The Genesis Block of Bitcoin Was Mined 16 Years Ago.

On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin mainnet by mining the genesis block containing 50 BTC. Embedded in its hash was the headline from a British newspaper, The Times: "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."

The Bitcoin white paper was published on October 31, 2008. The first transaction occurred on January 12, 2009, when Satoshi sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney.

One of the reasons for Bitcoin's creation was the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, which led to bank failures and growing distrust of the traditional economy.

As of now, Bitcoin is trading above $96,000, having reached a peak of around $108,000 in December 2024.