When did cryptocurrency start? A plain timeline

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to run a working network, so many people treat January 2009 as the answer. The idea grew from earlier digital cash experiments. The word cryptocurrency now covers many coins, each with its own origin.

When did cryptocurrency start?

Bitcoin's whitepaper was published in 2008 by a pseudonymous developer called Satoshi Nakamoto. Its network started when the first block, the genesis block, was mined in January 2009. That block is where the network began recording ownership and transfers. Later coins launched on their own dates, so cryptocurrency as a whole has no single birthday.

What came before Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital asset whose ownership records live on a blockchain. It was built without a central owner so that no single company, bank or government could control the rules or issue more coins at will. Its design borrowed from decades of cryptography and digital cash research.

• David Chaum described ecash, a cryptographic electronic money, in 1983.
• He implemented DigiCash, an early electronic payment system, in 1995.
• Wei Dai described b-money in 1998 as an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system.
• Nick Szabo described bit gold shortly after b-money.

When did other cryptocurrencies start?

Ethereum and other major coins came after Bitcoin. Ethereum's network launched in 2015. Litecoin and Peercoin were earlier examples.

How can you verify a start date?

A coin's real start is the timestamp on its genesis block, which is block zero on its blockchain. You can find it through the project's documentation and a block explorer. A public sale date can differ, so compare the two.

Written byVahe HakobyanVahe Hakobyan is the editor-in-chief of World-Crypt. He covers bitcoin, markets and regulation, and leads the newsroom that fact-checks every story before it goes live.