From ‘Magic Money’ to Global Asset

Today marks Bitcoin’s 17th birthday.

On January 3, 2009, an anonymous creator known as Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Bitcoin genesis block, embedding the now-famous message about the global banking crisis that took place at the time. At the time, almost no one noticed.

Fast forward to today, seventeen years later, that long ago has become one of the most disruptive financial inventions in modern history, mocking banks, crashes, and countless announcements of its demise. Happy birthday, Bitcoin!

17 years

In its infancy, BTC was little more than an experiment among cryptographers and libertarians. It didn’t really have a known value, there was no exchange where you could freely trade, and there was no clear use case other than peer-to-peer value transfer, which was essentially white security.

The first known transaction took place in May 2010 – the famous day of Bitcoin Pizza, as it is now said, when 10,000 BTC was used to buy two pizzas. At the time, however, Bitcoin was dismissed as a geek’s toy, a failed attempt at digital currency, or as a “magical internet currency” with no intrinsic value.

Later, the first real attention from the mainstream was for all the wrong reasons. Darknet markets flourished in the early 2010s, and BTC became associated with illegal activity, drugs, and crime, giving it a reputation as a currency for the underdog. The legacy media quickly labeled it a tool of criminals, and regulators warned that it had no legal future.

That stigma followed for years, despite recent data showing that illegal activity accounted for only a small fraction of all BTC payments.

From the Dead to Billion Dollar Assets

Bitcoin’s debut in trading made it clear that the asset would experience some enhanced volatility. It rose, it crashed, it bounced again, it fell again, it rose again. This situation has repeated itself countless times over the past decade. Given the fact that some of those corrections were 50%, 60%, or even 80% at times, the haters used every moment to call it ‘death.’ In fact, there are about 450 such cases documented since 2010.

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It was called a bubble or “rat poison square.” It has been compared to tulip mania, and leading economists have warned that it will be zero. However, it didn’t happen.

Instead, it kept proving them wrong. The narrative began to change during the bull run in 2017 and was reinforced after the crash of COVID-19 and the subsequent rally. As governments printed unprecedented amounts of fiat currency, Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million units began to matter.

Gradually, it was no longer classified as a “digital currency.” It became something more: digital gold for some, a hedge against currency devaluation for others, or even a long-term store of value.

It was legalized again in 2024 when about a dozen Bitcoin ETFs were launched in the United States. Later, it became an important factor in the country’s presidential election, and there are talks about a US-based BTC strategic reserve. Not bad for a young person.

The Community Celebrates

Naturally, the ever-talkative cryptocurrency community was quick to celebrate Bitcoin’s birthday, which helped launch a multi-billion dollar industry. Strategy’s Saylor, the hero behind the world’s largest BTC owner, posted an orange cake to X, wishing the cryptocurrency a happy birthday, while Lucky posted:

Seventeen years ago today, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin to the world.

What started as a quiet experiment is now a global financial network.

From a niche idea shared online to a multi-billion dollar asset class, Bitcoin has reshaped finance, trust, and sovereignty, proving… pic.twitter.com/z5SLDWDygZ

– Lucky (@LLuciano_BTC) January 3, 2026