Bitcoin enters teenage, turns Rs 1,000 in Rs 76.4 cr in 13 years

New Delhi: Bitcoin has turned 13 years old, making it the first cryptocurrency to enter teenage.

While the whitepaper of Bitcoin was released by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used for bitcoin’s creator or creators, on October 28, 2008, many say its mint date of January 3, 2009, represents the cryptocurrency’s birthday.

Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex said that Bitcoin has been the foundational pillar behind the rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain across the world.

The reason for celebrating his birthday on January 3 is that Satoshi Nakamoto released the original block, which is now known as the Genesis Block, on this day. The original block contained the first 50 bitcoins.

Unlike any of the 500,000 blocks that came after, Nakamoto left a message in the code of the block," said Raj A Kapoor, Founder of India Blockchain Alliance. "The first transaction was in May 2009."

Satoshi never clearly stated the meaning of the message, many have interpreted it as a reference to why Nakamoto developed Bitcoin: to cut out the banks and middlemen and ensure transparency," he added.

The 13-year journey of Bitcoin has been a roller coaster ride. During the course, the digital asset has minted ample avid followers, along with some strong arch critics and skeptics.

However, thanks to Bitcoin's legacy and comparatively deep rooted history, investors have been foraying their trust in the league of altcoins.

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Bitcoin enters teenage, turns Rs 1,000 in Rs 76.4 cr in 13 years

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The original block contained the first 50 bitcoins
Synopsis
​Satoshi Nakamoto released the original block, which is now known as the Genesis Block, on this day
By Pawan Nahar, ETMarkets.comJan 04, 2022, 01:12 PM IST2
New Delhi: Bitcoin has turned 13 years old, making it the first cryptocurrency to enter teenage.

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While the whitepaper of Bitcoin was released by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used for bitcoin’s creator or creators, on October 28, 2008, many say its mint date of January 3, 2009, represents the cryptocurrency’s birthday.

Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex said that Bitcoin has been the foundational pillar behind the rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain across the world.
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The reason for celebrating his birthday on January 3 is that Satoshi Nakamoto released the original block, which is now known as the Genesis Block, on this day. The original block contained the first 50 bitcoins.
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Unlike any of the 500,000 blocks that came after, Nakamoto left a message in the code of the block," said Raj A Kapoor, Founder of India Blockchain Alliance. "The first transaction was in May 2009."
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"Satoshi never clearly stated the meaning of the message, many have interpreted it as a reference to why Nakamoto developed Bitcoin: to cut out the banks and middlemen and ensure transparency," he added.
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The 13-year journey of Bitcoin has been a roller coaster ride. During the course, the digital asset has minted ample avid followers, along with some strong arch critics and skeptics.

However, thanks to Bitcoin's legacy and comparatively deep rooted history, investors have been foraying their trust in the league of altcoins.
ADVERTISEMENT

Return history
It is practically impossible to calculate Bitcoin's returns since inception as it had a price of zero when it was introduced. In July 2010, its price moved to $0.09 and it peaked to $68,790 in November 2021.

Bitcoin is an exemplary rags-to-riches story, which has delivered an unbelievable return of 7,64,33,233 from its register lows to all time highs. An investment of Rs 1,000 would have been Rs 76.43 crore in November 2021.

Hitesh Malviya, Founder of itsblockchain, said that in the last 13 years Bitcoin has died and been born thousand times, and still thriving for its existence.

"In the past two years, we have seen a massive shift in the type of bitcoin investors," he added. "We see more institutional investors' interest than retail at this stage due to its less projected future ROI, and retail has plenty of other options available in the market."

Even today, the crypto behemoth has delivered more than 5,12,00,000 per cent return in 2021 so far. The value Rs 1,000 would have been more than Rs 51.2 crore on Tuesday.

$1 trillion marketcap
In February 2021, Bitcoin became the first crypto asset to scale the marketcap of $1 trillion, thanks to rising interest from institutional and retail investors.

World's richest person Elon Musk and his company Tesla have been backing Bitcoin along with players like Square and MicroStrategy.

Global acceptance
Morgan Stanley became the first A-lister US bank to offer access to Bitcoin funds after the wealthy clients of the lender 'demanded' some exposure and the investment bank launched three funds that enable ownership of bitcoin.

In 2021, Latin American nation El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The law allows Bitcoin to be used as payment for goods and taxes in El Salvador. Exchanges will not be subject to capital gains tax.

The ProShares futures-based bitcoin ETF marked its market debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker of 'BITO' in October 2021.

Total supply
Bitcoin's total supply has been capped at 21 million which means that not more than 21 million Bitcoins can be mined ever. However, the total supply of Bitcoin is 18,919,318, which is 90 per cent of the entire possible supply.

Interestingly, it took 12 years to mine the first 90 per cent, whereas the remaining 10 per cent is not expected to be mined until February 2140. Until then, miners can continue to earn Bitcoins.

Praveen Kumar, founder and CEO for Belfrics Group, said that the creator of Bitcoin will be fairly satisfied, seeing the asset grow to a mammoth market capitalisation.

Even though Bitcoin did not disrupt the banking systems as the creator might have envisioned, it definitely has established itself as the asset of the century, he added.

Bitcoin hashrate at all time high
The Bitcoin hash rate was at an all time high of 203.5 exahashes per second, suggested the data from cryptocurrency statistics site BitInfoCharts. Hashrate is a key metric when assessing blockchain strength.

Hash rate correlates to the strength of the network based on the number of active miners. It represents the total amount of computing power used by miners to mint new Bitcoins.

However, the hashrate saw a temporary downfall after China banned citizens and businesses from pursuing crypto mining and trading activities. As a direct result of China’s blanket ban on crypto causing a sudden shortage of miners.

It has transformed from a speculative asset to a store of value. From being exchanged for a box of pizza to being used for granting citizenship in a country, Bitcoin has surely come a long way, said Patel of Mudrex.