On the afternoon of January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto created the first block of Bitcoin, known as the Genesis Block, on a small server located in Helsinki, Finland, and received the first reward of 50 bitcoins. With the arrival of 2024, it also means that the Bitcoin Genesis Block will celebrate its 15th anniversary.
(Previous summary:
Reuters: SEC to Approve “Bitcoin Spot ETF” as Early as Next Week! Tuesday or Notify Issuers First
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(Background supplement:
Wall Street giant VanEck predicts: “Bitcoin to Reach New All-Time High Within a Year”! All BTC spot ETF applications will be approved together
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Table of Contents
15th Anniversary of the Bitcoin Genesis Block
Looking forward to 2024 after experiencing multiple bull and bear markets
2024 will usher in institutional-level funds
Today, January 3, marks the 15th anniversary of the birth of Bitcoin. The Genesis Block of Bitcoin, also known as Block 0, is the first block in the Bitcoin blockchain. It was mined by the legendary and mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, on January 3, 2009, and received the first reward of 50 bitcoins.
At that time, Satoshi Nakamoto left a sentence on the block: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks,” symbolizing the decentralized ideology behind the creation of Bitcoin – the transaction on the Genesis Block remains forever, and the original intention of Bitcoin’s birth still deeply imprinted in everyone’s hearts.
Original Bitcoin block
In addition, it is not widely known that the Genesis Block was self-generated by Satoshi Nakamoto, and Block #1 is the first block generated through mining. However, based on the timestamp, Satoshi Nakamoto did not mine Block #1 in the familiar ten minutes but took six days.
From January 3 to January 9, it took a full six days to mine Block #1, echoing the creation of the world in the Book of Genesis, which also took six days. At that time, Bitcoin was still in its early stages, and many engineers who were moved by the concepts proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto spontaneously continued to develop and improve the Bitcoin network, taking firm steps in the right direction.
Bitcoin Genesis Block
In July 2010, MT.Gox opened the first Bitcoin exchange, with the price of each Bitcoin at around $0.08. The first bull market started in September 2010 and lasted for 9 months. During this period, the price of Bitcoin rose from $0.06 to $36 and then immediately dropped to $2.5, a 93% decrease.
Many criticized at the time, “Bitcoin will be just a bubble.” However, it never fell below $2 and later experienced multiple bull and bear markets, even reaching a historic high price of $69,044.77 in 2021.
In 2022, the cryptocurrency market experienced severe turbulence. The collapse of Terra (LUNA) triggered a chain reaction in the market, leading to a significant decline in the overall cryptocurrency market value. Well-known cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) filed for bankruptcy due to substantial losses. FTX exchange exposed insufficient funds, causing panic withdrawals and eventually filing for bankruptcy.
Looking back at 2023, investors in the cryptocurrency market slowly recovered from the collapse of FTX. The Bitcoin ecosystem also witnessed the emergence of the disruptive Ordinals protocol, and the price of Bitcoin saw a 173% increase, breaking through the $45,000 mark from $16,600.
Further reading:
“Thank You for Being There 2023”: Reviewing 8 Major Events in the Crypto Market: Ordinals’ Debut, USDC Decoupling, PEPE Meme Coin, etc.
With numerous developers and believers joining the cryptocurrency market, the current environment is vastly different from 15 years ago. According to Glassnode data, the number of non-zero addresses on the Bitcoin network has surpassed the 50 million mark.
In the first month of 2024, there is a high probability that the cryptocurrency market will welcome the first Bitcoin spot ETF. Major asset management giants such as BlackRock, VanEck, Valkyrie Investments, Bitwise Investment Advisers, Invesco, Fidelity, WisdomTree Investments, and the joint venture between Ark and 21Shares have all submitted newly revised applications to the SEC. The next two weeks will be a historic and critical moment.
Further reading:
Bitcoin Spot ETF “Still Uncertain”? BlackRock Has Not Yet Been Notified by the SEC, FOX Analyzes Key Approval Time
After 15 years, is Bitcoin still a bubble? Jan Van Eck, CEO of VanEck, gave an optimistic response in a CNBC interview last December:
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