比特币和加密货币简史
| KEY TAKEAWAYS: |
| — The history of bitcoin, and cryptocurrency itself, has quickly changed the world — Bitcoin launched in 2008, spurring an industry that is literally changing the world — The introduction of Ethereum created a new wave in blockchain technology; executable computer programs called smart contracts. — This in turn enabled the rise of DeFi, NFTs and countless other use cases which contribute to blockchain’s place in history. |
In 2008, Bitcoin emerged as the first cryptocurrency. A lot has happened since that day – let’s to take a look back at the history of cryptocurrency to understand the important changes it catalyzed.
The History of Bitcoin: From The Start
The idea of having a digital currency is not a new one. Prior to cryptocurrencies, many attempts at creating one have taken place. The main issue most of them were facing, was the double spending problem. A digital asset somehow needs to be usable only once to prevent copying it and effectively counterfeiting it.
在加密货币出现前的十多年，计算机工程师戴维 (Wei Dai) 就已经提出了这个概念。 1998 年，他曾发表过一篇讨论“B-money”的论文， 并提出可以通过一组不可追踪的数字假名发送数字货币的想法。 同年，区块链先驱尼克·萨博 (Nick Szabo) 又尝试提出了名为 Bit Gold 的设想。 Bit Gold 同样寻求创造一种去中心化的数字货币。 Szabo 提出这一想法是受到了传统金融系统效率低下的启发，例如制造硬币需要用到金属，以及希望减少创建交易所需的信任。 虽然这两种币都没有正式发行，但它们都是促使比特币问世的重要动力。
The Birth of Bitcoin: The First Cryptocurrency
Satoshi Nakamoto published the white paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, describing the functionality of the Bitcoin blockchain network. This day in Bitcoin history has carved the path for the events that followed.
Four months later, Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity remains a mystery to this day, mined the first block of the Bitcoin network, effectively piloting the blockchain technology. The first mined block is also known as the Genesis Block.
The first recorded purchase of goods was made with Bitcoin when Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. This day is still commemorated to date as the Bitcoin Pizza Day. At Ledger, we celebrated this with a limited edition Ledger Nano S.
How The Crypto Market Made History
第一种加密货币比特币诞生后，人们开始不断寻找交易比特币的解决方案。 2010 年 3 月，首个加密货币交易所 bitcoinmarket.com 出现了（现已不存在）。 同年 7 月，比特币交易所 Mt.Gox 面世。
从 2011 年到 2013 年，比特币价格终于在 2013 年 2 月与美元持平。 这一年，出现了一些有竞争力的加密货币：截至 2013 年 5 月，加密货币市场上已有包括莱特币 (Litecoin) 在内的 10 种数字资产。 另一大加密资产瑞波币 XRP (Ripple) 也于同年 8 月进入加密货币市场。
The Mt.Gox Disaster
比特币价值大幅增长，第一批黑客也随之而来。 2011 年 6 月，Mt.Gox 首次遭到黑客攻击：2,000 BTC 比特币（当时价值约 30,000 美元）被盗。
2013 年，Mt.Gox 一度成为规模最大的加密货币交易所，交易处理量峰值可达所有比特币交易的 70%。
Unfortunately, in 2014, Mt.Gox became the first major cryptocurrency exchange hack, having 850,000 BTC stolen from it. This is the largest theft of BTC in Bitcoin history, which was valued at $460,000,000 at the time (current date value around $9,5 billion).
After this unprecedented situation, the Bitcoin price plummeted by 50% and did not recover to its initial value till late 2016. Cryptocurrency exchange hacks have remained ever-present since, though rarely of Mt.Gox’s caliber.
Luckily, you can now securely buy BTC, but also send, receive and swap with our Bitcoin wallet.
Ethereum and the Introduction of Tokens and Blockchain Apps
On July 30th 2015, The Ethereum network was launched. Currently the second crypto asset in terms of market capitalization, it brought smart contracts and eventually decentralized finance to the cryptocurrency world. These allow the Ethereum blockchain to run an entire ecosystem on its blockchain while also hosting its own native currency: Ether (ETH). The smallest unit of Ether is also known as a Wei (0.000,000,000,000,000,001 ETH).
Cryptocurrencies that don’t have their own dedicated blockchain, but use the blockchain of another crypto asset are known as tokens. There are now several tokens on the Ethereum network, but simple crypto tokens are called ERC-20 tokens. The first-ever ERC token was launched back in 2015. That was the crypto asset known as Augur. Since that day, a plethora of tokens have been created on the Ethereum blockchain. There are currently more than 200,000 ERC tokens, which means that there is a huge cryptocurrency ecosystem running on a single blockchain.
The History of Cryptocurrencies Is Ongoing
The cryptocurrency world has not stood still since. Prices reached an all-time high in the bitcoin history in January 2018 and many new crypto assets have joined since, including EOS (July 2017), Tron (September 2017) and Cardano (October 2017). The cryptocurrency market currently hosts over 2000 digital currencies and is still expanding.
其实，我们能轻易看出加密货币是如何迈着缓慢但坚定的步伐走向全球的。 加密货币的涨势也使得其获得越来越多认可和使用场景。 如今，中央银行数字货币 (CBDC) 正在创建中，各大公司开始投资区块链和加密货币，对此表现出愈加浓厚的兴趣。 显然，这类事件将会推动加密货币市场的快速扩张。
加密资产也会继续大受欢迎，地位更加重要、用例更加普遍。 比特币 ATM 机的数量持续增加，越来越多商店开始接受加密货币这种支付方式，加密资产也成为了一种筹款方式，您甚至可以带着加密货币环游世界！
加密货币的适用范围仍在快速扩展，就如同其价格一般一路飙升。 别忘记就在三年前，BTC 比特币的价格还不到 1000 美元！
The Emerging World of DeFi
有了加密货币，您就能“成为自己的银行”– 只有您可以控制自己的数字资产并负责确保它们的安全。
At Ledger, we lend a hand in protecting your valuable crypto assets by providing a secure solution that keeps access to your cryptocurrencies offline and out of reach of hackers.
