{"id":6,"date":"2026-03-26T13:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:18:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:18:58","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/?page_id=6","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>History of Cryptocurrency<\/h2>\n<h3>Origins<\/h3>\n<p>The concept of digital currency predates Bitcoin by several decades. In 1983, cryptographer David Chaum proposed an anonymous cryptographic electronic money system, later implemented as DigiCash in 1995 (Chaum, 1983). Other early attempts such as e-gold (1996) and B-Money (1998) laid conceptual groundwork but ultimately failed due to centralisation vulnerabilities or lack of adoption.<\/p>\n<h3>Bitcoin and the Blockchain Era<\/h3>\n<p>In October 2008, an anonymous individual or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper, <em>Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System<\/em>. The Bitcoin network went live on 3 January 2009 with the mining of the genesis block (Nakamoto, 2008). Bitcoin introduced the blockchain \u2014 a distributed, immutable ledger \u2014 as the underlying technology, solving the double-spending problem without a trusted third party.<\/p>\n<h3>Growth and Altcoins<\/h3>\n<p>Following Bitcoin, Litecoin launched in 2011, offering faster transaction times. Ethereum, introduced by Vitalik Buterin in 2015, expanded the concept by enabling smart contracts and decentralised applications (dApps) (Buterin, 2014). The 2017 Initial Coin Offering (ICO) boom saw thousands of new tokens emerge, followed by a significant market correction in 2018.<\/p>\n<h3>Current State<\/h3>\n<p>As of 2024, the global cryptocurrency market capitalisation exceeds $2 trillion (CoinMarketCap, 2024). Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate market share. Institutional adoption has accelerated, with Bitcoin ETFs approved in the United States in January 2024 (SEC, 2024). Central banks worldwide are exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), signalling that digital currency concepts have entered mainstream financial policy.<\/p>\n<h2>Crypto Market Cap Timeline (2013\u20132024)<\/h2>\n<p>The chart below illustrates the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation from 2013 to 2024, highlighting key boom-and-bust cycles and major market events (CoinMarketCap, 2024).<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;width:100%;padding:0;margin:1.5rem 0;\">\n  <canvas id=\"cryptoChart\" style=\"width:100%;height:400px;\"><\/canvas>\n<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/chart.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<script>\n(function() {\n  var ctx = document.getElementById('cryptoChart').getContext('2d');\n  new Chart(ctx, {\n    type: 'line',\n    data: {\n      labels: ['Jan 2013','Jan 2014','Jan 2015','Jan 2016','Jan 2017','Jan 2018','Jan 2019','Jan 2020','Jan 2021','Jan 2022','Jan 2023','Jan 2024'],\n      datasets: [{\n        label: 'Total Crypto Market Cap (USD Billions)',\n        data: [0.3, 10, 4, 7, 18, 830, 130, 190, 760, 2200, 800, 1700],\n        borderColor: '#F0B90B',\n        backgroundColor: 'rgba(240,185,11,0.08)',\n        borderWidth: 2.5,\n        pointBackgroundColor: '#F0B90B',\n        pointRadius: 5,\n        fill: true,\n        tension: 0.4\n      }]\n    },\n    options: {\n      responsive: true,\n      plugins: {\n        legend: { labels: { color: '#EAECEF', font: { size: 13 } } },\n        tooltip: {\n          callbacks: {\n            label: function(ctx) { return ' $' + ctx.parsed.y + 'B'; }\n          }\n        }\n      },\n      scales: {\n        x: { ticks: { color: '#848E9C' }, grid: { color: 'rgba(255,255,255,0.05)' } },\n        y: {\n          ticks: { color: '#848E9C', callback: function(v) { return '$' + v + 'B'; } },\n          grid: { color: 'rgba(255,255,255,0.05)' }\n        }\n      }\n    }\n  });\n})();\n<\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Key Market Events<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>2013<\/strong> \u2014 Bitcoin reaches $1,000 for the first time; total market cap under $1 billion<\/li>\n<li><strong>2017<\/strong> \u2014 ICO boom drives market cap to $830 billion; Bitcoin hits $20,000<\/li>\n<li><strong>2018<\/strong> \u2014 Crypto winter; market loses over 80% of its value<\/li>\n<li><strong>2020<\/strong> \u2014 DeFi summer; institutional interest begins with MicroStrategy and PayPal<\/li>\n<li><strong>2021<\/strong> \u2014 All-time high of ~$3 trillion; Bitcoin reaches $69,000; NFT boom<\/li>\n<li><strong>2022<\/strong> \u2014 Terra\/LUNA collapse and FTX bankruptcy wipe $2 trillion from the market<\/li>\n<li><strong>2024<\/strong> \u2014 Bitcoin ETF approval by SEC; market recovers to $1.7 trillion (SEC, 2024)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SSo_EIwHSd4\" title=\"History of Bitcoin\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption>Video: The History of Bitcoin (YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>History of Cryptocurrency Origins The concept of digital currency predates Bitcoin by several decades. In 1983, cryptographer David Chaum proposed an anonymous cryptographic electronic money system, later implemented as DigiCash<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/?page_id=6\" class=\"btn btn-skin btn-radius\">Continue Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">History<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29,"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanward.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}