“Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks “; these words appeared on the cover of the Times newspaper on 3 January 2009. The world economy was about to plunge head-first into the craziest global experiment, which would affect the lives of billions — all orchestrated by central banks.

While governments and central banks were trying to delay the collapse of the failing financial institutions during the time of the global financial crisis, a new invention emerged from the geekiest depths of the internet. Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, did not want to leave all of the decisions to central authorities of power.

Just two months after the Bitcoin White Paper appeared for the first time, Bitcoin network itself went online. The so-called Genesis Block was mined by the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, on the 3rd of January at 18:15:05 GMT. Bitcoin was born.

What did Bitcoin bring to the table?

For the first time, there is a public electronic payment system which allows the transfer of value from one user to another without the need of intermediaries. We now live in a world where anybody can grasp the control of one’s money into their own hands without fear of government intervention or corporate censorship.

The iconic 3 Jan 2009 cover of The Times source: thetimes03jan2009.com

Perhaps not surprisingly, ever since Bitcoin caught the attention of the general public and legacy media, it also attracted many critics who predicted the project to fail, die, and disappear.

Today, we can say that not only Bitcoin still continues disappointing the cynics, block after block, but the underlining infrastructure thrives and expands every day. We can confidently say that the brightest minds on the planet work tirelessly with the desire to bring individual financial freedom closer to the masses.

Be it the second layer solutions and sidechains, decentralized exchanges, or main net adoption around the world, there is a strong case for optimism and enthusiasm in years to come.