It does feel like a lifetime ago when the Bitcoin price was nearly $70K, right? But it isn’t, it was in November 2021 and all investors were more than hopeful that BTC would end the year crossing the 100K milestone. If you’re new to the crypto market and went to check the current BTC price you may think we’re joking about how high the first crypto got in value, but we aren’t. Shortly after it reached its highest milestone yet, the king crypto, along with the whole market, started going downwards and the ride doesn’t seem to be over yet.
You may wonder how low Bitcoin can get before it gets back up? Or will it go up in value at all again? Considering how much was Bitcoin when it first came out, here we’ll take a look at its price history to try to make something out of the current situation. If you’re curious about how BTC started and how it got here, we’ll provide that information now.
What Is Bitcoin (BTC)?
Before we discuss how much was Bitcoin when it first came out, let’s briefly cover what is Bitcoin and why did it emerge in the first place. Though Bitcoin is not the first attempt at digital money, it’s the first of the cryptocurrency kind, supported by blockchain technology. It was introduced in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto who stated this would serve as an alternative to traditional finances. Why? Because according to BTC’s creator (or creators, nobody knows their identity), fiat money was too dependent on institutions and there had to be a decentralized alternative to them. This rose the need for a payment vehicle that allowed people more freedom and equality when managing their finances. That’s how Bitcoin came to be, introducing blockchain technology and paving the way for many new cryptocurrencies after it.
There’s no physical representation of Bitcoin, it exists only online, and is created (mined) and transferred using blockchain technology. There’ll only ever be 21 million bitcoins and the current circulation supply is around 19 million. If you’re not familiar, the limited supply means more scarcity of the asset, meaning as the supply grows lower, the demand will potentially get higher, thus pushing its price up.
After briefly covering what the first crypto is all about, let’s now get into more detail about how much was Bitcoin when it first came out, as well as its following price history and potential future.
Bitcoin Price History: How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out
You may be surprised to find out how much was Bitcoin when it first came out since many following assets hit the market with staggering first prices. If you look at Internet Computer (ICP) or ApeCoin (APE) which reached record highs the moment they started trading, you’d be expecting a similar value from BTC, right? However, that’s not the case.
Bitcoin was officially launched at the beginning of 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first-ever block on the Bitcoin blockchain, also known as the “genesis block”. Then the first 50 BTC entered circulation. And how much was Bitcoin when it first came out? It’s was $0.00. No, you didn’t misread and we didn’t make a typo, the price of the first crypto was nothing when it was released on the market. And it continued trading for nothing for the majority of the next year as well, being below $0.09.
How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out: 2010-2017
The first real price goal was reached on April 13th, 2011, when the first crypto finally reached the value of the dollar. That really spiked the interest in it and a few months later, in June, it almost touched the $30 mark. Pretty impressive, right? Especially when you consider how much was Bitcoin when it first came out and how long it took it to move up.
Then the crypto market went down, BTC traded pretty low again but 2013 came and Bitcoin reached $230! Some volatility followed but in December for the first time ever BTC got to $1K. As seen with the previous goals, and repeated later, the price of the crypto fell again until in 2017 it got to $19,345. That’s when Bitcoin really got the interest of the public, both individual and institutional investors saw the potential of the asset. It also sparked the discussion about cryptocurrencies in media and made many not only purchase crypto but also create their own.
How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out: 2020-2022
You may think this value was high, considering how much was Bitcoin when it first came out, but the king crypto definitely proved wrong its critics. At the end of 2020, after falling sharply due to the pandemic, it was almost $30K which was just a warm-up for its first real high jump to $64K in April 2021. As we mentioned, this was inevitably followed by a crash, of BTC and the whole market, which brought its value down almost in half. Notably, the crash was caused by the influence of famous people on the market, for example, Elon Musk, as well as the China ban on mining services. Those shook up the prices of digital assets pretty well until at the end of the summer when some cryptos like Solana started rising again, hinting for a potential second bull run that year.
And it happened! The crypto market managed to recover from the crash that wiped the gains of many, and BTC, as well as other assets, reached its new all-time highs. On November 10th, 2021 Bitcoin reached a price of $68,789. And then things started unraveling a little, investors got anxious but that’s happened before, right? Except it’s been half of the next year already and the market has been shaken by different factors that haven’t let the price of Bitcoin, or any other asset, rise or remain stable for too long.
How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out: Why?
Knowing the initial value of BTC and the time it took to get to its highest price yet, you may be wondering what took it so long? Sure, as mentioned, some cryptos launched with very high prices, but most of them haven’t managed to reach them again after the initial values. Obviously, that wasn’t the case with BTC as it took some time and volatility to get to where it is today.
In reality, the reasons behind how much was Bitcoin when it first came out and why it took so long to reach a high price are a few:
- This is the first cryptocurrency and as a pioneer in the field, it had to be around for some time for people to recognize it, appreciate it, and start using it.
- As the first cryptocurrency, its technology may be outdated by now. That’s why many new assets come out with solutions to Bitcoin problems, like how much power Bitcoin mining takes, etc. But when it was first introduced, blockchain was unfamiliar to people so just as long as it took for the asset to gain popularity, it did for its technology.
- Bitcoin has limited use cases. We mentioned that Satoshi Nakamoto made the first asset to be an alternative to fiat money and that’s about it, there aren’t things besides paying with BTC that you can do. You can invest in BTC or mine the crypto, but all the same. As with the developing technology, newer digital assets also take advantage of this fault in BTC and introduce many new use cases. That’s why you can see assets either trading for more than how much was Bitcoin when it first came out or gaining more quickly in value than the king crypto.
What Factors Brought BTC From How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out to Today
After you’ve learned how much was Bitcoin when it first came out and how high it got, you must be curious as to what exactly is driving its price up and down, right? We can summarize some of the factors that can influence the BTC price here for you.
💰 Supply and demand: As we’ve mentioned, the first crypto has a limited supply, meaning at some point all the bitcoins will be mined and they’ll become a lot more scarce than they already are. If you look at some coins with trillions in supply, like Shiba Inu coin, for example, you can notice that they’ll never be as demanded as Bitcoin, or grow as much in price, because there are just so many of them. As the demand for BTC grows, potentially its price will too.
💰 Fear and greed: Did you know there’s an index that measures the two most influential emotions on the crypto market – fear and greed? It’s needed because the prevailing emotion of traders can push the price of any asset, including BTC, in either direction. The index is based mostly on the Bitcoin price since that’s the most influential digital asset up-to-date.
💰 External factors: As we’ve mentioned, the price of Bitcoin got moved from outside factors, like the claims of Musk, regarding the usage of BTC in Tesla, or China banning mining in the country. Such news from celebrities or countries tightening crypto regulations, or just different economic factors, influence the price of BTC a lot, as well as the whole market since digital assets are very volatile by nature.
We’ve listed only a few of the factors that brought the price up from how much was Bitcoin when it first came out. You may notice that it can be moved by many things but that’s a given with any other digital asset as well, partially due to their decentralization, and also because they aren’t as established as fiat money yet. However, after every fall, the price of Bitcoin has managed to get up so far. We don’t know if crypto will recover any time soon, or at all, but history makes us remain hopeful.
How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out and How Much Can Its Price Grow in the Future?
Nobody can predict with certainty how high can the Bitcoin price get. Many investors and experts are hopeful that it’ll rise again, however, just as many think it’ll continue to drop. Will it go as low as how much was Bitcoin when it first came out? We hope not, since as you now know that was $0.00. Many skeptics didn’t believe that BTC had any value in the first place, let alone rise in price so significantly as it has.
While past performance isn’t a guarantee for present gains, many forecasters have spoken their truth when it comes to the price of the first crypto. We’re not here to give you financial advice, and you should never base your investment seldom on price predictions. But it’s still interesting to see what some sites think about the price of BTC in the long run and what you may expect from it.
Potential High Price:
2022: $42,650
2025: $96,637
2030: $404,640
Will the Price Drop as Low as How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out?
Above you can see the optimistic price outlook for BTC. However, not all are so hopeful for the digital asset. There aren’t many predictions yet that think the price will fall as low as how much was Bitcoin when it first came out. One of the lowest forecasts we could find was from The Economy Forecast Agency which thinks that by 2026 BTC will be only $26K. Now that may seem bad to long-term investors who are hoping to make millions from bitcoins in the next years. But if you look at it realistically, it’s not that bad, is it? Yes, according to them the price won’t be $100K but it also won’t be $0.00. That means that even the more pessimistic forecasters don’t believe that the value of BTC will get how much was bitcoin when it first came out.
Considering How Much Was Bitcoin When It First Came Out and How Far It’s Been, What Will Follow Next?
If you’re sorry that you didn’t invest in BTC now that you know how much was Bitcoin when it first came out, you’re not alone. Sure, you could have made millions, but you didn’t go and sell your bitcoins or pay for pizza with them, right? There are some that are a lot more sorry than you are.
If you’re wondering should you invest in Bitcoin now, having risen considerably in price since its launch, we can’t tell you the answer. This is your own decision and neither us, nor anyone else should be influencing you on it. However, let’s revise what we discussed here, to help you get a more clear view of where the coin is going.
$0.00 is how much was Bitcoin when it first came out. It took it quite some time to reach a dollar and then to start gaining speed and hit some real milestones. It took 12 years for Bitcoin to reach $68K, does that mean it’ll take another decade for it to reclaim its high price? Nobody really knows, despite the many forecasts and price predictions. We’d like to remain hopeful that the market will eventually rise again, once it gets more stable and the whole economy revives.
It seems unlikely that BTC will get low as how much was Bitcoin when it first came out, despite the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. This asset is already a very established financial vehicle, many institutions now have bitcoin holdings, as well as many companies, allow you to pay for their services in BTCs. Today you can buy a house with the first crypto and pay for your new car as well. The mass adoption of the asset makes us a little more certain that it won’t be $0.00 again, though nobody can be certain. Even though it’s volatile, it’s not as bad as other new coins because of the name it’s made for itself. That’s why we’re expecting the future of Bitcoin with a positive outlook.
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