3. The path of Samurai...oh wait, I mean Bitcoin

2008:

-In November, Person under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto  posted a paper in the internet titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."

Paper described what peer to peer network generates to be "a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust."

2009:

- In January First release of open source Bitcoin client came out and the issuance ot the first bitcoins. Satoshi mined the very first block of bitcoins ever, known as the "genesis block", which had a reward of 50 bitcoins.

2010:

- On spring, first bitcoin transaction was made, paid 10 000 BTC for 2 pizzas (must have been good pizzas, if you look at nowadays prices of BTC)

2011:

- On 23th of December Douglas Feigelson (of BitBills) filed a patent application "Creating And Using Digital Currency" with the United States Patent and Trademark office-->conteste

2012:

- In January Bitcoin had a touch of tv-show drama as a main subject within fictionalized trial on "The Good Wife" show.

- in October BitPay reported having over 1 000 merchants accepting Bitcoin as a payment processing service.

2013:

- In February Bitcoin-based payment processor Coinbase reported selling Bitcoins with the rate of 22$/BTC with 1 million US dollars in a single month.

- In July began a project linking Bitcoin with M-Pesa(mobile payments system) in Kenya in an experiment designed to encourage innovative payments in Africa

- In August Federal Judge of the Eastern District of texas of the Fifth Circuit ruled Bitcoin to be "a currency or a form of money" and as such were subject to the court's jurisdiction.

- Also Germany's Finance Ministry subsumed Bitcoin under the term "unit of account" and as a financial instrument (not e-money or a functional currency) a classification nonetheless to have legal and tax implications.

-In 29th of October The first Bitcoin ATM in the world launched in Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada by Robocoin and Bitcoiniacs, allowing people to sell or buy Bitcoin currencies at a downtown coffee shop

- In 5th of december on press release "the people's Bank of China" announced  regarding Bitcoin regulation that whilst individuals in China are allowed freely to trade and exchange bitcoins as a commodity, Chinese financial banks on the other hand are prohibited to operate using bitcoins or for bitcoins to be used as legal tender currency, ordering entities dealing with bitcoins to track and report suspicious activity to prevent money laundering. After that the value of bitcoin dipped in many exchanges  11-20%, before it rebounded upward again.

 

Although Bitcoin is coming fast and ppl are getting to know it more and more, the road of bitcoin hasn't been all rise and shine. 

2009 :

-First interventions by law enforcement.Assets belonging to the Mt. Gox (Bitcoin exchange) were seized , and the Silk Road drugs market was shut down.

2010 :

-6th of August there was major vulnerability spotted in the Bitcoin protocol, which caused transactions to be unable to verify properly before transaction log or "block chain" was included --> users were able to bypass Bitcoin's economic restrictions and create an indefinite number of bitcoins, and on 15th of August the vulnerability was exploited and over 184 billion bitcoins were generated in a transaction and sent into two addresses on the network.

Within hours, the transaction was spotted and erased from the transaction log after bug was fixed --> 

2012 :

-an academic from the Carnegie Mellon CyLab and the Information Networking Institute estimated that 4,5-9% of spent bitcoins were for purchases of drugs at a single online market, Silk Road.

-The FBI stated in report that "Bitcoins will likely continue to attract cyber-criminals who view it as a means to move or steal funds".

-The FBI acknowledged fears of money laundering but stated there to be none of known instances of that ocurring

2013 :

- In March BTC transaction log ("block chain") got forked into 2 independent logs with differing rules on how transactions could be accepted.The Mt.Gox exchange halted BTC deposits briefly causing the exchange rate to drop by 23% to $37 before recovering to previous (~$48) in following hours. In the US, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) established regulatory guidelines for "decentralized virtual currencies" such as Bitcoin, classigying American "BTC miners" who sell their generated bitcoins, as Money Service Businesses (MSBs), that may be subject to registration and other legal obligations

- In April, payment processor BitInstant and Mt. Gox had processing delays due to insufficient capacity causing BTC exchange rate to drop from $266 to $76

- 23th of June Government agencies 1st time it claimed to have seized bitcoin. The report that the US Drug Enforcement Administration listed 11.02 BTC as a seized asset in a United States Department of Justice seizure notice pursuant to 21 U.S.C.  § 881.

-In July Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department in Thailand reported that Bitcoin lacks any legal framework therefore it would be illegal   --> Banned trading on Bitcoin exchanges in Thailand effectively.

- The Guardian reported that the currency was primarily used to purchase illegal drugs and for online gambling-

- The Huffington Post presented that online gun dealers use Bitcoin to sell arms without background checks.

- In October the FBI seized ~26 000 BTC from website Silk Road during the arrest of alleged owner.

- Harvard public policy professor Steven Strauss declarated that due to its close association with illegal purchases, government could outlaw Bitcoin, also mentioned in 2013 SEC(U.S Securities And Exchange Comission) filing made by a Bitcoin investment vehicle.