ZoneBitcoin EditorialToday, we are used to going to exchange platforms like Binance. This is where we make our cryptocurrency purchases. And, it's very simple. We just need to have a bank card and buy what we want in a few clicks. Nothing could be easier than buying cryptocurrencies today.
Initially, when Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper in 2008, bitcoin had no value. A bitcoin was worth 0 euros in a way. Bitcoin increased in value when people wanted to have it and therefore paid the “price” for it.
And, at the beginning, there were no exchange platforms strictly speaking. The very first bitcoin transaction took place exactly on January 12, 2009. It was the first transaction between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney He is a computer scientist and crypto activist who was one of the first to be interested in Bitcoin). Satoshi had sent BTC to Hal to test and validate the operations. There was no value associated with bitcoin yet at that time.
More and more people became interested in Bitcoin during this year. Among the first people interested were mathematicians, cryptographers and generally members of the movement cypherpunk.
The first bitcoin transactions
At that time, the first bitcoin exchange appeared. It is October 5, 2009 and the platform is called “New Liberty Standard“. Some say that this platform was created by Satoshi Nakamoto himself. The price displayed for 1$ equal to 1309,03 BTC. At this time, the demand for bitcoin is low. However, the value was established based on the costs of mining (electricity) to extract bitcoins.
That's where it all started.
A first transaction was recorded on October 12, 2009 where New Liberty Standard purchased a total of 5050 BTC from Sirus (Martti Malmi) for an amount of exactly $5,02.
Bitcoin developer Martti Malmi (@marttimalmi) from 2009 to 2011 recalled this transaction in a tweet published on January 15, 2014.
The very first time someone paid with bitcoin was Laszlo haynek. He bought two pizzas for 10 BTC. Without really knowing it, he gave the green light for the next bitcoin payments.
—>Read the article: “The 10 people who shaped the history of Bitcoin from the beginning".
Bitcoin payment is officially born
In February 2010, a Bitcointalk user named “dwdollar” created an exchange called Bitcoin market. As the name suggests, you could buy bitcoins peer-to-peer as is the case today on Noons For example. You could also buy bitcoin via Paypal.
Initially, you could mainly buy bitcoin by sending a person the requested amount on Paypal.
However, very quickly, Paypal refused transactions related to Bitcoin. This is completely understandable - in hindsight - because ultimately, Bitcoin is a supreme competitor to Paypal as a payment platform.
That said, in 2011, Paypal no longer accepted transactions directly or indirectly related to bitcoin due to fraud and scams. Many users complained to Paypal in cases where the seller, for example, did not send the bitcoins even after receiving the money on Paypal….
The advent of the first Mt Gox exchange platform
You may know this name or the scandal that is linked to Mt Gox? If this is not the case, you will quickly know why MtGox is remembered by the first bitcoin users.
On July 18, 2010, on the Bitcointalk network, we heard about the platform for the first time MtGox. We could see the prices of bitcoin displayed as it was on stock exchange platforms for example.
It was Jed McCaled who created the exchange platform. He sold it to a young French computer scientist named Mark Karpeles on March 6, 2011. He settled in Japan and became the most prominent person in the bitcoin community.
It very quickly became the number 1 exchange platform in terms of trading volume.
However, MtGox suffered unprecedented setbacks following a major hack. The Japanese government finally accused Mark Karpeles of having falsified his company's account data. In 2015, he was indicted in Japan for embezzlement. He is suspected of having embezzled 2,3 million euros in bitcoin deposits. Mt Gox went bankrupt with one of the largest losses with 850 BTC lost…
However, it kept a “bad reputation” with this loss of 850 BTC lost. Remember that some of the users have been reimbursed….
The Mark Karpeles affair is frankly very complicated to follow as there have been significant reversals.
Note: Mark Karpeles would have opened in 2022, a rating agency for exchange platformss. You can find out more by following the announcements on his Twitter.
—> Read the article: The incredible fall of Mt Gox and Mark Karpelès
New exchange platforms are emerging
With the success of MtGox, new platforms are emerging. The great innovation of these platforms is that users could buy bitcoins in exchange for dollars directly.
We can cite Britcoin, created on March 27, 2011. Users could exchange bitcoins for pounds sterling (GBP). Quickly, in response to demand from the Brazilian population, the exchange opened to Brazilian Reals (BRL).
We can also cite the BitMarket.eu platform, created on April 5, 2011 where we could for the first time exchange bitcoins for Euros.
At this time, peer-to-peer platforms are those most used. Indeed, the governments of the world are not in favor of legislating on bitcoin at this time, an asset that they do not yet understand and which they distrust.
In 2012, the platform LocalBitcoin is created and until today, it is a reference platform for buying bitcoin peer-to-peer.
—> Read our article “The best Peer-to-Peer (P2P) platforms to buy bitcoin"
The first security and hacking problems…
MtGox is the leader in terms of buying and reselling bitcoin at this time. However, on June 19, 2011, a first attack was carried out on the platform exploiting a security vulnerability. Thousands of bitcoins are “stolen”.
Another platform “Bitomat” which was in 3rd place in terms of volume suffered an attack and lost 17 BTC. It was just the beginning. Other increasingly important hacks followed... Other platforms like MyBitcoin were hacked (loss of 000 BTC) or even TradeHill which also lost thousands of BTC, in 120.
At this time, Bitcoin gained popularity but it was also where it began to gain a reputation for being an asset subject to security hacks.
There is more talk in the media about hacks and sudden losses on exchange platforms than about the technological advances of Bitcoin.
The current situation of bitcoin exchange platforms
Today, there are thousands of trading platforms. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies as well. The platforms have become more secure and offer ever more diverse services. Today there are more than 13,000 exchange platforms listed.
New platforms are created every day, moreover.
Among the best-known exchange platforms today, here is a small, non-exhaustive list:
- 2011: Kraken is based in San Francisco. Kraken was the first Bitcoin exchange created in the USA, by Jesse Powell.
- In 2012: Coinbase is also based in San Francisco and was created by Brian Armstrong. Today, it is a publicly traded company which is perhaps the best known of the platforms.
- 2012: Bitfinex: Company based in Hong Kong, founded by Raphael Nicolle and Giancarlo Devasini. For a long time, Bitfinex was second in Bitcoin trading volume.
- 2013: Okex : Based in Beijing, China is one of the largest exchange platforms today. Moreover, the platform has opened up to DeFi and is now called Okx.
- In 2017: Binance : Created in 2017 by Chanpeng Zhao (known as CZ), Binance was originally based in Shanghai, China. Today, the platform has become number 1. It is the one with the largest volume of Bitcoin today. Likewise, Binance constantly innovates by offering different services such as launchpool etc.
Now you can read the best exchange platforms to buy cryptocurrencies.
Note: No financial advice is given in this or any other article on zonebitcoin. This is information of which you are the sole judge and master. Be responsible with your investments and only invest as much as you are willing to lose.
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