Bitcoin Chronology

January 2009: Computer code that permits personto- person transmission of a new crypto-currency called Bitcoin is released online by “Satoshi Nakamoto.”

May 2010: Florida programmer Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas.

June 2011: The bitcoin surges to US$27. The value of the 10,000 bitcoins Hanyecz spent on pizza now equals $272,329.

June 2011: Hackers steal tens of thousands of bitcoins from individual miners and the Japanese bitcoin-for-real-money bourse called Mt. Gox.

December 2011: The bitcoin retreats to US$2.00.

March 2013: U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network decides “virtual currencies are subject to the same rules as other currencies.”

Summer 2013: Bitcoin exchanges in the U.S., Australia, and Hong Kong are hacked and tens of thousands of bitcoins are looted.

October 2013: Purported Silk Road owner Ross Ulbricht is arrested in California. FBI claims it has seized $28 million in bitcoins owned by Ulbricht.

November 2013: The bitcoin hits an all-time high of US$1,250.

December 2013: Chinese government outlaws exchange of bitcoin for renminbi by licensed banks; Bitcoin loses 61 percent of its value in a few hours, sinks to US$480.

February 2014: Mt. Gox ceases all transactions, admits that there is a “high possibility” that bitcoins worth $473 million have been stolen by hackers, files for minji saisei bankruptcy protection in Tokyo.

March 2014: Newsweek reports that “Satoshi Nakamoto” is in fact a Californian named Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto. He denies the association.