A Decade of Blockchain — 2010 to 2020 in Review

Follow the timeline of blockchain’s growth from Satoshi Nakamoto and the Genesis Block to Ethereum and decentralized finance.

On January 3rd, 2009, in the wake of a global financial crisis that accelerated the growing chasm of inequality throughout world economies, a mysterious figure named Satoshi Nakamoto launched a virtual currency named Bitcoin that functioned atop what s/he called a ‘Proof of Work chain.’

In its ‘genesis block,’ Nakamoto permanently embedded a brief line of text into the data that signaled the inspiration behind the newfangled tech: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

It was a rallying cry for a better way. What proceeded over the next decade has been a stratospheric rollercoaster ride for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, alongside the early phases of a total reworking of economic and human systems atop a philosophy of decentralization and democratization of access to value.

There have been inconceivable highs and corresponding lows in the ten plus years since Bitcoin’s genesis block, as development of blockchain technology and awareness of its potential marches ever forward. As this decade draws to a close, it’s an opportune moment to view ten years of blockchain development in retrospective. The technology has grown from a digital currency worth only pennies to an emerging pillar of global economic systems — and it’s still just getting started.

Some context before we begin: As 2009 saw its end, blockchain development was limited. In fact, the first transactions ever to take place on the Bitcoin network were undertaken in December of 2009. The BitcoinTalk Forum, an early hotbed for blockchain developers, went live in November. The blockchain ecosystem was limited to a handful of technologists and developers with only an inkling of the phenomenon that they had already set in motion…

Head to the new ConsenSys Blog to read The Decade in Blockchain — 2010 to 2020 in Review

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