Bitcoin has come a long way since it was first introduced to the world when its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto published the whitepaper. In its first days of trading in 2010, BTC had a price of around $0.003.
To those who have been in the market long enough, this price seems like that of many altcoins with an ambiguous background. However, at the time of this writing, Bitcoin trades at around $9,300, charting an unprecedented increase in the past decade.
Many people regret not buying bitcoin years ago when the price was substantially lower. In fact, about five years ago, in 2015, BTC was exchanging hands for about $250. While this may sound like a discounted price compared to the current rates, in May 2010, BTC traded at around $0.003.
Data revealed from the popular cryptocurrency commentator CryptoBull shows that Bitcoin’s price on the same date ten years ago was 0.00429.
The information is compiled from Bitcoinmarket, known as being the first-ever bitcoin exchange. Looking at the order books undoubtedly causes regrets in many as 6100 BTC were then worth $20. The same amount of BTC today costs just shy of $57 million.
To put things in perspective, since those days, Bitcoin has increased by more than 221,428,400%.
The entire cryptocurrency landscape has changed dramatically in the past ten years. First and foremost, there are over 5,000 altcoins right now. While a lot of the projects behind them hold no bright future, the attention they receive is a lot greater than what it was back in 2010 when only a handful of people had heard of Bitcoin.
The infrastructure is immensely better. There are plenty of spot cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as a lot of derivatives platforms where traders can speculate on the price with high leverage without having to own the actual asset. Binance Futures is a prime example.
Plenty of companies work on various solutions to facilitate the usage of cryptocurrencies in day-to-day affairs. Just last month, a bitcoin-friendly shopping app Fold, joined Visa’s Fast Track Program and will be launching a Visa co-branded debit card that rewards users with BTC for purchases they make with USD.
Regulators around the world have also turned their attention to cryptocurrencies and especially toward stablecoins. Many, including China, are working on their own central bank digital currencies, which speaks greatly of their potential.