The first mention of Bitcoin appeared online a decade ago this week, admittedly without much fanfare. A technical paper describing a new “electronic cash system” was sent around an obscure internet mailing list for cryptography nerds.

Its author, who went by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, detailed how the system would mean online payments being sent directly between people, without having to rely on a bank. It was unveiled without much bombast, and seemed like more of an experiment than a revolution.

A few months later, the Bitcoin network went online. Embedded in the code was a newspaper article about Alistair Darling, then the chancellor, preparing a new bank bailout (one of several reasons some believe the pseudonymous Nakamoto was British).

In the decade since, Bitcoin has been met with a combination of fascination, fervent excitement and deep scepticism. It has been called the end of money as we know it, hailed as a new gold for the digital world, and feared as the fuel for a new digital anarchy.

It has been through multiple boom and bust cycles. An early crash in 2011 saw Bitcoin’s price fall from $30 to $2. Last year, it peaked at almost $20,000, making all the Bitcoins in the world worth more than $300bn.