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2009The genesis block

The network went live. In January 2009 Satoshi mined the first block and released the software, and for most of the year Bitcoin was a hobby project run on ordinary computers by a handful of cryptographers and cypherpunks.

Year-end price (approx.)

No open market

Block reward

50 BTC

First block

Jan 3, 2009

What happened

1. Jan 3

   The genesis block (block 0) is mined. Its embedded text quotes a headline from that day’s edition of The Times about a second bank bailout.

2. Jan 8–9

   Satoshi announces Bitcoin v0.1 on the cryptography mailing list and releases the software.

3. Jan 12

   The first Bitcoin transaction: Satoshi sends 10 BTC to developer Hal Finney.

4. Oct 5

   New Liberty Standard publishes the first known exchange rate, 1,309.03 BTC per US dollar, based on the electricity cost of mining.

5. Dec 16

   Bitcoin v0.2 is released as the small community slowly grows.

Why it mattered

Everything later in this timeline descends from these first weeks: a working network, a fixed issuance schedule and a transparent public ledger.

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