Bitcoin, the world’s first and most famous cryptocurrency, celebrates its tenth birthday on Wednesday. Its emergence has spawned a multitude of other digital currencies, brought blockchain technology to global attention, and vexed regulators worried about its crime misuse and weakness to hacking. The following are some major milestones in bitcoin’s first decade: Oct. 31, 2008: The still-unidentified Satoshi Nakamoto releases a nine-page academic paper that sets out how bitcoin would work. “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” also gives the first description of the blockchain decentralized ledger, the technology that underpins the digital currency.
