Bitcoin started its journey in 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the largest cryptocurrency in the world, published its whitepaper. Bitcoin’s mainnet went live, setting the foundation of a crypto market. As an unknown asset, Bitcoin had no value back then.
Bitcoin Price History – Source: CoinMarketCap
The story really began with that famous 10,000 BTC pizza order which showed the world that Bitcoin could actually hold value and be used in day-to-day transactions. On the 22nd of May, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas in exchange for 10,000 BTC and Jeremy Sturdivant was the lucky guy who delivered the super-expensive pizzas to Laszlo.
Laszlo was one of the first programmers that contributed significantly to Bitcoin’s growth with his code.
Bitcoin’s price stayed around $10 for a couple of years until 2013 which was an iconic year for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin started 2013 changing hands at around $13. By April, the largest cryptocurrency was trading at around $200 and by the end of the year, Bitcoin was able to reach the $1000 milestone.
We can link this price increase to Mt. Gox, the first cryptocurrency exchange which was launched in 2010. During the first years of operation, Mt. Gox was able to attract more users by providing a relatively-accessible platform for people around the world to get their hands on Bitcoin. At its peak, Mt. Gox was handling more than 70% of all Bitcoin transactions.
Considering this, it wasn’t surprising that its crash in 2014 had a significant negative effect on the price of Bitcoin and its image. It took the innovative currency a while to make the world trust it again.
Bitcoin’s price started to pick the pace in late 2016, signaling an interesting year ahead for Bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem.
The 2017 bull run is quite infamous in the crypto world as it was over quite soon, taking the crypto market into a prolonged winter.
Bitcoin reached the $2000 mark in May 2017, but the asset didn’t stop there. The bull run had already started and Bitcoin reached as high as almost $20,000.
However, it was a very short-lived achievement for the crypto asset. Bitcoin went as high as $20,000 in mid-December and it took it only one week to lose almost 45% of its value. The 2017 crypto boom was mostly caused by market speculation and Inicial Coin Offerings (ICOs) that turned out to be scams (mostly!).
After the tragic burst of the 2017 bubble, Bitcoin stayed below $10,000, only going as high as $12,000 occasionally. The COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 made things even more gloomy for all financial markets, including crypto.
In March 2020, the stock market experienced various catastrophic crashes. On March 12th, also known as Black Thursday, Bitcoin fell below $5000, losing almost 40% of its value in one single day.
But don’t get disappointed as the asset ended the year with triumph.
By December 2020, Bitcoin was trading above the iconic $20,000 mark, a target it was eyeing for almost 3 years. The 2017 ATH was a significant resistance for the asset, and breaking it was just the beginning for Bitcoin and the crypto world.
2021 was the year Bitcoin set another All-time High (ATH) which was way beyond its 2017 breakthrough.
The upward trend continued in the first couple of months and Bitcoin experienced significant growth during this time. In March 2021, Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed to $61,000, taking other crypto assets along with it.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself; Bitcoin wasn’t able to hold this level for long and came back down to the $30,000 level by July. However, things looked a bit different this time.
Bitcoin started to pick up the pace again in a few months and set its new ATH of $68,789.63 in November. The market, however, corrected itself again.
The aftermath of the Covid-19 breakdown started to catch up with the world economy quite soon. During this time, multiple well-known crypto businesses went bankrupt and crashed. FTX, one of the main players in the crypto world, went down as well and the ripple effect of its failure is still hunting the space.
A high global inflation rate and the insolvency of well-known banks didn’t help with the situation either.
Bitcoin paid a short visit to its 2017 levels and fell as low as $16,000 in early 2023. The asset went back to the iconic $20,000 level again and has been playing in the $20k-$30k range ever since.