Bitcoin Turns 14 Years and Is Alive & Kicking

Exactly 14 years ago yesterday, on January 3, 2009, the first block of the Bitcoin network was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto which included a special message. Read in the code of this “Genesis Block” was: The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on through of second bank bailout.

In doing so, Satoshi alluded to the role Bitcoin could play in the future and what its gift to the world is. Bitcoin can be an alternative to our current financial system and has the potential to become the new world reserve currency.

Bitcoin is transparent

But let’s go back to that famous day 14 years ago. No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is, but everyone knows that this person or group was responsible for demolishing the first block on January 3, 2009.

The first block on day one symbolizes what Bitcoin is: an anonymous network from which we can learn what is happening, but not who is acting.

In 2009, there was only Satoshi Nakamoto on the Bitcoin network. The first blocks are still mined on CPUs, rather than the dedicated graphics cards that miners now use. Below is the first block of transactions, which contains no transactions and only a mining reward of 50 BTC.

The next block of the blockchain was not discovered until six days later, on January 9, 2009. Since then, the network has produced a new block of transactions every ten minutes on average. 6 days without internet is unthinkable nowadays. If this happens again, expect the Bitcoin price to crash like a pudding.

This is because there are now tens of thousands of computers mining on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin’s computing power has also increased over the past year.

Computing Power of the Bitcoin Network

No matter what happens to the price, Bitcoin will continue to rise block after block. Of course, this was not a certainty at first.

Bitcoin’s original purpose was to serve as a digital means of transferring value, much like fiat currency. Reality has long since outgrown this initial goal.

The value of Bitcoin is what you give it

Bitcoin is used to buy goods and services, to speculate on value and, in some parts of the world, to store value. There, the inflation rate of the local currency is higher than the price movement of Bitcoin.

Since no one is in charge, everyone can decide for themselves what to do with Bitcoin. This can be done without fear of external manipulation. There is no central bank arbitrarily raising or lowering interest rates to pollute supply. No government can freeze your account, and no commercial bank charges administrative fees and monitors every transaction.

Bitcoin is stable progress

If you compare Bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies (so-called altcoins), you can say that the technology is outdated and you can’t do anything exciting with BTC.

There is hardly any DeFi, you don’t get staking fees, and no one ever dreamed of building a significant NFT on Bitcoin.

This is neither a weakness nor an overdue maintenance, the protocol has practically remained unchanged for 14 years, this is the strength of Bitcoin. Many changes have occurred over the years to make Bitcoin more scalable and easier to use, but the basic principles remain the same.

For 14 years, Bitcoin has been the largest and most important cryptocurrency, and you can rely on the robustness of the network for all these years. Just what you expect from a reliable payment system.

Bitcoin is immune to censorship

Bitcoin is a digital, decentralized currency with a fixed output and predictable inflation. No one is responsible for Bitcoin and the rules laid down in the code. Everyone can convince themselves, everyone can participate.

Without any censorship, no one can decide whether you can send value to someone. For example, do you want to support the liberation movement in Iran? When you send bitcoins, no one can stop you. But if you send 1 euro to Iran through your bank account, you will be investigated because Iran is excluded from Swift and you cannot send money there at all.

Why is Bitcoin not dead yet?

It can be said that Bitcoin is ideal for everyone. But believe it or not, there are a lot of people, governments, and banks who just want Bitcoin dead. Money creation must be in the hands of specific groups.

They have had 14 years to kill Bitcoin, the media has declared Bitcoin dead hundreds of times. Nevertheless, Bitcoin is still standing, and getting stronger by the day. You can compare Bitcoin news coverage to the way people talk about cold summer days. Like this place, the weather might be wobbly for a moment, but it’s summer.

If governments fail to kill Bitcoin, and its adoption and interest rates continue to rise in the long-term, it is not even impossible for Bitcoin to become the next reserve currency which might still be too early, but who knows what happens in a few years time.