01May 22, 2010
Two pizzas that brought Bitcoin to the table
Four days of waiting, two large pizzas and 10,000 BTC. Bitcoin’s most remembered purchase was not a mistake, but a public experiment in exchange value.
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20 true stories
Bitcoin Stories
The moments when Bitcoin stopped existing only in code. People, mistakes, courage, power and failure — told from verifiable sources, without polishing the past.
Stories documented through sources and contemporary records02January 12, 2009
Ten Bitcoins for Hal
The first transfer between two people was worth 10 BTC and carried no fee. More important than the amount was the answer: the network worked beyond Satoshi’s computer.
Read the full story032010–2011
Satoshi Leaves Without a Final Press Conference
Final posts, a few brief emails and no verified return. Satoshi’s departure created an empty seat that no one could legitimately occupy.
Read the full story042013–2025
A Hard Drive Beneath Thousands of Tons of Waste
A black bag, two similar drives and a landfill in Newport. The famous story of lost bitcoins is also a precise lesson in what was actually stored on the disk.
Read the full story052011–present
Two Attempts Away from Digital Silence
Eight wrong passwords, two attempts remaining and a device designed not to yield even to its owner. Then came people who said they had bypassed the limit.
Read the full story062011–2013
Silk Road: The Marketplace That Mistook Pseudonymity for Invisibility
Silk Road revealed two faces of the new money at once: payments without a conventional intermediary and a history that does not forget. A trial, a life sentence and a pardon twelve years later followed.
Read the full story072014
Mt. Gox: When an Exchange Became a Single Point of Failure
Users saw balances on a screen while the real reserves disappeared. The collapse of Mt. Gox revealed the difference between bitcoin and a claim against a company.
Read the full story082010–2017
The Banking Blockade That Led WikiLeaks to Bitcoin
Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others closed the payment gateways. WikiLeaks turned to Bitcoin — despite Satoshi’s warning against such an early confrontation.
Read the full story092015–2017
The Blocksize War: Who Gets to Change Bitcoin’s Rules
Larger blocks versus cheaper nodes, SegWit versus a direct increase, and a corporate agreement versus users’ software. Two years of conflict changed the way Bitcoin talks about power.
Read the full story102022–2026
FTX: The Balance That Was Not Where It Belonged
Within a few November days, a famous exchange turned into an insolvency docket. Behind the withdrawal run was a hole; behind the hole, a privileged relationship with Alameda Research.
Read the full story11January 3–9, 2009
Genesis Block: The Hidden Message in the First Block
A newspaper headline, fifty inaccessible Bitcoins, and six days of silence. The story of the moment when Satoshi launched the chain, but still didn't know if anyone would join.
Read the full story12June–August 2010
Five Bitcoins with One Click
CAPTCHA, 1,100 bitcoins in stock, and a programmer who wanted newcomers to really try out Bitcoin. The story of the first Bitcoin faucet.
Read the full story1315 August 2010
The Day 184 Billion Bitcoins Were Created
Two outputs of 92 billion BTC, an overflowed number, and an emergency network fix. A reconstruction of the most serious inflationary bug in early Bitcoin.
Read the full story14November–December 2010
Slush Pool: A Prague Idea Against Mining Lottery
From a lone processor to the first jointly mined block. A Czech story of a service that changed the mining economy.
Read the full story15March 11–12, 2013
The Night Bitcoin Had Two Valid Histories
Block 225,430 split the network, IRC turned into a war room, and two large pools voluntarily abandoned the more profitable branch. A reconstruction of the March 2013 split.
Read the full story162012–2014
Trezor: The Keys to Bitcoin in a Pocket Computer
Raspberry Pi, two buttons, and a display to verify your own payment. A Czechoslovak story of a device that changed self-custody.
Read the full story172019–2021
Bitcoin Beach: A Village That Started Before the Law
Local leaders, a conditional donation, and the first purchases in the coastal village. The story of an experiment that later became a symbol of the entire country.
Read the full story18October 2020
#EndSARS: When the Banking Route Stopped Working
Frozen accounts, BTCPay Server, and public statements amidst protests against police brutality. The story of women seeking an alternative payment route.
Read the full story19May 2021–February 2022
The Great Migration of Bitcoin Machines from China
Hashrate plummeted, containers headed to Kazakhstan and the United States, and difficulty adjusted. The physical story of one of Bitcoin's largest migrations.
Read the full story202016–2024
Bitfinex: The Theft That Blockchain Didn't Forget
More than two thousand unauthorized transactions, BFX tokens, and approximately ninety-five thousand later seized bitcoins. The story of the difference between pseudonymity and invisibility.
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