who are the creators of Bitcoin?

Who Are the Creators of Bitcoin?

The person credited with inventing Bitcoin goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. As of 2021, the actual identity of this individual or group remains a mystery.

On October 31, 2008, Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper, outlining how a peer-to-peer digital currency could be created. The proposal included the use of a decentralized transaction ledger organized into batches, known as "blocks," and secured through cryptographic methods—this entire framework would later be referred to as "blockchain."

Just two months later, on January 3, 2009, Nakamoto mined the first block of the Bitcoin network, termed the genesis block, marking the inception of the world's first cryptocurrency. At its launch, Bitcoin had no monetary value, and the majority of Bitcoins were acquired through mining, which could be performed using relatively standard computing equipment (like PCs) and mining software. The first documented commercial transaction involving Bitcoin took place on May 22, 2010, when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas. As of mid-September 2021, those pizzas would be valued at an astonishing $478 million, leading to this day being commemorated as "Bitcoin Pizza Day." Bitcoin began trading in July 2010, with prices fluctuating between $0.0008 and $0.08.

Although Nakamoto was the original creator and developer of Bitcoin, he later transferred the network alert key and control of the code repository to Gavin Andresen, who became the lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation. Over time, numerous individuals have contributed to enhancing the cryptocurrency's software by addressing security issues and adding new functionalities.

The Bitcoin source code repository on GitHub lists over 750 contributors, including notable figures such as Wladimir J. van der Laan, Marco Falke, Pieter Wuille, Gavin Andresen, Jonas Schnelli, and others.