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Bitcoin and the crypto boom
first block January 3, 2009· Innovation· Innovations & industries
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
A digital currency launched in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, run on a shared public ledger instead of a bank or government.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
Bitcoin's 'blockchain' is a ledger copied across thousands of computers. 'Miners' compete to add each block of transactions, earning new coins; total supply is capped at 21 million. In 2010 a programmer paid 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas. Prices swung wildly, passing $1,000 (2013), $69,000 (2021) and about $126,000 (October 2025), with crashes of 70% or more between. Ethereum, stablecoins and thousands of imitators followed. Early holders, miners and exchanges grew rich; late buyers and fraud victims lost heavily.
Impact on society and the economy
It created a new asset class worth trillions and forced governments to decide how to treat money no state issues, from outright bans to US-approved bitcoin funds (2024).
How we know
The white paper and the full public transaction record since 2009, exchange price data, and Cambridge University estimates that its electricity use rivals a mid-sized country's.
Still debated
Satoshi's identity is unknown, as is the fate of about a million untouched early coins thought to be Satoshi's. Whether bitcoin is 'digital gold' or a speculative bubble is hotly debated.
Inside this (1)
Connections (2)
▸2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession inspired Bitcoin and the crypto boomMostly agreed
The connection
Satoshi Nakamoto posted the Bitcoin white paper in October 2008, six weeks after Lehman's failure, proposing money that needs no bank or government. The first block, mined January 3, 2009, embedded a Times of London headline: 'Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.' Early fans framed bitcoin as a protest against bailouts and central-bank money printing.
When and how
Online: the paper went to a cryptography mailing list on October 31, 2008, and the network began January 3, 2009, both from the pseudonymous Satoshi.
How sure are we?
The white paper and genesis block are public, with the headline embedded in the code; Satoshi's forum posts criticized central banks.
Debates
Satoshi said design work began in 2007, before the crash, so the crisis may have shaped the timing and message more than the idea itself.
▸Bitcoin and the crypto boom fueled the crypto exchange of Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapseMostly agreed
The connection
The 2020–21 crypto boom, with bitcoin rising from about $5,000 to $69,000, brought millions of new traders. FTX earned fees from them, offered risky leveraged bets and issued its own token, FTT. Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research used FTX customer deposits for bets and loans; when crypto prices fell in 2022, the hole was exposed and customers ran.
When and how
Hong Kong, then the Bahamas, 2019–2022; the collapse followed a November 2022 CoinDesk report on Alameda's finances and rival exchange Binance's sale of FTT.
How sure are we?
Trial testimony from former executives including Caroline Ellison, bankruptcy filings and the 2023 jury verdict.
Debates
Whether clearer crypto rules would have stopped him; US regulators and Congress still argue over which agency should oversee crypto.