Crypto history in 20 moments.

From the invention of public-key cryptography in 1976 to spot Bitcoin ETFs. Drag the timeline, use the arrow keys or pick an era.

1976 — Public-key cryptography. Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman publish "New Directions in Cryptography". Digital signatures — the basis of every crypto wallet — become possible.

1982 — Blind signatures. David Chaum proposes blind signatures for untraceable payments, planting the seed of digital cash.

1989 — DigiCash. Chaum founds DigiCash. It pioneers electronic money but goes bankrupt in 1998.

1991 — Time-stamped documents. Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta describe a chain of time-stamped, hash-linked blocks — an early blueprint for blockchains.

1997 — Hashcash. Adam Back invents Hashcash, a proof-of-work system to fight spam. Bitcoin later uses the same idea.

1998 — b-money and Bit Gold. Wei Dai proposes b-money, and Nick Szabo designs Bit Gold. Neither launches, but both shape Bitcoin.

2008 — The Bitcoin white paper. Satoshi Nakamoto publishes "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" on 31 October, weeks after the Lehman Brothers collapse.

2009 — The genesis block. The Bitcoin network goes live on 3 January. The first block references a Times headline about bank bailouts.

2010 — Bitcoin Pizza Day. Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 BTC for two pizzas on 22 May — the first well-known real-world purchase.

2013 — Dogecoin is born. A joke coin based on the Doge meme launches in December and becomes the first meme coin.

2014 — Mt. Gox collapses. The largest Bitcoin exchange of its day fails after losing hundreds of thousands of BTC — a lasting lesson in custody risk.

2015 — Ethereum launches. Ethereum goes live in July, bringing programmable smart contracts and, later, DeFi and NFTs.

2017 — The ICO boom. Thousands of token sales raise billions. Bitcoin nears $20,000 in December; most ICO tokens later collapse.

2020 — DeFi summer. Lending and trading protocols explode in use. Institutions begin buying Bitcoin later in the year.

2021 — NFTs and new highs. NFTs go mainstream, El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as legal tender and BTC reaches about $69,000 in November.

2022 — Terra and FTX. Terra/LUNA collapses in May and FTX in November. Bitcoin falls about 77% from its peak.

2022 — Ethereum's Merge. Ethereum switches from proof of work to proof of stake in September, cutting its energy use by more than 99%.

2023 — UK promotion rules. The FCA's financial promotion rules for cryptoassets take effect in October, requiring clear risk warnings.

2024 — Spot Bitcoin ETFs. US regulators approve spot Bitcoin ETFs in January. The fourth halving follows in April, and BTC passes $100,000 in December.

2025 — Meme-coin mania and hangover. The TRUMP token launches in January; the LIBRA collapse in February shows the risks. Bitcoin sets further records during the year.

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