Bitcoin Price History: 2008 - 2023

Introduction

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Bitcoin has been declared dead at least 463 times, according to <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/guides/bitcoin-price-history">Bitcoin Magazine </a>calculations. </strong></p>
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There have been many reasons, but it is still alive and attracting the attention of people around the world. 

Bitcoin's price fluctuations are due to changes in supply and demand in the cryptocurrency market, and the impact of regulators by states and governments. 

Technological improvements and developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the introduction of the Lightning Network, and halvings happening every 4 years also affect its price and popularity. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Bitcoin continues to be one of the most interesting and discussed assets in the investment world.</strong></p>
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The launch of Bitcoin

Bitcoin was created to provide a decentralized, transparent, and independent financial system. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Since its launch, bitcoin has become independent of the traditional banking system and government regulators. This allows users to send and receive payments without intermediaries and with minimal fees.</strong></p>
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BTC was designed as an experiment and had no market price in its early years. However, as its use expanded, people began to exchange Bitcoins for goods and services, and the market price of Bitcoin began to rise.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Bitcoin is now one of the most popular and well-known cryptocurrencies in the world, and its price has risen significantly since it was created. </strong></p>
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BTC continues to attract interest and strengthen its reputation as an alternative asset and means of payment.

Since its formation, the reward per block has been 50 BTC. Bitcoin mining was a very easy task in the early stages. However, as the number of miners grew, the difficulty of mining increased.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>The first Bitcoin exchange for dollars took place on the BitcoinTalk forum. In 2010, the first BitcoinMarket.com exchange was created.</strong></p>
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The first purchase of Bitcoin for dollars through PayPal occurred in 2009, and the price was $0.00099 per coin.

2010. The start of the Bitcoin trade

Buying two pizzas for 10,000 BTC by Laszlo Hanyecz on May 22, 2010, is considered the first Bitcoin exchange for a real product. The event became known as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Since then, BTC has become widely used as a means of payment for goods and services.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Mt. Gox was the first large-scale Bitcoin exchange that emerged on July 18, 2010, and contributed to the development of the cryptocurrency market.</strong></p>
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In August 2010, the most significant vulnerability in the history of the Bitcoin network was discovered. A hacker had spent billions of bitcoins that he did not own. To solve the problem, miners had to fork the blockchain and release a new one without a malicious transaction. 

This incident showed how the Bitcoin network can respond to vulnerabilities and protect its integrity.

2011. The first hack

Many non-profit organizations have started accepting bitcoins as donations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks switched to Bitcoin after PayPal froze its accounts in 2010.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>In June 2011, Mt. Gox, which was the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, fell victim to its first hack. </strong></p>
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Hackers gained access to the company's auditors' computer and were able to change the price of Bitcoin by 1 cent.

2012. The first Bitcoin halving

In November 2012, the first halving in the Bitcoin network occurred. This event occurred after the creation of 210,000 blocks in the Bitcoin blockchain and led to a reduction in the block reward from 50 to 25 BTC. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>The purpose of a halving is to control inflation and limit the number of issued bitcoins. </strong></p>
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Each subsequent halving happens approximately every 4 years and halves the block creation reward.

2013. The first bull run

Bitcoin experienced a significant rise in price in 2013, which began after the first halving in November 2012. At the beginning of 2013, the price of Bitcoin was around $13. 

In August 2013, German regulators officially recognized Bitcoin as a unit of payment.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>By December 2013, the price of BTC jumped to a new record high of $1,163. </strong></p>
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In December 2013, the People's Bank of China banned Chinese financial institutions from using Bitcoin.

The period between 2014 and 2017

The period from 2014 to 2017 was characterized by the growth of the cryptocurrency market and the appearance of many altcoins. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>This period also saw many ICOs, which led to a large investment inflow in blockchain-based projects. Bitcoin during this time rose in value from $800 in 2014 to $20,000 in 2017.</strong></p>
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As the cryptocurrency market grew, digital assets and blockchain began to receive more attention from the media and financial institutions. 

At the same time, governments began to monitor Bitcoin and altcoins more closely. In some countries, governments have adopted strict rules and regulations to govern the cryptocurrency market and combat cryptocurrency-related crime. 

China introduced numerous restrictions on the use of cryptocurrencies and shut down cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017.

2014. The bankruptcy of Mt. Gox

In early 2014, the bitcoin price recovered and surpassed the $1,000 mark, but by late February 2014, it plummeted to below $600 and then dropped to $111 as a result of problems at the Mt. Gox exchange.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>The Mt. Gox hack resulted in the loss of about 750,000 bitcoins, which was the largest theft in Bitcoin history. The exchange then filed for bankruptcy.</strong></p>
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In April 2014, the People's Bank of China ordered the accounts of Chinese bitcoin exchanges to be closed, which led to an additional decline in the price of bitcoin.

2015. The hack of Bitstamp

In January 2015, the Bitstamp exchange was seriously hacked and lost about 19,000 bitcoins.

On July 30, 2015, Ethereum was launched, whose platform provoked the creation of thousands of new cryptocurrencies that tried to compete with Bitcoin.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>In September 2015, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) defined bitcoin as a commodity. </strong></p>
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In October the EU decided not to impose value-added tax (VAT) on crypto transactions, effectively defining Bitcoin as a currency.

2016. The 2nd halving of Bitcoin

The second Bitcoin halving occurred on July 9, 2016. The bitcoin price was relatively stable, fluctuating between $350 and $700 in the summer months. By the end of the year, BTC reached the $966 mark.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>2016 was marked by a hack of the Bitfinex exchange in August, in which nearly 120,000 BTC were stolen. </strong></p>
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2017. Crypto mania

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>At the beginning of 2017, the price of Bitcoin was fluctuating around $1,000. The price rose sharply and hit an all-time high of $19,892 on December 15, recording a 20-fold increase in less than 12 months.</strong></p>
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In August, bitcoin implemented a major SegWit update that brought some relief to Bitcoin's scalability problem and allowed for the implementation of the Lightning Network.

In December 2017, bitcoin futures contracts were listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

The period between 2018 and 2021

Despite the bad experiences of multiple ICOs, STOs, and IEOs, Bitcoin continued to evolve and adopt new technologies that improved its scalability and security, such as the introduction of Taproot in November 2021.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>During the Covid era, as the world came to a halt and the economy fell on hard times, bitcoin hit a record high of more than $69,000 in 2021.</strong></p>
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This shows that Bitcoin continues to be one of the most promising assets on the market, despite economic and geopolitical turmoil.

2018. The bear market

In January, Chinese authorities banned cryptocurrency mining.  Bitcoin traded between $6,000 and $8,000 during the year and reached its low of $3,250 in December 2018. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Bitcoin closed the year at just over $3,700, 73% lower than its value at the beginning of the year. </strong></p>
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This reflected the market's sensitivity to regulatory changes in the cryptocurrency industry, such as China's ban on mining.

2019. Instability of the market

In September 2019, the Bakkt futures contract was released, which caused a lot of interest in the cryptocurrency community. 

Despite this, the bitcoin price continued to fluctuate around the $7,000 mark for the rest of the year and closed the year at just over $7,200. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>The cryptocurrency market continued to be volatile in 2019, despite the release of new products and services such as Bakkt.</strong></p>
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2020. Covid-19 pandemic

2020 was remembered by the Covid-19 pandemic. It affected many aspects of life, including financial markets and Bitcoin. 

When the pandemic was announced in March 2020, the markets experienced significant shocks. Bitcoin did not escape this situation either, and its price fell to a low of $4,000 on March 17.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>In May happened the third halving in Bitcoin history. Its price began a slow recovery, reaching more than $10,000.</strong></p>
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MicroStrategy was the first publicly traded company to accumulate bitcoin in its cash reserves. Its example has been followed by other companies.

A series of positive news about the introduction of Bitcoin began to push the price up. Increased money printing by the U.S. government led many to believe that their dollars were no longer a safe haven.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>By the end of the year, the Bitcoin price had returned to and surpassed its previous ATH of $20,000, closing at over $29,000 on December 31.</strong></p>
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This clearly shows that Bitcoin continues to be one of the most promising assets on the market. It is attracting more and more attention as a means of preserving value and investment.

2021. The market grows

The year 2021 began with great optimism for Bitcoin. The first quarter culminated in a mid-April high of $64,594.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Elon Musk, Tesla, and other companies began to place bitcoins instead of dollars in their Treasuries.</strong></p>
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In May, a new restriction touched Bitcoin in China. It was announced that financial institutions and payment platforms were forbidden to conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies. All mining companies were forced to shut down.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>In September, news of El Salvador making bitcoin legal tender, the launch of the first futures-based bitcoin ETF in October, and others led to a second high for the year of $68,789 on Nov. 10, 2021.</strong></p>
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2022. Difficult year for the economy

The year 2022 was very difficult for the global economy and finance. Worldwide shocks, such as the war on Europe's doorstep and rising inflation, affected cryptocurrency markets, including Bitcoin. 

Bitcoin has shown great volatility, first falling due to the threat of war and then dropping even more due to the global crisis.

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>Mining companies such as Core Scientific and Argo Blockchain faced financial problems. Tesla sold most of its Bitcoin assets, and Terra fell, causing a stir in the market.</strong></p>
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Despite all this, Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake in September, an important step to reduce mining energy costs and make the network more resilient.

The year ended with Bitcoin at $16,537, down 64% from a year earlier.

2023. New optimism

The beginning of 2023 was more optimistic for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market in general. Investors began to believe that interest rate rises by the U.S. Federal Reserve would slow down, which could be a positive signal for the market.

This optimism has been fueled by a number of positive developments, such as the launch of Ordinals Casey Rodomor, which included digital artifacts built into Bitcoin. 

• 	<p dir="ltr"><strong>This led to Bitcoin's price rising 45% in January and showing signs of a strong recovery after a difficult bear market.</strong></p>
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Despite the overall volatility of the cryptocurrency market, events such as lower interest rate hikes and new innovations in the digital space could become beneficial to the continued growth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the future.