Bitcoin Price History

The Beginning: Bitcoin in 2009

Bitcoin’s invention came to light in late 2008. In January of 2009, the Bitcoin network came into existence with the issuance of the first Bitcoins. Since Bitcoin was not listed on a publically traded exchange, it didn’t exactly have any intrinsic value.

The price of Bitcoin in early 2009 was $0.00. Initially, the value of a bitcoin was arbitrarily negotiated between individuals on online forums, notably, bitcointalk. Its users were mainly fans of cryptography, who were using it more or less as a hobby.

A Momentous Year: Bitcoin in 2010

Bitcoin’s second year in existence turned out to be quite an exciting one. At the start of the year, bitcoin was literally worthless. For instance, when an auction was held in March 2010 for 10,000 BTC with a starting bid of $50, it didn’t find a single buyer.

However, in the same month, the first bitcoin exchange was launched, the now-defunct BitcoinMarket.com. In May, bitcoin saw its first commercial transaction when two pizzas were bought from Papa John’s for 10,000 BTC. Despite bitcoin never achieving parity with the dollar, its price did peak at around $0.39 a bitcoin, a momentous achievement at the time.

The Year of Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin in 2011

The year 2011 was notable for a number of reasons. Since bitcoin is based on an open source code, anyone can use the code without copyright concerns. Due to this, innovation is encouraged and new ideas are fostered. Hence, new cryptocurrencies started to emerge. Initially, Namecoin was launched, which intends to decentralize DNS and make internet censorship difficult if not impossible. Similarly, Litecoin also came into existence, which was hailed as silver to Bitcoin’s gold.

Moreover, the year also witnessed bitcoin’s first bubble and its subsequent crash. Bitcoin achieved parity with the dollar in February, but continued on to form a bubble. In the next four months, bitcoin had appreciated by around 3,000%, at its peak, trading around $31. However, when the bubble finally burst, bitcoin lost over 90% of its value and bottomed around $2 by the end of the year.

Widespread Appeal: Bitcoin in 2012

By the year 2012, bitcoin was no longer considered as a fringe technology. It had started garnering attention in the mainstream media and was also being adopted by companies who had begun accepting bitcoin was a form of payment. In Sept, the Bitcoin Foundation was launched. In Oct, BitPay, a bitcoin-based payment service provider, reported that over 1,000 merchants were accepting bitcoins under its payment processing service.

Since bitcoin had bottomed out in the previous year, 2012 saw the price of bitcoin steadily rise for the greater part of the year. The year opened with bitcoin trading at $4 and ended with bitcoin trading around $13.

Cypriot Financial Crises: Bitcoin in 2013

In some respects, we can safely say that 2013 was the year bitcoin became the phenomenon as we know it. It played a major role in a number of financial crises, particularly in the Cypriot and the Greek crises, thus, entrenching itself as a part of our financial system.

As the Cypriot crises escalated, more on this later, Cypriots found refuge in bitcoin’s relative safety. However, the sudden inflow of funds into bitcoin led to another surge in price. By March, bitcoin was trading around $260, up from $13. As expected of any sudden increase in price, this resulted in a selloff, resulting in bitcoin going as low as $50. However, despite the crash, investors continued to pour money into bitcoins, pushing its price above $1,100, which was again followed by a sudden crash to $600, though it immediately rebounded to $1,000 before stabilizing in the $700 – $800 range.

An Existential Crises: Bitcoin in 2014

In early 2014, Mt. Gox, the largest bitcoin exchange, suspended processing withdrawals, which was followed by a cessation of trading on the exchange. Soon after, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy, citing a security breach, where 744,000 bitcoins were stolen. The collapse of bitcoin’s largest exchange had a profound impact on bitcoin’s price. During the same time, false reports started to emerge, regarding a ban on bitcoins in China, which is a huge market for bitcoin. The ensuing uncertainty had a negative impact on investor sentiment and bitcoin entered a full-fledged bear market. Hence, bitcoin averaged around a range of $300 – $400 for the most part of the year.

A Glimmer of Hope: Bitcoin in 2015

After a lackluster year, bitcoin was deeply entrenched in a downtrend. The start of the year saw another steep decline, as prices suddenly crashed from $300s to around $150 but immediately bounced back. During the year, a number of record breaking funds were raised by bitcoin based companies. For example, Coinbase raised $75 million in its Series C funding round. A few months later, 21 Inc. raised a record-breaking $116 million in venture-capital funding. Barclays, a British bank, became the first bank to start accepting bitcoins as part of their services. Moreover, in a matter of just four years, the number of merchants accepting bitcoins had increased from 1,000 to 160,000.

In late 2015, investor sentiment started to turn positive again and bitcoin’s price started to rise. The year marked the end of the bear market and start of a long bull-market. Bitcoin peaked at around $500 and ended the year in the lower $400s.

The Turning of Fortunes: Bitcoin in 2016

One of the notable events of 2016 involved the Cabinet of Japan officially recognizing digital currencies such as bitcoins as similar to fiat currency. The year saw a sustained increase in demand for bitcoins and greater mass adoption of the digital currency.

At the start of the year, bitcoin was trading around the low $400s. But over the course of the year, it continued to gradually increase. The steady and sustained rise in prices further increased confidence in bitcoins for both institutional and retail investors. Over the course of the year, the price of bitcoins appreciated by around 130% and ended the year just shy of the $1,000 benchmark.

An Unprecedented Year: Bitcoins in 2017

Bitcoins entered 2017 on a positive note. After a sustained and healthy rise, the demand of bitcoins continued to increase and the number of new entrants entering the bitcoin market also reached an all-time high. As of Oct 2017, the price of bitcoins has seen an increase of over 300%. It has seen an all-time high of around $4,900 and is currently trading around $4,200. Bitcoin is currently in a sustained bull market, which began in early 2015. And, continues to slowly increase in price as the number of first-time buyers continue to rise, especially due to the crises in Venezuela.

The only setback bitcoin experienced so far involves the Chinese authorities. Their crackdown on initial-coin-offering (ICOs) resulted in a selloff in the market. However, despite initial shock, markets held their ground and bitcoin recovered most of its losses.

Moreover, bitcoin gained considerable legitimacy among lawmakers and financial institutions, as a number of state legislators and financial regulators have started to accept bitcoin’s role in our financial lives.

What Determines Bitcoin’s Price?

Bitcoin’s price is measured against fiat currency, such as American Dollars (BTCUSD), Japanese Yen (BTCJPY), Korean Won (BTCKRW) or Euro (BTCEUR). Bitcoin, therefore, appears superficially similar to any symbol traded on foreign exchange markets.

Unlike fiat currencies, there is no official Bitcoin price; only various averages based on price feeds from global exchanges. Bitcoin Average and CoinDesk are two such indices reporting the average price. It’s normal for Bitcoin to trade on any single exchange at a price slightly different to the average.

But discrepancies aside, what factors determine Bitcoin’s price?

Market Forces: Demand and Supply

So, what exactly is it that determines the price of a bitcoin at any given moment? Well, in our current economic system of free markets, prices are determined based on demand and supply or buyers and sellers.

Let’s try to simplify this concept. I am sure everyone would agree that buyers, ideally, want to buy cheap and sellers prefer to sell at a higher price. If there are more sellers in the market compared to buyers, not every seller would be able to sell their bitcoins. So in order to be able to sell, a seller will have to lower the price at which they are willing to sell, resulting in the price to decrease. The decreased price would in turn bring more buyers into the market, because bitcoin is selling for much cheaper than before. Thus, the forces of demand and supply through their buying and selling affect the price of bitcoin or any other publically tradable asset.

Bitcoin’s Supply

Bitcoin, as with most other precious commodities, has a limited amount of supply. Not only is bitcoin limited to a total number of 21 million coins, but the amount of coins that can be produced in a given period of time is also pre-determined. This particular aspect of bitcoin’s limited and restricted supply makes it deflationary in nature, meaning, unlike most currencies it increases in value as its supply decreases and demand increases.

As of Sept 2017, miners produce around 1,800 coins per day. This amount can neither increase nor decrease on a day-to-day basis, instead it slowly decreases on a pre-determined long-term schedule.

Of this amount, bitcoin miners sell a portion of their newly mined bitcoins in order to pay for their operating expenses or to make new investments in hardware. This amount is usually considered as a semi-fixed supply into the markets. Prices tend to increase when the demand is greater than this amount and decrease when the supply is greater than the overall demand.

This amount is usually considered as a semi-fixed supply into the markets. Prices tend to increase when the demand is greater than this amount and decrease when the supply is greater than the overall demand.

Halving of Bitcoin’s Block Reward

In a modern economy, a country’s currency is backed by a government and controlled by its central bank. Central banks tend to increase or decrease the supply of money based on its economy’s production capacity. This ensures that prices remain stable and goods and services can be exchanged with some degree of certainty.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, is not centrally controlled and hence, its supply cannot be manipulated at the will of a government or its central bank. Instead, bitcoin’s supply is programmed to steadily decrease over the course of time.

New bitcoins are created when miners dedicate processing power to the blockchain network. As a reward, they receive bitcoins in the form of a block reward, which is the financial incentive to power the blockchain network.

These block rewards are designed to halve every four years. Initially, block rewards consisted of 50 BTC per block. In 2012, the block reward was halved or reduced to 25 BTC per block. In 2016, another halving took place and now miners receive 12.5 bitcoins per block. This reduction of supply, makes bitcoins deflationary, hence, unlike fiat currencies, it increases in value rather than decrease.

The next bitcoin halving will take place in 2020 when the block reward will be reduced to 6.25 BTC per block. This sustained and pre-determined decrease in the supply of bitcoin, naturally, results in creating upward pressure on the price of bitcoins. Hence, every halving event is associated with an increase in the price of bitcoins.

However, it is important to remember that, the change in price is not immediate. Instead, it slowly alters the balance between the total demand and the total supply of bitcoins in the open-market and creates upwards pressure due to the imbalance created by the decreasing supply.

For example, the 2016 halving did not see a radical change in the price of bitcoins in the short-term, which also resulted in a number of articles, claiming that the halving of bitcoin had no effect on bitcoins. However, bitcoins have appreciated by over 600% since that time, which is a direct result of a reduction in supply.

As of Sept 2017, bitcoin’s total supply is increasing at an annual rate of 4%. The rate at which the supply is increasing will decrease further when the block size is further halved to 6.25 BTC from the current 12.5 BTC.

The mere fact that bitcoin’s price increased at such an incredible rate despite its growing supply is a testament to bitcoin’s increasing popularity and the demand it generates.

Every single day, increasing numbers of new buyers are entering the bitcoin market. The new demand is not only enough to absorb the supply of freshly mined bitcoins but instead, it completely outstrips the total supply and has been pushing the price towards unprecedented levels.

Bitcoin’s Demand

If you’re wondering how much of the increased demand is generated by new entrants into the bitcoin-sphere. There is a simple way to get a rough idea. A quick look at the Google trends data for terms like bitcoin or cryptocurrency will confirm that there is, in fact, increasing interest in bitcoins from the wider society. As the wider society’s interest into bitcoin increases, the first time buyers help push the price of bitcoin even further.

However, there are drawbacks as well. Bitcoin is a new concept and a new form of investable asset. The entire market for bitcoin is in its infancy. Now, there is no doubt that substantial gains are made when invested during an asset’s infancy. For example, buying Amazon stock in its early stages offered far larger gain than buying it now. However, it was also a riskier investment with much higher volatility during its early stage. Similarly, bitcoin being relatively new is significantly volatile compared to other assets. Large quantities of money flowing into bitcoin can create a bubble, meaning, prices rise rapidly before crashing. The price chart depicts a

For example, buying Amazon stock in its early stages offered far larger gain than buying it now. However, it was also a riskier investment with much higher volatility during its early stage. Similarly, bitcoin being relatively new is significantly volatile compared to other assets. Large quantities of money flowing into bitcoin can create a bubble, meaning, prices rise rapidly before crashing. The price chart depicts a

Similarly, bitcoin being relatively new is significantly volatile compared to other assets. Large quantities of money flowing into bitcoin can create a bubble, meaning, prices rise rapidly before crashing. The price chart depicts a

The price chart depicts a bubble-like behavior in bitcoin, which was followed by a long drawn out decline from 2014 to 2015.

The Bitcoin Market and its Exchanges

As mentioned earlier, there are a number of different exchanges that compete with each other for market share. The market share for these exchanges is determined based on total investor funds held with the exchange for trading purposes and the daily trading volumes generated on these exchanges. Since information regarding investor funds is not publically available, the only benchmark for measuring market share is based on daily trading volumes.

As bitcoin’s popularity increases, so have the number of people investing in bitcoins. This can be seen in the increasing volume of daily trading at these exchanges. So far the record for daily trading volume currently stands at $11.5 billion collectively all of the cryptocurrencies combined. Out of the $11.5 billion, bitcoin alone accounted for around $4.2 billion, a gargantuan feat and a testament to the maturing of the bitcoin market.

Out of the $11.5 billion, two exchanges, namely, Bitfinex and Bithumb each handled around $1.5 billion in trades for the record-breaking day. The largest Chinese exchange, OKCoin, handed around $750 million. And seven other exchanges also managed to cross the $500 million mark in daily trade volumes. This indicates that most of the market share is divided between a large number of different competing exchanges and no single exchange holds a monopoly over the cryptocurrency market.

Since most of these exchanges are competing with each other, they continuously innovate to provide better services and cyber-security for their customers. Due to this, the degree of innovation in cryptocurrency exchanges has been unprecedented, with exchanges introducing new and better features for their customers.

For example, Bitfinex, one of the largest exchange, introduced a bitcoin derivative swap, which not only provides short-term traders with the ability to leverage their trades but also allows the risk-average investors to lend their bitcoins at the prevailing interest-rate, with virtually zero-risk of losing money, thus, creating a platform for trading, lending and borrowing.

Aside from Bitfinex, other major bitcoin exchanges include, OKCoin, Kraken, Bittrex, Poloniex, Bitthumb, Bitstamp, etc. There are slight differences between most of the major exchanges. For example, Poloniex and Bittrex are predominantly altcoin exchanges, which do not accept deposits of fiat currency. This means, you would have to purchase bitcoins from one of the other major exchanges and then transfer them to one of the altcoin exchange.

Drivers of Interest in Bitcoins

Initially, most of bitcoin’s users were enthusiast and software engineers, who were simply drawn to the technology for its immense potential for solving countless technical, economic and political problems. However, bitcoin’s rise came when it roused interest in the general public. Although, there are a number of reasons why the wider society took interest to bitcoins, but we will try to keep it short and discuss two of the major reasons. These reasons being, abuse of power by the banking sector such as banking blockades and liquidity crises or currency crises.

Banking Blockades

One of the first instances of banking blockades was seen in the late 2010 and involved WikiLeaks, a not-for-profit organization oriented towards promoting transparency. The incident came to light when it became public that all of the major financial services company such as VISA, MasterCard, Western Union, PayPal, etc., ceased processing donations to WikiLeaks.

Bitcoin offered an easy solution to the collective assault on the organization. However, after the inventor of bitcoins, Satoshi Nakamoto, personally requested that the organization didn’t use the fledging digital currency to bypass the banking blockade. Julian Assange, recognizing the potentially negative impact it could have on bitcoin, agreed and didn’t start accepting donations in bitcoin until mid-2011. Nevertheless, the episode is the perfect example of how individuals can avoid government censorship and promote personal freedoms through bitcoins.

Another such example of a blockade involved a website called Backpage.com, a Craigslist-type website, which mostly offers adult services. Adult service providers whose livelihoods depend on their ability to advertise on the website are restricted to using only bitcoins due to the blockade, without which they would be out of work.

The numerous black markets that operate on the dark web are itself a manifestation of the unbanked. The now-defunct Silk Road is by far the most well-known example of this phenomenon. Despite, a number of such online marketplaces being taken down, the trade in contraband continues unabated and facilitated through bitcoins. According to a number of polls, at least 5% of British consumers have admitted to paying for narcotics via bitcoins. However, that number is likely to be much higher, as controversial polls tend to be underreported due to potential legal risks. Lastly, the media storm generated by the dark web markets also helped to bring greater attention to people who wouldn’t have otherwise encountered it.

Currency Crises

Time and time again, history has taught us that bitcoin wallets are much safer than a bank account. Despite the perceived safety of a bank account, they tend to become reserves for governments during times of crises. One of the best examples can be seen during the 2012-13 Cypriot financial

One of the best examples can be seen during the 2012-13 Cypriot financial crises when Cypriots found their savings confiscated by the government in order to alleviate the liquidity crunch. This, naturally, resulted in a complete breakdown of trust in the government as well as the financial system. This led a nationwide shift in how banks were perceived and millions of dollars were funneled into bitcoin as savers scrambled to protect their life’s savings.

After the Cyprus was left in financial ruin, Greece was the next domino to fall. The government of Greece, in an act of desperation, imposed severe capital controls, where the Greeks were subject to a daily withdrawal limit of a mere €60. Bitcoin again played a central role, demonstrating the value of money that is beyond the control of any centralized authority.

Soon after the Greek crises, Chinese authorities started to devalue the Yuan. By this time, bitcoin had established itself as a safe and reliable store of value beyond the control of central banks. Chinese savers also turned towards bitcoin in order to protect their hard-earned wealth.

The current geopolitical situation that can potentially influence the price of bitcoin involves the peculiar situation in Argentina. Mauricio Marci, the current president of Argentina, has vowed to end to the crippling capital controls that were enforced after the country’s default on its obligations in 2001. Since capital controls tend to create black markets for foreign exchange with its own exchange rates, liberalizing the currency would result in a dramatic devaluation of the Argentine Peso, which would be devastating to savers. Again, bitcoin is seen as a simple and easy way to avoid the erosion of purchasing power of many due to the actions of the few.

Mauricio Marci, the current president of Argentina, has vowed to end to the crippling capital controls that were enforced after the country’s default on its obligations in 2001. Since capital controls tend to create black markets for foreign exchange with its own exchange rates, liberalizing the currency would result in a dramatic devaluation of the Argentine Peso, which would be devastating to savers. Again, bitcoin is seen as a simple and easy way to avoid the erosion of purchasing power of many due to the actions of the few.

Venezuela is another case study for bitcoin’s resilience in the face of economic meltdown. Venezuela is an oil-producing nation. With over 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, it has the largest known reserves in the world. However, since the collapse of oil prices from $100 to $50, the country’s revenues have been reduced by 50%, since over 90% of government revenues were dependent on the export of oil.

Despite facing dramatically reduced revenues, the government didn’t adjust to the fiscal reality and continued with its previous spending levels. This has resulted in severe shortages and hyperinflation. It has gotten to the point that Venezuelans are no longer concerned with the erosion of their saving but rather with the severe shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. For example, a simple lunch cost over 200,000 bolivars.

As the Bolivar has been rendered utterly worthless, Venezuelans have turned to bitcoins. According to some reports, the number of bitcoin users in Venezuela has increased from a mere 450 to 85,000 in a matter of just three years. Since bitcoin is not subject to the economic conditions of a particular country, it can provide a degree of stability in an ever-increasingly unstable country.

International donors have also taken to bitcoin. Despite bitcoin’s own volatility, it is quite stable if compared to the Venezuelan bolivar. This means Venezuelans can receive relief in the form of bitcoins and not worry about it being worthless in a few months or even weeks. Due to the dramatic increase in bitcoin users in the country, some people have speculated that the country might just shift to bitcoin from bolivars.

Since the Venezuelan crisis is fundamentally different from the other crises we discussed, it offers a considerable opportunity for academic researchers to study its impact and potential use. For example, how a deflationary currency would fare in a country facing complete economic collapse and how it could even help bring stability to the nation and revive economic growth.

Market Manipulation

Market manipulation is an inherent part of financial markets. It is more evident in fledging and/or thinly traded markets. Since bitcoin is in its infancy, no discussion of bitcoin would be complete without discussing the potential for market manipulation and its impact on price volatility.

The Mt. Gox fiasco is the perfect example of market manipulation. The previous bull market in bitcoin, which ended in Dec 2013, saw bitcoin rise beyond the $1,000 mark. This was partly driven by automated trading algorithms or bots running on the Mt. Gox exchange. The investigation into the collapse of Mt. Gox revealed evidence suggesting that these bots were operating fraudulently under the direction of Mark Karpeles, the CEO of Mt. Gox, in order to artificially bid the price up using phantom funds, which was the main cause of the resulting crash.

Mt. Gox, however, was the largest bitcoin exchange and the undisputed market leader. Thus, it could exert considerable undue influence on the entire market.

Nowadays, bitcoin’s markets have matured considerably and there are a number of large exchanges counteracting each other’s influence. The previous shock to the bitcoin market has created a far more stable environment, relatively speaking of course. And, no single exchange can unilaterally influence the market in the current market environment.

Market Risk

As we’ve discussed earlier, bitcoin is not only a new asset but also a completely new technology. So far, it has proven resilient, but the risks still exist. There is no doubt that the technology underpinning bitcoin has prevailed on a number of occasions. However, there still are a number of risks that needs to be addressed.

The greatest risk to bitcoin comes from government censorship and overzealous regulatory regimes. Another potential risk to bitcoin is likelihood of the network forking into multiple blockchains, splitting its market capitalization and ultimately, its price. Lastly, emergence of a credible competitor, perhaps backed by a central bank, would certainly erode some of bitcoin’s market share.

Price Oddities

There have been times where prices on certain exchanges diverged from the average prices on the indices. Such divergences in prices were witnessed at Mt. Gox prior to its collapse and more recently on the Winkelvoss’ Gemini exchange.

For example, in mid-Nov 2015, bitcoin was trading around $330 on all of the major exchanges, whereas, BTCUSD was quoted at $2,200 on Gemini. The incorrect trades were later reversed but it proved that there is potential for errors. Such events do occur but rarely and mostly due to human error or software malfunctioning.

In a free market system, the price of an asset is what people are willing to pay for it. It is often as much a matter of human psychology as economic rationale. Therefore, it is important to control our impulses and prevent our emotions from dictating our actions. Since emotions are a natural part of being a human, we can’t eliminate our emotions. We can, however, minimize the risk of emotional decision making by systemizing and standardizing our trading strategies. The element of consistency is the best way to counter emotional responses to market movements.

If you are involved in bitcoins for the long game and are simply looking to slowly accumulate bitcoins, then the ideal way to go about is to create an investment plan. For example, you can invest a certain fixed amount of money into bitcoins every quarter or every month irrespective of the price. This would prevent you from selling during market crashes and instead allow you to buy larger quantities at a lower price. The strategy is called dollar-cost averaging and it helps to accumulate assets at a favorable average price without the unnecessary stress of trying to predict the highs and lows of the market, an activity that even the professionals can’t seem to master, hence, the popularity of passive investing.

Bitcoin Price Milestones (USD)

$0.10 – Oct 10, 2010 (the irony!)
$1.00 – Feb 9, 2011
$10.00 – Jun 2, 2011
$100 – Apr 3, 2013
$1,000 – Nov 8, 2013
$2,000 – May 20, 2017
$3,000 – Jun 11, 2017
$4,000 – Aug 13, 2017
$5,000 – Oct 12, 2017
$10,000 – Nov 28, 2017
$100,000 – ?
$1,000,000 – ?

Monthly Bitcoin Price history

Bitcoin Price History – December 2017
Bitcoin Price History – January 2018
Bitcoin Price History – February 2018
Bitcoin Price History – March 2018
Bitcoin Price History – April 2018
Bitcoin Price History – May 2018
Bitcoin Price History – Jun 2018
Bitcoin Price History – July 2018
Bitcoin Price History – August 2018

Bitcoin Market Cap Milestones

$10,000 – May 22, 2010 – Bitcoin price $0.004

$100,000 – Jul 18, 2010 – Bitcoin price $0.08

$1,000,000 – Nov 4, 2010 – Bitcoin price $0.23

$10,000,000 – Apr 23, 2011 – Bitcoin price $1.70

$100,000,000 – Jun 4, 2011 – Bitcoin price $18.89

$1,000,000,000 – Mar 30, 2013 – Bitcoin price $92.19

$10,000,000,000 – Nov 26, 2013 – Bitcoin price $899.20

$100,000,000,000 – Oct, 22, 2017 – Bitcoin price $6,008.42

Bitcoin All Time High

$326,141,280,256 – Dec 17, 2017 – Bitcoin price $19,140.80

Bitcoin Market Cap Predictions

$100,000,000,000 – Date Dec 2017* – Bitcoin price $6,000 (Oct 22, 2017)
$1,000,000,000,000 – Date Jan 2021* – Bitcoin price $53,500
$10,000,000,000,000 – Date Jul 2026* – Bitcoin price $545,000