January 3: Bitcoin Established the “Genesis Block”

— marking the launch of digital currency

On January 3, 2009 — just 9 years ago today — Bitcoin, the first decentralized digital currency to begin trading, established the Genesis Block. The Genesis Block defines exactly all the variables required to recreate the block and form a “block chain.” A block chain is a transaction database shared by all transactors participating in the system. The database is a public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions, and it is published to a distributed network of participating computers that have downloaded the bitcoin software. In real-time (every minute or so), batches of transactions are released in a block to be validated by the network and added to the block chain. These added blocks get a unique cryptographic marking that (a) permanently fixes every transaction and block in chronological order and (b) ensures the authenticity of every transaction.

Background:
In 2008, an anonymous programmer (or possibly a team of programmers), known as “Satoshi Nakamoto,” posted a paper on a popular cryptography blog that proposed a new system of currency that eliminates the need for banks and credit card companies — the intermediaries that currently process financial transactions between 2 individuals who are often strangers. Instead of banks and credit card companies recording transactions in their centralized, private ledgers, the paper proposed that all transactions between individuals and organizations be recorded in a huge database managed by the open-source bitcoin software. In essence, the bitcoin software dematerializes banks and credit card companies in the same way smartphones have dematerialized instant cameras, video cameras, calculators, calendars, music albums, music players, etc. With bitcoin software, transactions take place directly between individuals and organizations, the same way Napster used to share music between individuals — in a peer-to-peer network that is mediated only by open source software, not by any money-grabbing entities like banks or credit card companies. 

Within months of the submission of this proposal, and following the establishment today (6 years ago) of the fundamental components of the peer-to-peer transaction database in the “Genesis Block,” people were using the bitcoin system to buy and sell goods. Today, bitcoin is a legal cryptocurrency in the following countries:

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Belgium
4. Brazil
5. Bulgaria
6. Canada
7. Colombia
8. Czech Republic
9. Denmark
10. Finland
11. Germany
12. Hong Kong
13. Israel
14. Japan
15. Lithuania
16. Malaysia
17. Norway
18. Philippines
19. Poland
20. Singapore
21. Slovenia
22. South Korea
23. Switzerland
24. Thailand
25. Turkey
26. United Kingdom
27. United States
28. Vietnam

Moreover, increasing numbers of companies are accepting bitcoin payments for goods and services, including these notable companies:
1. Amazon
2. Target
3. CVS
4. Subway
5. Victoria’s Secret
6. Overstock.com
7. Virgin Galactic
8. Wordpress 
9. Reddit
10. Zynga
11. PayPal
12. eBay
13. Tesla
14. OKCupid
15. Tiger Direct
16. Zappos
17. Fiverr.com
18. Home Depot
19. Kmart
20. Sears
21. Dish Network
22. Apple’s App Store
23. MIT Coop Store
24. Wikipedia
25. 1-800-Flowers.com
26. Bloomberg.com
27. Expedia.com

YouTube video:
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4g1XFU8Gto
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5JGQXCTe3c

Sources:
•http://www.technologyreview.com/news/424091/what-bitcoin-is-and-why-it-matters/
•http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg09959.html
•https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Block_chain
•http://startupmanagement.org/2014/12/27/the-blockchain-is-the-new-database-get-ready-to-rewrite-everything/
•https://bitcoin.org/en/faq
•http://historyofbitcoin.org/
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bitcoin
•http://pando.com/2014/07/04/from-the-genesis-block-to-tim-drapers-big-buy-a-history-of-bitcoin/
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Bitcoin_by_country
•http://www.nasdaq.com/article/what-companies-accept-bitcoin-cm323438
•http://www.bitcoinvalues.net/who-accepts-bitcoins-payment-companies-stores-take-bitcoins.html

Image credits:
•Bitcoin Museum:
https://www.thebitcoinmuseum.com/index.php/coins-bullion/bitcoinnerd-2.html
•Map of countries where bitcoin is legal [Left]. By Habarithor (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALegal_status_of_bitcoin.png

[Still working on the text of this post — please advise me what other essential details i need to include or if you see errors. Thanks.]