Bitcoin white paper, authored by the enigmatic figure Satoshi Nakamoto, was released 15 years ago on October 31, 2008.
The document proposed a decentralised system that would enable direct peer-to-peer transactions, effectively addressing the issue of double spending commonly encountered in digital currencies.
The paper suggested the use of a network comprised of nodes that would validate and record transactions through a consensus mechanism known as proof-of-work to achieve this purpose.
The first-ever real-world transaction involving Bitcoin occurred in May 2010, when 10,000 bitcoins were used to purchase two pizzas.
Bitcoin represented a significant milestone in the application of cryptography to establish a separation between finance and governmental control, empowering users to bypass traditional financial institutions and banks for their transactions.
As a result, BTC has gained increasing adoption globally and has been recognised as legal tender in El Salvador in September 2021.
Certain financial institutions have sought regulatory approval to offer spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, while others have already introduced their own Bitcoin ETFs in Europe.
In 2018, the Lightning network was launched to enhance the capabilities of Bitcoin, allowing for faster and more cost-effective transactions.