Today, October 31, 2018, marks a special day for Bitcoin [BTC], the ruler of the cryptocurrency market. This is because the entire space is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin whitepaper today. It also marks the first decade of decentralization as the main purpose of the coin is believed to be a liberation from governments, financial institutions, and banks and giving the power back to people.

 

Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, unveiled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, a nine-page whitepaper which is hailed to be the next revolution, on October 31, 2008. The white paper emphasized creating a digital cash enabling online payment, which can be sent directly from one person to another without any intermediary. Now, many believe that the coin is going to unite the entire world by setting foot as a global digital currency. More so, some people claim that Bitcoin is going to be salvation during the next recession.

The coin initially gained its momentum in the dark web, mainly Silk Road, the key catalyst for the rise of Bitcoin’s adoption. Bitcoin was the only means of payment to purchase drugs, weapons, and assassination contracts in the marketplace. However, Silk Road was bought to an end in 2013 by the FBI, which also resulted in the arrest of Ross Ulbricht.

 

The second most notable catalyst is Mt. Gox, which is now remembered for its hack. Mt. Gox was the biggest Bitcoin exchange platform, handing over 70% of Bitcoin transactions in the world. Apart from the hack, the exchange platform is also famous for “Painting The Tape”, which led to an increase of the entire market cap.

Painting the Tape is a sort of market manipulation Mt. Gox indulged in, an attempt to influence the price by trading amongst themselves. Moreover, Mt. Gox used to buy Bitcoin at its lower price through various accounts and later on sell Bitcoins at an inflated price, thereby increasing the trade volume and the closing price. This led to the increase of Bitcoins price to almost $1200. However, this scheme tumbled in the market after the exchange was hacked, resulting in losing almost 7% of their customers funds. This was also followed by the price of Bitcoin plummeting in the market as the coin was traded at an inflated price in the first place, left with no one to carry the scheme forward.

 

The whitepaper is also the reason for the existence of all the other coins and start-ups in the space. The whitepaper drew the attention of Brain Armstrong, Founder of Coinbase, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, in the initial stage of Bitcoin. The other well-known people who joined the bandwagon in its early stage are Roger Ver, who is hailed as Bitcoin Jesus, Andreas Antonopoulos, author of Mastering Bitcoin, Litecoin creator, Charlie Lee, David Schwartz, creator of XRP ledger and Jed McCaleb, Founder of Mt. Gox.

The price of the coin has also had a significant impact on the market. Bitcoin reached its highest value in December 2017, reaching almost $20,000, drawing the attention of the entire world. The coin which was trading at $0.2 in July 2010, saw a huge spike in the coming year in the same month, with the price shooting to $31.9. The same year, the price also took a downward trend, hitting its lowest point for the year, $2 in November 2011.

This was followed by the coin making a massive comeback in November 2013 with its price reaching $1242. Post this, the coin gained a massive momentum in 2017, with the price climbing uphill throughout the year, only to stop at its current all-time high. However, this year seems to be quite contrary to 2017, as the price has been descending the hill.

 

Nonetheless, according to the community, the underlined rule for everyone interested in the cryptocurrency is – read the Bitcoin whitepaper.

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