Bitcoin, the most well-known cryptocurrency, paved the way for the cryptocurrency asset class.

Now the cryptocurrency of choice, its meteoric rise was unlike any other commodity, resource or asset. Bitcoin’s price rose more than 1,200 percent from March 2020 to reach US$69,044 on November 10, 2021.

The currency showcased its famous volatility in the following year, falling as low as US$15,787 by November 2022 amid economic uncertainty and a wave of negative media coverage.

The cryptocurrency started 2024 just below US$45,000 and has seen substantial gains in the first half of this year. Bitcoin reached its new all-time high price of US$73,115 on March 11, 2024.

So, where did Bitcoin start, and what has spurred Bitcoin’s price movements in recent years? Read on to find out.

Bitcoin’s Modest Beginnings

When Bitcoin started trading in 2009, its starting price was a minuscule US$0.0009, making its price movements since then even more impressive.

Created as a response to the 2008 financial crisis, the concept of Bitcoin was first introduced in a nine-page white paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” on October 31, 2008, on a platform called Metzdowd.

The manifesto was penned by a notoriously elusive person (or persons) who used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The author(s) laid out a compelling argument and groundwork for a new type of cyber-currency that would revolutionize the monetary system.

Cryptographically secured, Bitcoin was designed to be transparent and resistant to censorship, using the power of blockchain technology to create an immutable ledger preventing double-spending. The true allure for Bitcoin’s early adopters was in its potential to wrestle power away from banks and financial institutes and give it to the masses.

This was especially enticing as the fallout from the 2008 financial collapse ricocheted internationally. Described as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, US$7.4 billion in value was erased from the US stock market in 11 months, while the global economy shrank by an estimated US$2 trillion.

On January 3, 2009, the Genesis Block was established, marking the beginning of Bitcoin’s blockchain, onto which all additional blocks have been added. The Genesis Block contained the first 50 Bitcoins ever created and a simple message: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks.”

Many believe the message hints at Bitcoin’s mission, as it references an article in The London Times that criticized the British government’s inadequate response to the financial crisis of 2007 to 2008, particularly the government’s inability to provide effective relief and support to the struggling economy.

On January 12, 2009, Nakamoto sent the first Bitcoin transaction to Hal Finney, a computer scientist and early Bitcoin enthusiast. The transaction involved 10 Bitcoins and was a crucial milestone in the cryptocurrency’s development and adoption.

News of the cryptocurrency continued to spread around the Internet, but its value did not rise above US$0 until October 12, 2009, when a Finnish software developer sent 5,050 Bitcoins to New Liberty Standard for US$5.02 via PayPal, thereby establishing both the value of Bitcoin and New Liberty Standard as a Bitcoin exchange.

The first time Bitcoin was used to make a purchase was on May 22, 2010, when a programmer in Florida named Laszlo Hanyecz offered anyone who would bring him a pizza 10,000 Bitcoin in exchange. Someone accepted the offer and ordered Hanyecz two Papa John’s pizzas for US$25. The 10,000 Bitcoin pizza order essentially set Bitcoin’s price in 2010 at around US$0.0025.

Bitcoin’s price finally broke through the US$1 mark in 2011, and moved as high as US$29.60 that year. However, it fell back down and remained relatively muted in 2012.

Bitcoin’s price saw its first significant growth in earnest in 2013, the year it broke through both US$100 and US$1,000. It climbed all the way to US$1,242 in December 2013.

The Rise to Prominence

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The Growth Spurt

January 1, 2016, marked the beginning of Bitcoin’s sustained price rise. It started the year at US$433 and ended it at US$989 — a 128 percent value increase in 12 months.

That year, several contributing factors led to Bitcoin’s rise in mainstream popularity. The stock market experienced one of its worst first weeks ever in 2016, and investors began turning to Bitcoin as a “safe-haven” stock amidst economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

2016 also saw the Brexit referendum in the UK in June and the election of Donald Trump to the White House in November, both events that coincided with a bump in Bitcoin’s price.

Bitcoin continued its ascent, while various industries continued to take an interest in blockchain technology, particularly technology and finance. In February, a group of investors that included IBM and Goldman Sachs invested US$60 million in a New York firm developing blockchain technology for financial services, Dig Asset Holdings. Bitcoin was trading at US$368.12 on February 2, down a bit from January, but two months later it was US$418.

In May the price of Bitcoin experienced a significant price increase, rising by 21 percent to US$539 at the end of the month. Its price went higher into