The history of money
“from cattle-currency to cryptocurrency”
9000-6000 BC
Cattle Trades
Trades involved animals with
farming potential
1200 BC
Cowry Shells
Cowry shells were rare and hard to fake.
1000 BC
Metal Cowries (Created by China)
Made from bronze or copper, these evolved from cowry shells.
500 BC
Silver Coins
Made from electrum, the birth of modern silver coins took place in Sardis.
120 BC
Leather Money
Was used by everyone and is considered the first documented type of banknote.
806 AC
Paper Currency
A certificate similar to a modern check/cheque which people used as money in exchange for goods.
1535
Wampum Beads
A clamshell trading tool of the Americans.
1821
Gold was declared the standard coin
First in England then in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United States.
1891
American Express Travelers Checks/Cheques
These checks could be exchanged for money.
1930
The Gold Standard Ends Here
Paper money becomes a form of “fiat” currency and is no longer convertible to gold.
1946
The First Credit Card
The world’s first credit card was created, by a banker, named John Biggins. The cardholders use it to purchase items from any local merchant.
1950
Diners Club
The first widely used credit card for travel and entertainment purposes.
1966
Modern Credit Cards
Established by Bank of America, the card was later rebranded as VISA.
1972
ATM (Automated Teller Machine)
The first electronic machine that allows users to withdraw their money without visiting the bank.
1983
RFID (radio frequency identification)
Invented by Charles Walton, this payment system is widely used on toll roads.
1994
Pizza Hut &
Online Banking
Widespread Internet usage made Pizza Hut establish their first online (banking) store.
1995
Amazon & Ebay
A year later, both eBay and Amazon launch their own online Ecommerce stores, and online shopping becomes increasingly common.
1999
Paypal
An online payment choice.
2000
OsCommerce
Paves the way for the best ecommerce platforms.
2004
NFC (near field communication)
Payment can be easily accepted by phone.
2007
MOBILE PAYMENT APPS
The release of the iPhone leads to the development of mobile payment apps.
2008
BITCOIN.ORG & WHITEPAPER INTRODUCTION
Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the bitcoin whitepaper - October 2008
2009
Genesis block is established
FIRST BITCOIN TRANSACTION (The first transaction of Bitcoin currency, in block 170, takes place between Satoshi and Hal Finney, a developer and cryptographic activist) - January 2009
The First Bitcoin-to-Fiat Exchange
- October 12, 2009
BITCOIN EXCHANGE RATE ESTABLISHED
(New Liberty Standard opens a service to buy and sell bitcoin, with an initial exchange rate of 1,309.03 BTC to one U.S. Dollar, or about eight hundredths of a cent per bitcoin. The rate is derived from the cost of electricity used by a computer to generate, or “mine” the currency)
- October 2009
2010
Pizza is the first item to be bought using Bitcoins. Two pizzas were bought for 10,000 Bitcoin - May 22, 2010
MTGOX IS ESTABLISHED (The Mt. Gox Bitcoin currency exchange market is established by Jed McCaleb.) - July 2010
BITCOIN INCREASES TENFOLD (Over a five day period beginning on July 12, the exchange value of Bitcoin increases ten times from US$0.008/BTC to US$0.080/BTC.) - July 2010
Bitcoin passes the one cent barrier and rises to 20 cents/BTC towards the end of 2010
2011
Bitcoin Price Hits $1.00 USD
- February 9, 2011
FIRST MAJOR THEFT (Bitcoin Forum member, allinvain, claims that 25,000 BTC were stolen from his wallet. At the time, the exchange rate put the amount close to US$375,000.) - July 2011
Litecoin launch date - October 7, 2011
MARKET CAP EXCEEDS $1 BILLION
(Calculated by multiplying the number of Bitcoins in circulation by the last trade on Mt. Gox, the Bitcoin economy exceeds US$1 million. The price on Mt. Gox reached US$0.50/BTC.) - November 2011
2012
Wordpress Accepts Bitcoin
- November 15, 2012
Ripple is released
Halving Day - was the day of the first subsidy halving, which occurred when block 210000 was solved. Until block 420000, the block reward would be 25 BTC instead of the original 50 BTC. November 28, 2012
2013
Launch of CryptoNote protocol - October 2013
YOU CAN FLY TO SPACE WITH BITCOIN
(Virgin Galactic Announces they will accept
Bitcoin for space travel trips.) - November 22, 2013
Dogecoin is released - December 6, 2013
2014
Monero is released - April 18, 2014
Dell Accepts Bitcoin - July 18, 2014
Microsoft Accepts Bitcoin - December 11, 2014
First Blockchain wedding - “For better or worse, ’til death do us part, because the blockchain is forever,” the transaction's metadata reads. - August 5, 2014
Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos. Most influential Bitcoin book on the market was released.
- July 1, 2014
2015
Bitstamp is hacked - January 4, 2015
NEM - Launch date - March 31, 2015
Ethereum release date - July 30, 2015
ETHEREUM GENESIS BLOCK
(The Ethereum project is created and introduces smart contracts.) - July 2015
EU Declares No VAT on Bitcoin Trades
- October 22, 2015
Bitcoin Featured on Front Page of The Economist - October 31, 2015
Bitcoin Sign approved into the Unicode standard - November 3, 2015
2016
DAO HACK LEADS COMMUNITY TO THE CREATION OF ETHEREUM CLASSIC (The DAO was a digital decentralized autonomous organization and a form of investor-directed venture capital fund.) - June 2016
IOTA launch date - June 11, 2016
Second Halving Day - July 9, 2016
Bitfinex is Hacked - August 2, 2016
TOP 7 CRYPTOCURRENCIES GAIN VALUE Top 7 Crypto Currencies establish themselves and all gain value (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Monero, Ethereum Classic and Dash) - December 2016
2017
Bitcoin price breaks $1000 for the first time in 3 years - January 3, 2017
Monero adopts Confidential Transactions system
January 10, 2017
Japan Declares Bitcoin as a Legal Tender
- April 1, 2017
OVER 1000 DIFFERENT CRYPTOCURRENCIES (Over 1000 different cryptocurrencies are in the market, all with different purpose) - May 2017
MARKET CAP EXCEEDS $300 BILLION
Bitcoin "splits" into Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) - August 1, 2017
Cardano Launched - September 29, 2017
Bitcoin breaks all time high of $20,000 - December 17, 2017
Bitcoin Futures - The world's largest futures exchange, CME, announces it has completed self-certification with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to launch its bitcoin futures contract - December 18, 2017
2018
Ethereum surpasses the $1000 mark for the first time in history
Russia’s largest state bank plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange in Europe
South Korea’s Minister of Finance finally puts an end to all the speculations and announces that there will be no ban on cryptocurrency exchanges
Facebook bans all ads that promote cryptocurrencies — including Bitcoin and ICOs
Over $10 billion raised by ICOs in five months of 2018 - May 2018
TRON launches mainnet - May 31, 2018
EOS Launches mainnet - June 15, 2018
Facebook started allowing again some cryptocurrency related ads while ICO-related ads remain banned - June 26, 2018
South Korea makes 2018 the year of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency acceptance as it reverses its stance on cryptocurrencies and creates the Financial Innovation Bureau to focus on blockchain, cryptocurrency and fintech - July 20, 2018
