The birth of Bitcoin — from genesis to the first transaction. Click events for details.
January 3, 2009
The Genesis Block
Satoshi Nakamoto mined block 0, launching the Bitcoin network. Embedded message: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." This critiqued the 2008 financial crisis bailouts and timestamped the creation. Reward: 50 BTC (unspendable).
January 8–9, 2009
Bitcoin v0.1 Released
Satoshi announced the first open-source Bitcoin software on the cryptography mailing list. It was uploaded to SourceForge. Description: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system with no central authority, solving double-spending via proof-of-work.
January 11, 2009
Early Adopter Joins
Hal Finney (cypherpunk & PGP pioneer) tweeted "Running bitcoin" — one of the very first public acknowledgments. He began testing the software and corresponding with Satoshi.
January 12, 2009
First Bitcoin Transaction
Satoshi sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney (block 170). This historic transfer proved Bitcoin could move value peer-to-peer. Value at the time? Effectively $0 — it was pure experimentation.
Rest of January 2009
Quiet Experimentation
Satoshi mined early blocks solo, fixed bugs, and emailed with early testers like Hal. No markets, no price, no hype — just a tiny network of cryptography enthusiasts testing a radical idea.