The annual shopping bonanza that is Black Friday is here, and for the sixth year in a row it’s also coming to holders of the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

The unofficial start to the Christmas shopping period comes at a turbulent time for bitcoin, coming at the end of a week of dramatic price drops, though this hasn’t put off online retailers hoping to cash in on the cryptocurrency.

“While most consumers are flooding into supermarkets and retail stores, there’s a quiet revolution brewing in the corners of the internet,” states the Bitcoin Black Friday website, which says it will publish all the best deals from merchants today.

“Bitcoin Black Friday is a one day event that brings together bitcoin merchants and bitcoin users. Merchants simply list their bitcoin-exclusive deals, and users can check out all the deals in one place. This year, we’re focussed on quality merchants that care about the bitcoin community.”

Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash REUTERS Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters

The plummeting price of bitcoin in recent days has led to some cryptocurrency analysts joking that bitcoin has gone on sale, just in time for Black Friday.

Bitcoin has fallen in price by around $2,000 over the last week, marking the latest losses in a turbulent year for the world’s leading cryptocurrency.

Nigel Green, founder and CEO of financial services firm deVere Goup, recently said the recent price crash has created a buyers’ market.

“Savvy investors understand that digital currencies are the future of money and, as such, they will be capitalising on the lower prices in order to build their portfolios and shore-up their positions,” Mr Green said.

“Prices might fall further over the next few days, but we can expect a long-term upward trajectory for the crypto sector.”

Some bitcoin exchanges are even offering bitcoin giveaways in an effort to entice people to their platforms.

Isle of Man-based exchange CoinCorner is giving away £20 of bitcoin to new customers starting Thursday, 22 November, so long as they register and buy £100 worth of the cryptocurrency.

“Our mission is to make buying bitcoin quick and easy for everyone,” CoinCorner co-founder Danny Scott wrote in an email to The Independent. “We are delighted to provide new cryptocurrency users with a fantastic offer that will give them a great first experience into the world of bitcoin.”

Bitcoin payment processor BitPay, has seen huge payment spikes on its network on Black Friday in previous years.

Another company called Crypto Finally has even gone so far as to release a song for this year’s event.

Set to the tune of Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’, lyrics include: “They don’t take cryptocurrency, they should take cryptocurrency, excuse me sir, what currency will you take?”