Further information: Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography to control its creation and management, rather than relying on central authorities.The presumed pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto integrated many existing ideas from the cypherpunk community when creating bitcoin. Over the course of bitcoin's history, it has undergone rapid growth to become a significant currency both on and offline - from the mid 2010s onward, some businesses on a global scale began accepting bitcoins in addition to standard currencies.

On 18 August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered.[11] Later that year on 31 October, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System[12] was posted to a cryptography mailing list.[11] This paper detailed methods of using a peer-to-peer network to generate what was described as "a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust".[13][14][15] In January 2009, the bitcoin network came into existence with the release of the first open source bitcoin client and the issuance of the first bitcoins,[13][16][17][18] with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the first block of bitcoins ever (known as the genesis block), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins. Embedded in the coinbase of this block was the text.

Among the factors which may have contributed to this rise were the European sovereign-debt crisis—particularly the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis—statements by FinCEN improving the currency's legal standing and rising media and Internet interest.[125][126][127][128]

Until 2013, almost all market with bitcoins were in United States dollars (US $).[129][130][131]

As the market valuation of the total stock of bitcoins approached US$1 billion, some commentators called bitcoin prices a bubble.[132][133][134] In early April 2013, the price per bitcoin dropped from $266 to around $50 and then rose to around $100. Over two weeks starting late June 2013 the price dropped steadily to $70. The price began to recover, peaking once again on 1 October at $140. On 2 October, The Silk Road was seized by the FBI. This seizure caused a flash crash to $110. The price quickly rebounded, returning to $200 several weeks later.[135] The latest run went from $200 on 3 November to $900 on 18 November.[136] Bitcoin passed US$1,000 on 28 November 2013 at Mt. Gox.

Prices fell to around $400 in April 2014, before rallying in the middle of the year. They then declined to not much more than $200 in early 2015.

Bitcoin value history (comparison to US$)
Date USD : 1 BTC Notes
Jan 2009 – Mar 2010 basically nothing No exchanges or market, users were mainly cryptography fans who were sending bitcoins for hobby purposes representing low or no value. In March 2010, user "SmokeTooMuch" auctioned 10,000 BTC for $50 (cumulatively), but no buyer was found.[138][139]
May 2010 less than $0.01 On 22 May 2010,[140] Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world transaction by buying two pizzas in Jacksonville, Florida for 10,000 BTC.[141][142][143]
Mar 2010 $0.003 On 17 Mar 2010, the now-defunct BitcoinMarket.com exchange is the first one that starts operating.
July 2010 $0.08Increase In five days, the price grew 900%, rising from $0.008 to $0.08 for 1 bitcoin.
Feb 2011 – April 2011 $1.00Increase Bitcoin takes parity with US dollar.[144]
8 July 2011 $31.00Increase top of first "bubble", followed by the first price drop
Dec 2011 $2.00Decrease minimum after few months
Dec 2012 $13.00 slowly rising for a year
11 April 2013 $266Increase top of a price rally, during which the value was growing by 5-10% daily.
May 2013 $130Decrease basically stable, again slowly rising.
June 2013 $100Decrease in June slowly dropping to $70, but rising in July to $110
Nov 2013 $350–$1,242Increase from October $150–$200 in November, rising to $1,242 on 29 November 2013.[145]
Dec 2013 $600–$1,000Decrease Price crashed to $600, rebounded to $1,000, crashed again to the $500 range. Stabilized to the ~ $650–$800 range.
Jan 2014 $750–$1,000Increase Price spiked to $1000 briefly, then settled in the $800–$900 range for the rest of the month.[146]
Feb 2014 $550–$750Increase Price fell following the shutdown of Mt. Gox before recovering to the $600–$700 range.
Mar 2014 $450–$700Increase Price continued to fall due to a false report regarding bitcoin ban in China[147] and uncertainty over whether the Chinese government would seek to prohibit banks from working with digital currency exchanges.[148]
Apr 2014 $340–$530Decrease The lowest price since the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis had been reached at 3:25 AM on 11 April[149]
May 2014 $440–$630Increase The downtrend first slow down and then reverse, increasing over 30% in the last days of May.
Mar 2015 $200–$300Decrease Price fell through to early 2015.
Early Nov 2015 $395–$504Increase Large spike in value from $225–$250 at the start of October to the 2015 record high of $504.
May–June 2016 $450–$750Increase Large spike in value starting from $450 and reaching a maximum of $750.
July–September 2016 $600–$630Decrease Price stabilized in the low $600 range.
October–November 2016 $600–$780Increase As the Chinese Renminbi depreciated against the US Dollar, bitcoin rose to the upper $700s.
January 2017 $800–$1,150Increase
5-12 January 2017 $750–$920Decrease Price fell 30% in a week, reaching a multi-month low of $750.
2-3 March 2017 $1,290+ Increase Price broke above the November 2013 high of $1,242[150] and then traded above $1,290.[151]
April 2017 $1,210–$1,250Decrease
May 2017 $2,000 Increase Price reached a new high, reaching US$1,402.03 on 1 May 2017,[152] and over US$1,800 on 11 May 2017.[153] On 20 May 2017, the price of one bitcoin passed US$2,000 for the first time.
May–June 2017 $2,000–$3,200+Increase Price reached an all-time high of $3,000 on 12 June and is oscilating around $2,500 since then. As of 6 August 2017, the price is $3,270.
August 2017 $4,400 Increase On 5 August 2017, the price of one BTC passed US$3,000 for the first time. On 12 August 2017, the price of one BTC passed US$4,000 for the first time. Two days later, the price of one BTC passed US$4,400 for the first time.
September 2017 $5,000Increase On 1 September 2017, bitcoin broke US$5,000 for the first time, topping out at US$5,013.91.[154]
12 September 2017 $2,900Decrease Price dipped harshly from China's bitcoin ICO and exchange crackdown (those following improper practices)
13 October 2017 $5,600Increase Price shot back up as the world moves on past the incident following China's crackdown
21 October 2017 $6,180 Increase Price hit another all-time high as the impending forks draw closer
6 November 2017 $7,300 Increase
17-20 November 2017 $7,600-8,100 Increase Briefly topped at USD $8004.59/BTC at 01:14:11 UTC before retreating from highs. At 05:35 UTC on 20 November 2017 it stood at USD$7,988.23/BTC according to CoinDesk.[155] This surge in bitcoin may be related to developments in the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. The market reaction in one bitcoin exchange is alarming as 1 BTC topped nearly US$13,500, just shy of 2 times the value of the International market.[156][157]
15 December 2017 17,900 Increase Bitcoin price reached $17,900[158]
22 December 2017 13,800 Decrease Bitcoin price loses one third of its value in 24 hours, dropping below $14,000.[159]