From Papa John’s to 50 Cent: the Amazing Growth of Bitcoin Over the Past 10 Years
If 10 years ago I had said that one bitcoin would cost more than 7 thousand dollars in 2020, I’d have only heard your laughter. All these years, skeptics have been laughing at those who bought the bitcoin cryptocurrency and mined, spending fucking huge amounts of money. Few believed in 2010 that all this could work, and all who have bought more bitcoins are rich now. The rest sprinkle with their envious poison. So, let’s look at the growth of Bitcoin over the past 10 years from the legendary story with Papa John’s to the surprising finding for 50 Cent, who got so good news with the growth of BTC.
The official date of birth is considered to be October 31, 2008. Satoshi Nakamoto wrote an article called ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’ about protecting digital signatures, payments without the participation of a third party, blockchain, BTC itself. There is still debate about who was hiding under the pseudonym Satoshi. In 2009, the words were translated into practice. The world learned about the creation of the first Genesis block. Sometime after this, the first transaction was completed: 10 bitcoins from Satoshi were transferred to the developer, Hal Finney. In October 2009, the first BTC exchange rate was approved ‒ 1309.03 bitcoins for $ 1.
BTC: the Start of Bitcoin in the Cryptocurrency World
Bitcoin is like a geek whom no one wants to be friends with at school. He grows up, becomes a billionaire, and the one who was with him from the very beginning (girlfriend, family, friends), believed in him, now receives nice bonuses, and the rest go to fucking ass!
The first small but confident steps of the baby Bitcoin began in 2010. Then, large investors didn’t really pay attention to it. They actively invested huge amounts in Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. Why? The novelty, which seemed only a dark horse for them, wasn’t very convincing. Just think, then BTC cost 0.08 per coin. If one of the readers could only create a time machine, return, buy up bitcoins… Probably everyone was thinking about it, yeah? Those who managed to stock up with an impressive amount of bitcoins are now drowning in money. Investments in Bitcoin today are recognized as the most profitable in the last decade, but in 2010, few believed in the success of BTC.
The first official Bitcoin Market exchange was launched in March 2010, when early users had been trading privately for some time, so a small number of investors were interested in BTC. Small popularity didn’t prevent bitcoin from its development. Users slowly traded cryptocurrency, buying and selling it for cash. The first bitcoin transaction was carried out in March 2010. Here we come to an interesting story about Bitcoin and Papa John’s pizza!
Two Pizzas from Papa John’s at the Cost of a Fortune
An ordinary Florida programmer, Laszlo Heinitz, was the first person to conduct a bitcoin transaction. He did it for the fucking awesome future of bitcoin! A crypto enthusiast bought two pizzas, the price of which was no more than 25 bucks for 10000 bitcoins. Now 10000 BTC is more than $ 70 million. What an expensive pizza! Of course, then Laszlo didn’t even know that his purchase was so expensive since the price of bitcoin was very low. He just wanted to buy food for bitcoin: “Food is the main necessity. If I can eat for Bitcoin, I can live for Bitcoin.”
This is not the only cryptocurrency pizza order. In total, the programmer spent about 100000 BTC on pizzas, which means that the losses reached a staggering amount of $ 800000000! Laszlo says that thinking about it is not the best thing. Of course, few people could sustain information about the loss of such a large amount of money. Laszlo, for sure, is still an enthusiast, but you cannot live only on enthusiasm. Do not forget about this. But he doesn’t suffer from poverty now, he still buys a lot for BTC.
The owner of 10000 bitcoins in 2010 was a 19-year-old student, Jeremy Sturdivant. How did this happen? Laszlo put on BitcoinTalk a new topic Pizza for BTC. For four days no one answered him, only a student Jeremy agreed to complete the order of a programmer for 10000 bitcoins. He was not even stopped by the fact that he lived very far from Laszlo, at the other end of the country.
That’s how the order of a pizza lover looked like: “I want to buy two pizzas for 10000 bitcoins, for example, two large ones so to eat something tomorrow. I like to leave a little for the next time. You can make pizza yourself and bring it to my home or order it for me. My goal is to pay for the delivery of food with bitcoins, so as not to order or cook it for myself. It’s something like you order breakfast and they bring you something to eat, and you are happy!”
Jeremy decided to buy pizza at Papa John’s. After that, the story with Bitcoin glorified the Papa John’s brand. The first open transaction took place when cryptocurrency acted as a means of payment. This is a historic moment! It’s known that Laszlo Heinitz was far from the only crypto enthusiast who popularized BTC in so interesting way. A few years after buying an expensive pizza, bitcoin really became an alternative to money.
Some people laugh wildly at a programmer who spent millions of dollars on pizza. Although, exactly this person became one of those who helped Bitcoin grow. Laszlo deliberately contributed to the development of cryptocurrency. Of course, it’s quite difficult for him to realize that in the end, he lost so much money, but what sacrifices can people make for their business?
It’s better to laugh at the story of Welshman James Howells. In 2013, he just accidentally threw a fortune into the trash, to be more precise it was a hard drive with 7500 BTC. It hurts even to hear about it! This is almost 60 million dollars! The moral of this fable is, just take good care of your savings, even if they are worthless, things change.
How BTC Became a Payment for Education and Space Travel
In early 2011, BTC reached parity with the dollar. This news finally attracted the attention of investors, so they began to buy bitcoin more actively. People decided to use bitcoin even as payment for training courses. The first university in the world to approve BTC for studies is Nicosia University. In the same 2011, the American company Virgin Galactic started using bitcoin as payment for space travel. The first ATMs with bitcoins also began to appear.
Along with the popularity of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency also met with competition: from 2013 it was Ripple, from 2015 ‒ Ethereum and others. True, in 2020, we can say BTC is the best cryptocurrency. Just look at the data for April 2020, everything is fucking clear!
Source: coinmarketcap
No matter how Bitcoin changes, other cryptocurrencies are far from it. But who knows what will happen in 10 years? Maybe we will be surprised by other participants of the cryptocurrency world, they can’t be written off, especially after the history of bitcoin growth.
The Peak Value of BTC in 2017 and Good News for 50 Cent
In December 2017, the cost of bitcoin reached $ 20,000. So far, these are the highest rates in the history of cryptocurrency. Thanks to the growth of BTC, the well-known 50 Cent rapper received great profits. The musician is an early follower of bitcoin, who even forgot that he has BTC in his bank account. Not everyone will find a fucking surprise of $ 8 million on New Year’s Eve!
So, how did 50 Cent get BTC treasures? He allowed some fans to pay for his album Animal Ambition with bitcoins back in 2014. Then he knew that he had 400 thousand dollars. For mere mortals, this amount is sky-high, but for 50 Cent it’s a penny. He forgot about this nest egg and remembered it only in 2018 when he was on the verge of bankruptcy. At that time, it was no longer 400 thousand dollars, but fucking 8.5 million dollars! That’s how profits came due to simple luck. After all, 50 Cent didn’t follow the cryptocurrency market, didn’t postpone bitcoins, he just allowed to pay for his work in such a way. Sometimes a simple friend of luck plays a huge role.
Although the peak value of Bitcoin fell a few weeks after reaching a record high, it still remains the most popular cryptocurrency. Since 2017, Hollywood stars have rushed to somehow connect their lives with the crypto world:
1. Pitbull announced about Smackathon, a cryptocurrency designed for revolutionary payments in the music industry.
2. Gwyneth Paltrow merged with Abra Bitcoin wallet.
3. Lionel Messi became the brand ambassador of the Israeli company Sirin Labs.
4. Stefan Kendal Gordy (Redfoo) abandoned his musical career, focusing on a new project ‒ programming on the Ethereum blockchain.
For you to understand, Bitcoin peaked in December 2017. Its price increased 20 times. And already on January 12, 2018, the cost of the cryptocurrency fell to $ 997. This was a fucking amazing leap, the fastest and sharpest drop in cryptocurrency in the last decade.
The price of bitcoin began to fall down from December 28, 2017, and in June 2018, it reached such crap because South Korea announced additional measures to regulate bitcoin trading, including the potential closure of exchanges among unstable movements in the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency market. Now we understand that it was a challenge for BTC, which the cryptocurrency survived with dignity.
Bitcoin Now: What is Known about Cryptocurrency Now and its Future
After the start of the BTC fall at the beginning of 2018, the crypto world divided into several clans: some began to buy bitcoin while it was affordable, some stayed away from the supposedly unstable cryptocurrency, others worried about their bitcoin if suddenly the price no longer would be the same. When cryptocurrency has begun to grow since the end of 2019, skepticism towards BTC has diminished, but still there is not much stability because bitcoin falls and grows again. No one can accurately predict the future of cryptocurrency. There are options that by May 2020, BTC will break value records again, and someone says that it will be a vivid failure of the most popular cryptocurrency in the world.
The rise and fall of bitcoin in 2020:
• BTC January 1, 2020 ‒ $ 7,172;
• BTC February 1, 2020 ‒ $ 8,338;
• BTC March 1, 2020 ‒ $ 8,523;
• BTC April 1, 2020 ‒ $ 6,512 (the latest data is $ 7,316).
Bitcoin Prospects for 2020
There are several prerequisites for the rise of bitcoin in price. The first important and long-playing factor is market expectations before halving. The second possible factor is the potential impact of large OTC sites. I have repeatedly heard about the plans of many large investors to enter the cryptocurrency market. We should expect similar falls with sharp kickbacks on especially large transactions after their completion.
Let’s not forget about the unstable political situation. The beginning of 2020 was marked by an escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran, which affected the price of valuable assets. At this time, bitcoin, along with valuable assets, began to rise and fall, so it was even equated with all these events. On January 8, the price of BTC rose to $ 8,391.
As for the prospects for the 2020 and for the near future, as we have already said we know fucking nothing. Everyone has a different vision of the future for legendary BTC. Also, things get tough because of coronavirus. The global pandemic has affected many areas, and the cryptocurrency market is no exception. On March 12, the value of Bitcoin fell by a quarter and for the first time since May 2019, fell below $ 6000. Experts attribute the drop of bitcoin prices to the collapse in the oil market and the news that the coronavirus is recognized as a pandemic. Investors panicked and began selling cryptocurrencies along with securities and, conversely, they started buying gold.
However, analysts believe that the restoration of the digital currency market is only a matter of time, and by the end of spring, the bitcoin market will be restored. As we can see, the price of BTC is already much higher than $ 6000, so the forecasts are good enough. One of the experts is the founder of the darknet service Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, who prophesies Bitcoin to take off to $ 100000. For example, the head of Three Arrows Capital, Su Zhu, only jokes with such forecasts and says that you shouldn’t trust that nonsense. This really already looks a bit of fiction, although, let’s wait and see, guys.
Every time you think this is nonsense, remember that once you could buy only 2 pizzas for 10000 bitcoins, and after a while, for a very short period, by the way, it became a fortune. So keep calm and take visionary steps.
