Bitcoin History and creation

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography to control its creation and management, rather than relying on central authorities.[1] The presumed pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto integrated many existing ideas from the cypherpunk community when creating bitcoin. Over the course of bitcoin's history, it has undergone rapid growth to become a significant currency both on and offline – from the mid 2010s onward, some businesses on a global scale began accepting bitcoins in addition to fiat currencies.[2]

The price of a bitcoin reached US$1,139.9 on 4 January 2017. (semi logarithmic plot)
Among the factors which may have contributed to this rise were the European sovereign-debt crisis—particularly the 2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis—statements by FinCEN improving the currency's legal standing and rising media and Internet interest.[128][129][130][131]

Until 2013, almost all market with bitcoins were in United States dollars (US $).[132][133][134]

As the market valuation of the total stock of bitcoins approached US$1 billion, some commentators called bitcoin prices a bubble.[135][136][137] In early April 2013, the price per bitcoin dropped from $266 to around $50 and then rose to around $100. Over two weeks starting late June 2013 the price dropped steadily to $70. The price began to recover, peaking once again on 1 October at $140. On 2 October, The Silk Road was seized by the FBI. This seizure caused a flash crash to $110. The price quickly rebounded, returning to $200 several weeks later.[138] The latest run went from $200 on 3 November to $900 on 18 November.[139] Bitcoin passed US$1,000 on 28 November 2013 at Mt. Gox.

Prices fell to around $400 in April 2014, before rallying in the middle of the year. They then declined to not much more than $200 in early 2015