to reach 10% from 0% penetration is the same as the time it takes for a new technology to reach 10% to 90%," Estis said. "Between 0% and 10% penetration." Is "what if". When a new technology reaches 10% penetration, it will be "when". PCs, internet, fax machines in the 1970s, washing machines in the 1940s, cars in the 1930s, railroads in the 1800s. Many examples, such as shipping in the 1600s, draw all the same diffusion curves. "
There are a lot of positive and negative opinions about Bitcoin, but I agree with Estis. The 2021 Bitcoin price plunge due to Mr. Elon Musk's remarks is sometimes described as "the return of the winter of 2018", but the four seasons will change. It may be more appropriate to call it the two seasons of "summer and winter" rather than the four seasons, but spring and summer will come again.
By 2030, the legislation of each country and international legislation should be improved. At the same time, technological innovation will progress. And as traditional financial companies enter the industry, the credit of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will increase and their social status will improve. In the meantime, the important thing is "whether you can believe in the potential of Bitcoin."
Hiroaki NakajimaBorn in Saitama Prefecture in 1986. Since 2012, she has participated in outsourcing projects of major human resources companies. After the project got off to a good start, he became independent in 2014 and has been active mainly as a freelancer since then. In 2014, she temporarily moved to Bali, Indonesia, and started investing in cryptocurrencies, real estate, and businesses around that time. She is currently a member of a business strategy team at multiple companies, as well as developing and operating apartments in Bali. The book "THE NEW MONEY Cryptocurrency Changes the World", which he supervised, is on sale.
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