A date that sounds almost like a legend from a textbook of modern financial history: exactly 15 years ago, Bitcoin broke the $1 mark for the first time. Everything else is already history.
On February 9, 2011, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) reached $1 for the first time on the Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox. Today, it seems almost like an anecdote: a digital coin that was then seen as a strange experiment by programmers is now trading around $69,000. Over the past years, Bitcoin has increased in value by tens of thousands of times, becoming one of the most discussed financial phenomena of the 21st century.
But at that moment, when BTC first matched the US dollar, it was not just a price increase. It was a symbolic milestone. Bitcoin proved for the first time that it could be not only an idea, code, and a forum toy, but an asset with real market value.
How Bitcoin reached its first dollar
It took Bitcoin about two years to reach the $1 mark. And those were years when the cryptocurrency existed almost in a vacuum. The first transaction with BTC took place in January 2009. At that time, the coin was not traded and had no price relative to other assets. It was rather a digital experiment – an attempt to create an independent payment system without banks and governments.
The first hints of a price appeared only in the fall of 2009. One of the earliest known exchange events took place then: about 5,000 BTC were exchanged for $5. Essentially, one Bitcoin was worth fractions of a cent. If someone had kept those coins, today it would be a sum worthy of a private island.
Mt. Gox – the exchange that turned Bitcoin into a market
In 2010, Japanese programmer Jed McCaleb launched the Mt. Gox exchange. This name remains in crypto history as a symbol of the early era – both romantic and chaotic.
Mt. Gox played a key role in shaping Bitcoin’s market price. Between 2010 and 2013, up to 70% of the global BTC trading volume passed through it. Essentially, it was there that Bitcoin first began to behave like a real financial asset: with rallies, drops, speculation, and the first bubbles.
If today the cryptocurrency market is a massive industry with ETFs, institutional investors, and billions in trading volume, back then Mt. Gox was something like a “market square,” where the first digital money enthusiasts gathered.
2011 – the first real bull run. In early 2011, Bitcoin started at around $0.3 and by mid-February rose to $1. This was the first psychological barrier: the digital coin matched the dollar. But the market did not stop.
A few months later, in June 2011, the price of one Bitcoin on Mt. Gox reached $10 and then $30, increasing 100 times from the beginning of the year. This was the first crypto boom – the first wave of greed, hope, and surprise. People saw for the first time that an “internet coin” could become something bigger.
As expected for a young market, the euphoria was followed by a падение. By the end of 2011, Bitcoin dropped back to $5. But the portal notes that at least two important psychological barriers had been crossed.
The Mt. Gox drama – the biggest tragedy of early crypto. The fate of Mt. Gox turned out to be dramatic. In 2014, it ceased operations, reporting the loss of about 850,000 Bitcoins – both user funds and the exchange’s own holdings. The bankruptcy process and compensation payments continue to this day.
The distribution of the remaining Bitcoins regularly causes concern in the market, as potential selling could put pressure on the price.
From $1 to Tesla and institutions
Interestingly, exactly ten years after Bitcoin reached $1, in February 2021, the cryptocurrency updated its then all-time high at around $44,000. This happened after it became known that Elon Musk’s company Tesla bought Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion.
It was the moment when Bitcoin fully entered the big financial game. From an experiment for enthusiasts, it turned into an asset bought by the world’s largest companies.
Today, Bitcoin is no longer just a price on a chart. It is an entire era. But it all started with one dollar. And when did you first hear about Bitcoin?
But it all started with one dollar. It’s funny to think that Bitcoin once cost less than a cup of coffee. Although, to be honest, coffee was simpler back then, and the world felt calmer too. And when did you first hear about Bitcoin?
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