10/31/08
A research paper by a coder (if not multiple coders) calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto is sent to the online Cryptography and Cryptography Policy Mailing List. It outlines a plan for a "peer-to-peer electronic cash system" utilizing a currency called bitcoin [left].
1/9/09
Bitcoin.org (registered by Nakamoto in August 2008) releases Bitcoin v0.1—a Windows-based system enabling users to "mine" the currency by solving complex math problems, which unlock blocks of encrypted numbers, and designed to generate 21 million bitcoins by the year 2040.
10/5/09
New Liberty Standard, an open-source bitcoin generator, establishes the first bitcoin exchange rate: 1,309.03 BTC to 1 USD—or a value of $0.0008.
