What Is the Bitcoin Launch Date? Unveiling the Starting Point of the Cryptocurrency Era

On January 3, 2009, a mysterious figure using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block of Bitcoin—the Genesis Block (Block #0) on a small server located in Helsinki, Finland, announcing the official launch of the Bitcoin network. This day is recognized as the historic moment of Bitcoin’s birth and marks the entry of human monetary history into a new era.

Background of Birth: Technological Response to the Financial Crisis

The birth of Bitcoin was not a coincidence. After the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, the vulnerabilities of the traditional financial system were laid bare. In this context:

• On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” on a cryptography mailing list, proposing a decentralized electronic payment system that does not require trust in a third party;
• The white paper constructed a distributed ledger model based on blockchain technology, aiming to solve the “double spending problem” and eliminate barriers to cross-border transactions.

The embedded headline from The Times in the genesis block — “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” — serves not only as proof of the block generation time but also as a profound metaphor for the traditional financial system.

Network Launch: A Leap from Theory to Practice

Just 6 days after the birth of the genesis block, the Bitcoin network welcomed substantial operation:

• On January 9, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin 0.1.0 Client (initially supports only Windows), available for download on the open-source platform SourceForge;
• On January 12, 2009, the first Bitcoin transaction in history was completed: Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to cryptographer Hal Finney.

In the early days, Bitcoin had almost no market value. It wasn’t until October 2009 that the first trading platform, New Liberty Standard, set an initial price: 1 USD = 1,309 BTC.

Value Awakening: From “Pizza Transaction” to Tenfold Growth

The value discovery of Bitcoin has gone through a dramatic process:

• May 22, 2010: Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz exchanged 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, completing the first real-world transaction (equivalent to 1 billion dollars based on the 2025 peak);
• February 2011: Bitcoin price First reached the $1 mark;
• November 2013: Price soared to $1,000, attracting global mainstream media attention;
• March 2024: Single coin price broke $70,000, setting a new historical high;
• May 2025: Bitcoin price reached $111,980, once again setting a new historical high;

Technical Evolution: Halving Mechanism and Ecological Expansion

The economic model of Bitcoin ensures scarcity through algorithms:

• Initial block reward of 50 BTC, halving every 210,000 blocks (approximately every four years);
• Three halvings have been realized: 2012 → 25 BTC, 2016 → 12.5 BTC, 2020 → 6.25 BTC;
• Total supply is fixed at 21 million coins, expected to be fully mined by the year 2140.

Conclusion: A Continuing Revolution

Launched on January 3, 2009, Bitcoin has transformed from a geek experiment into a global financial asset. It has not only spawned thousands of Crypto Assets but also promoted the penetration of “Blockchain+” into fields such as payments, supply chain, and DeFi. Despite facing regulatory and volatility challenges, Satoshi Nakamoto’s original intention of “peer-to-peer electronic cash” continues to reshape humanity’s understanding of the boundaries of currency, trust, and value.