The idea of a distributed crypto-currency was partly proposed in 1998 by Wei Dai, in the Cypherpunks activist group mailing list, actively promoting the use of strong cryptography.
However, it took ten years, and perhaps the collapse of Lehman Brothers, until there were first indications of the practical application of this idea. In 2008, probably inspired by the financial crisis, Bitcoin was the first scientific publication. In 2009 Bitcoin made its first operational appearance, with the release of the first open source client, and the creation of the corresponding Bitcoins. The author of the publication, and creator of the respective software, remained anonymous, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. His real identity, or even whether it is a person or a group, remains a mystery to this day.
Of course, because the Internet loves a good mystery, many theories have been suggested for who can hide behind this nickname. Among the many theories, several are relatively reasonable, indicating suitably qualified candidates: mathematical geniuses, computer scientists, economists with programming knowledge, and cryptographic groups. There are, of course, absurd theories, such as Samsung, Toshiba, Nakamichi and Motorola are hiding behind Bitcoin. Some obviously believe that some of the largest multinationals on the planet would find creating Bitcoin as a good investment of their time. There is, of course, a perfectly reasonable explanation for how this theory emerged.On December 8, 2015, parallel investigations by Wired and Gizmodo have suggested a fairly likely candidate for the role of Satoshi Nakamoto.
This is Australian Craig Steven Wright, who is an IT entrepreneur. The survey suggested he created Bitcoin along with his friend Dave Kleiman, a computer forensics expert, who died in 2013. In 2014, Wright had announced the intention to set up Denariuz Bank, the world's first bank based on Bitcoin. But he encountered problems with the tax authorities in Australia, and eventually failed to set up the bank.
On December 9, a few hours after the above Wired and Gizmodo publication, ten police officers invaded Wright's home in Gordon, New South Wales, while police searched in one of Wright's operations at Ryde, New South Wales . The Australian Federal Police said the operation was independent of the publication on Bitcoin, and it concerned an Australian tax authority survey.
Following this publication, Wright disappeared from the internet for a few months. On May 2, 2016, however, he made a publication on his personal blog, confirming that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. He even sent digital receipts to the BBC and the Economist. But then, developers Peter Todd and Jeff Garzik, who have worked for Bitcoin's development, studied the evidence, and concluded that they did not prove anything and that it was probably a fraud.
On May 4, Wright on his new blog post promised more proof of his claim. The next day, however, he deleted all his publications, and replaced them with a new publication that essentially says he apologizes and does not have the courage to continue.From 2009 until early 2010, Bitcoin had no value at all. In April 2010, the first transactions in the financial markets began, with the value of each Bitcoin not exceeding $ 0.14.
At that time, the first commercial transaction was made with the new digital currency. On May 18, 2010, developer Laszlo Hanyecs, from Florida State of the United States, made a publication at Forum BitcoinTalk.org, offering 10,000 bitcoins to anyone who ordered him two pizzas. Four days later, on May 22, farmer David Forster from Massachusetts, nicknamed Jarcos on the forum, accepted the transaction. Laszlo received the two pizza "The Works" from Papa John's chain. No one could have guessed that in the spring of 2011, the 10,000 bitcoin would be worth $ 272,329. This happened after a Forbes article on the crypto-currency and a publication in Gawker about the use of bitcoin by drug dealers. These articles, in addition to informing people that there is Bitcoin, have raised the interest and demand for the new currency, and hence its value.
However, Laszlo did not feel bad about his purchase. As he said, "The pizza was very good".
If this seems impressive, then consider that at the beginning of December 2013 Bitcoin had been worth between $ 1200-1400 each (depending on the Bitcoin Exchange), making that pizza worth almost as much as a private island.