Ramsco's Women Empowerment Initiative Recognized Among Top BRICS Businesswomen Practices for 2025    Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    Gold prices end July with modest gains    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Egypt's FM, US envoy discuss Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear talks    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Egypt, Oman discuss environmental cooperation    Egypt's EDA explores pharma cooperation with Belarus    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Bitcoin: Charting the life and times of a cryptocurrency
Published in Daily News Egypt on 06 - 02 - 2018

What goes up must come down, old wisdom has decreed. Does it apply to Bitcoin? As the cryptocurrency's value continues to fall, we chart its dramatic journey to date.If you had lived under a rock for the past year and emerged today, the story of Bitcoin would be bewildering. Even for those who have lived in the full glare of the blinding light the cryptocurrency has cast, it is pretty confusing.
For those in need of an intensive course on the most famous cryptocurrency of them all, one chart is particularly instructive. That's the one from CoinDesk, a bitcoin specialist, which shows how the price of Bitcoin has changed from July 2010 to the present day.
Read more: Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies — how do they work?
Even the most unsophisticated market watcher can discern a pattern here. A long, more or less straight line to 2014, a few bumps, and then another long straight line to the start of 2017. And then? A spike that rises and falls so sharply, it would not look out of a place on a rendering of the Manhattan skyline.
What have been the events behind Bitcoin's big moments? We take a look back at some key dates in this extraordinary story.
Out of the shadows
August 18, 2008: The domain name bitcoin.org is registered; something is in the offing. Three months later, a paper written by the mysterious "Satoshi Nakamoto" titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System is posted online.
January 3, 2009: Nakamoto, whose true identity has never been revealed, mines the first ever block on the chain, effectively creating the first Bitcoins. Supposedly angry at the financial crisis, he/she had spent over a year writing the fiendishly complex software — 31,000 lines of code — the aim of which was to create a form of money out of the reach of traditional banking systems and monetary policies.
October 5, 2009: The first US Bitcoin exchange rate is published by a site called New Liberty Standard. At this point, one Bitcoin was worth around 7 percent of one US cent, so not much.
May 22, 2010: The first actual purchase of goods using Bitcoin takes place when Laszlo Hanyecz, a coder who had previously contributed to Bitcoin software, buys two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. In the so-called "Bitcoin community", May 22 is now informally known as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
August 15, 2010: A vulnerability in Bitcoin is exploited, allowing certain users to bypass restrictions and generate unlimited amounts of Bitcoin. Within hours, the issue is resolved and any additional Bitcoins generated by the bug are deleted.
On the rise
December 27, 2010: Bitcoin ends its first full year of existence with a value of $0.29 (€0.23) per Bitcoin, a major jump when one considers its value of less than one cent just a year earlier.
April 12, 2011: Having originally broken the one Bitcoin = one US dollar mark in February, before falling under it again, the cryptocurrency moves past the one dollar mark and has not since fallen below it. Bitcoin starts to garner more and more attention beyond its traditional core, with investors, economists and journalists all beginning to take a sustained interest.
November 14, 2011: Early signs of Bitcoin's volatility are apparent in 2011. From a value of $22.59 on June 6, it falls to $2.26 by November 14, a value fall of 90 percent. The collapse can be traced to a successful June 19 hack on Tokyo-based Mount Gox, then one of the world's leading Bitcoin exchanges. The hack, although ultimately dealt with, spooked investors. Fears over security, volatile prices and links to criminality saw Bitcoin enter a deflationary spiral.
November 29, 2013: Having steadily regained value throughout 2012, Bitcoin rises at a much quicker pace in 2013, culminating in a massive boom towards the end of the year, breaking the $1000 dollar mark for the first time after increasing its value tenfold in the space of a few weeks. A pile-on of Chinese investors is thought to be behind the surge. It peaks in late November, but falls back steadily in the early months of 2014. Its value fluctuates roughly between $800 and $200 over the next three years.
Mainstream appeal
December 11, 2014: In a sign of its more-established mainstream appeal, Microsoft begins to accept Bitcoin as payment for software.
September 1, 2015: UK bank Barclays announces it will begin to accept Bitcoin for transactions, the first major lender in the US or Europe to do so.
March 4, 2016: Japan, often thought of as the symbolic home of Bitcoin, sees its government recognize virtual currencies as having a similarly legitimate function to money.
January 1, 2017: The most dramatic year in Bitcoin's history begins with the cryptocurrency starting the year valued just below the $1000 mark.
June 15, 2017: After months of steady momentum, during which it exceeded $3000 in value, Bitcoin hits the skids and loses almost a fifth of its value amid increasing criticism from some leading financial institutions.
Bitcoin mania
September 1, 2017: The blip is short-lived. Having split into two forms in August, by September, it has broken the $5000 mark and so begins a seemingly relentless surge that sees Bitcoin's rollercoaster ride command global headlines for several months.
December 1, 2017: October and November are dizzying times. Worth just over $4000 at the start of October, it is valued at just under $10,000 by the end of November. Yet despite the surge, predictions of doom grow darker by the day. On December 1, the Bank of France says Bitcoin is not a currency, has no economic basis and is merely a speculative asset.
December 17, 2017: Bitcoin hits its highest ever value to date of $19,783, one week after it made its debut on a major global exchange in Chicago. It has not hit that figure since. A series of falls, recoveries, and deeper falls took place and by the turn of 2018, Bitcoin was back around the $14,000 mark.
January 24, 2018: Online payment firm Stripe announces it will phase out support for Bitcoin payments, two days after South Korea banned anonymous Bitcoin trading.
February 6, 2018: Having declined steadily throughout the month, the final week of January and first week of February are bruising. At the time of writing, Bitcoin's value is hovering around the $6000 mark with the new head of the Bank for International Settlements, Agustín Carstens, saying Bitcoin has become a combination of "a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster."


Clic here to read the story from its source.