Although blockchain is a new technology, it already boasts a rich and interesting history. The following is a brief timeline of some of the most important and notable events in the development of blockchain.

Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for a person or group, publishes “Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System."

The first successful Bitcoin (BTC) transaction occurs between computer scientist Hal Finney and the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.

Florida-based programmer Laszlo Hanycez completes the first ever purchase using Bitcoin — two Papa John’s pizzas. Hanycez transferred 10,000 BTC’s, worth about $60 at the time. Today it's worth $80 million.

The market cap of Bitcoin officially exceeds $1 million.

1 BTC = $1USD, giving the cryptocurrency parity with the US dollar.

Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wikileaks and other organizations start accepting Bitcoin as donations.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency are mentioned in popular television shows like The Good Wife, injecting blockchain into pop culture.

Bitcoin Magazine launched by early Bitcoin developer Vitalik Buterin.

BTC market cap surpassed $1 billion.

Bitcoin reached $100/BTC for the first time.

Buterin publishes “Ethereum Project" paper suggesting that blockchain has other possibilities besides Bitcoin (e.g., smart contracts).

Gaming company Zynga, The D Las Vegas Hotel and Overstock.com all start accepting Bitcoin as payment.

Buterin’s Ethereum Project is crowdfunded via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) raising over $18 million in BTC and opening up new avenues for blockchain.

R3, a group of over 200 blockchain firms, is formed to discover new ways blockchain can be implemented in technology.

PayPal announces Bitcoin integration.

Number of merchants accepting BTC exceeds 100,000.

NASDAQ and San-Francisco blockchain company Chain team up to test the technology for trading shares in private companies.

Tech giant IBM announces a blockchain strategy for cloud-based business solutions.

The government of Japan recognizes the legitimacy of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin reaches $1,000/BTC for the first time.

Cryptocurrency market cap reaches $150 billion.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he believes in blockchain as a future technology, giving the ledger system a vote-of-confidence from Wall Street.

Bitcoin reaches its all-time high at $19,783.21/BTC.

Dubai announces its government will be blockchain-powered by 2020.

Facebook commits to starting a blockchain group and also hints at the possibility of creating its own cryptocurrency.

IBM develops a blockchain-based banking platform with large banks like Citi and Barclays signing on.

China’s President Ji Xinping publicly embraces blockchain as China’s central bank announces it is working on its own cryptocurrency

Twitter & Square CEO Jack Dorsey announces that Square will be hiring blockchain engineers to work on the company’s future crypto plans

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announces the creation of Bakkt - a digital wallet company that includes crypto trading

Bitcoin almost reaches $30,000 by the end of 2020

PayPal announces it will allow users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies

The Bahamas becomes the world’s first country to launch its central bank digital currency, fittingly known as the “Sand Dollar”

Blockchain becomes a key player in the fight against COVID-19, mainly for securely storing medical research data and patient information