The first decentralized digital cryptocurrency can arguably be traced back to “bit gold” (not to be confused with Bitgold), which was worked on by Nick Szabo between 1998 and 2005 but was never implemented.
Although bit gold is widely considered the first precursor to bitcoin, cryptocurrency pioneer David Chaum’s company DigiCash (a company founded in 1989 which attempted to innovate digital currency), Wei Dai’s b-money (a conceptual system published in 1998 which Satoshi cites it in the Bitcoin white paper), and “e-gold” (a centralized digital currency that started in 1996) are all notable early mentions.
With that history noted, modern digital currency starts in 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto (an anonymous person and/or group) released their paper detailing what would become Bitcoin.
Bitcoin became the first decentralized digital coin when it was created in 2008. It then went public in 2009.
As of 2020, Bitcoin is the most commonly known and used cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, other coins including Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), and more are all notable mentions.
Given the popularity of Bitcoin as well as its history, the term “altcoin” is sometimes used to describe alternative cryptocurrencies to bitcoin (especially coins with small market caps).
As of January 2015, there were over 500 different types of cryptocurrencies – or altcoins – for trade in online markets. However, only 10 of them had market capitalizations over $10 million.
As of September 2017, there were over 1,100 cryptocurrencies and the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies reached an all-time high surpassing $60 billion! Then, by December 2017, the total market cap reached $600 billion (a multiple of 10 in only two months).
As of April 2021, there were over 6,700 cryptocurrencies and the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies reached an all-time high surpassing $2 trillion!
The total amount of coins continues to grow while the market cap ebbs and flows, but one can clearly see the direction of the trend over time toward more coins and a higher total market cap.
Although the future is uncertain, cryptocurrency is proving itself to be more than just a fad. Today cryptocurrency is shaping up to be a growing market that (despite the pros and cons) is likely here for the long haul.
On this site, we explore every aspect of cryptocurrency. Simply choose a page from the menu, visit our “what is cryptocurrency” page for a more detailed explanation of cryptocurrency, or jump right into the “how cryptocurrency works” section to start learning about transactions, mining, and public ledgers.