01
Origins · DOC·001Bitcoin Whitepaper
The 2008 design paper that explains electronic cash without a trusted ledger operator.
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HISTSOURCE-LED TOPIC GUIDE
Bitcoin history: documents, people and milestones
Connect cypherpunk ideas and digital-cash experiments with the 2008 Bitcoin Whitepaper, the 2009 Genesis Block and later events.
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46Source links
01What this field explains
Eric Hughes’s 1993 manifesto explains the relationship between privacy, cryptography and electronic money. Satoshi Nakamoto announced the Bitcoin Whitepaper on 31 October 2008; it cites Hashcash and b-money among other work. The Genesis Block bears a timestamp of 3 January 2009. Distinguish document dates, software release and later network use: chronological order alone does not establish direct influence or inevitable adoption.
This guide offers a selection, not a complete chronology. The sources below support the introduction; linked entries have their own sources and reviews. A historical mention of a law or service does not describe its present status.
Primary sources
02Start with these coordinates
A curated path from first principles to the details that matter.
02
Origins · BLK·0Genesis Block
Bitcoin’s first block, mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on 3 January 2009.
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03
Origins · CYPHCypherpunks
The Cypherpunks were a loose network that, from 1992, joined cryptography, software and political debate to give individuals practical tools for privacy and autonomy in digital systems.
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04
Origins · HCHashcash
Hashcash is a computational stamp system proposed by Adam Back in 1997: a sender searches for a value whose hash meets a chosen threshold, while a recipient verifies the result with one cheap computation.
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05
Origins · 10KBitcoin Pizza Day
Bitcoin Pizza Day commemorates 22 May 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz reported paying 10,000 BTC for two pizzas arranged through a Bitcointalk offer. The forum thread documented an early exchange of Bitcoin for delivered goods through an intermediary, showing a peer-to-peer asset acquiring a market price in everyday commerce.
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06
Institutions · SV21El Salvador Bitcoin Law
The 2021 law that granted bitcoin legal-tender status alongside the U.S. dollar, later amended as policy evolved.
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03Explore the connected entries
Definitions, mechanisms, people and source data connected to this field.
DOC·001Bitcoin WhitepaperOrigins · 2 §BLK·0Genesis BlockOrigins · 2 §2017Blocksize WarOrigins · 8 §CYPHCypherpunksOrigins · 9 §HCHashcashOrigins · 9 §10KBitcoin Pizza DayOrigins · 4 §B¥b-moneyOrigins · 4 §BGOLDBit GoldOrigins · 4 §DCASHDigiCashOrigins · 2 §E-CASHChaumian eCashOrigins · 3 §RPOWReusable Proofs of WorkOrigins · 2 §CAMThe Crypto Anarchist ManifestoOrigins · 2 §CPMA Cypherpunk's ManifestoOrigins · 2 §SV21El Salvador Bitcoin LawInstitutions · 2 §
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