Bitcoin Price History Chart 2009 to 2022 – Forbes Advisor INDIA

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Bitcoin (BTC) is just a teenager, launched in 2009 by the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto.

Since then, Bitcoin has seen a meteoric rise, increasing from fractions of a penny to an all-time high of nearly INR 56,96,689 in November 2021.

The big “B” was the best-performing asset class of the decade preceding that all-time high. Bitcoin returned more than 230% during the 10-year period ending in March 2021. For that reason alone, it is now firmly entrenched in the mainstream.

But Bitcoin’s price journey has been far from smooth. The original digital currency experienced many violent drops and pumps. Let’s take a closer look at the ups and downs of Bitcoin’s price history.

What price did Bitcoin start at?

Bitcoin was originally worth next to nothing.

The transaction that first gave Bitcoin monetary value was in October 2009, when Finnish computer science student Martti Malmi, known online as Sirius, sold 5,050 coins for about INR 414.65, making each Bitcoin worth $0.0009 each gave

The exchange took place on PayPal. It may be hard to believe, with so many crypto exchanges dedicated to buying and selling BTC these days.

Bitcoin’s Early Years: 2009 to 2012

The growth in BTC adoption in the early years started slowly. If you look at Bitcoin’s price data on Google Finance, it only goes back to November 20, 2015.

The early years were characterized by very little infrastructure, with only a few hobbyists buying and selling BTC.

“There was no action to speak of and no news cycle,” said Alex Preda, a professor of careers, markets and technology at King’s Business School in London. “Bitcoin was a fringe phenomenon confined to a subculture of software engineering and not a financial phenomenon.”

The first “real world” transaction took place in May 2010 on a Bitcoin forum.

On the bitcointalk.org forum, Florida driller Laszlo Hanyecz asked if someone would order him two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins.

After purchasing two pizzas from Papa John’s worth around INR 3,380, the price of each Bitcoin came to $0.0041. Those pizzas are the most expensive ever ordered, worth nearly INR 16 billion today, averaging around INR 1 billion per slice.

Hanyecz did the impractical deal for the sake of it, telling The Sun: “I wanted to do the pizza thing because for me it was free pizza. I mean, I coded this thing and mined Bitcoin, and I felt like I was winning the internet that day.”

Bitcoin wasn’t even worth a dollar until February 2011.

That’s when the fireworks started. By June 2011, the price of Bitcoin shot up 30 times and reached a value of INR 2,471. In a hint of what was to come, the rally was short-lived, with Bitcoin falling to INR 411.

Liquidity at the end of 2011 was low, and Bitcoin’s first competitor, Litecoin (LTC), appeared on the crypto scene in October 2011.

The introduction of LTC raised some doubts in the community, with a 90% withdrawal test. Despite a slight setback, 2012 was uneventful, with BTC ending the year around INR 1,070.

Bitcoin attracts investors: 2013 to 2017

Bitcoin’s price trajectory began to change in 2013.

Exchanges, especially Mount Gox, handled 70% of all Bitcoin transactions by the end of 2014 and began onboarding more and more users. Crypto has become more accessible as a result.

The price followed the increase in acceptance. Opening 2013 at INR 1,070, BTC soared to cross INR 82,389 by November 2013.

Success waned the following year after Tokyo-based Mount Gox experienced a security breach with hackers stealing INR 4,942 million from its coffers. Mt Gox shut down due to insolvency causing Bitcoin to fall to around INR 24,710 by the end of the year.

“The Mt. Gox case destroyed investor confidence in BTC in general, and it affected sentiment towards crypto on a much broader scale,” said Alex Faliushin, CEO of crypto lending platform CoinLoan.io.

Between 2015 and 2016, Bitcoin moved slowly, making the price action relatively muted. It closed 2016 at around INR 82,389.

The following year, more investors poured into the asset as increasing media coverage began to attract the average retail customer.

Price barriers were torn apart with ease. BTC broke INR 82,389 in early January 2017 and INR 1,64,733 in May 2017. BTC then doubled to INR 3,29,464 in August 2017.

Now Bitcoin has finally started to win over doubters. Futures began trading on the CME and many in the market felt that Bitcoin was becoming a true financial asset class.

The “fear of missing out” took hold, and more and more people poured in to buy this buy-only asset. Bitcoin rose to INR 8,23,537 in November 2021 before nearly doubling to nearly INR 15,64,720 the following month.

Little did investors know at the time, but it took nearly three years to regain these price levels.

Bitcoin recovery: 2018 to 2021

The year 2018 did not slow down Bitcoin’s downward trend. BTC’s price crashed and ended the year below INR 3,29,464. Then digital currency 2019 closed at around INR 5,76,472.

With two years of relative inactivity and a consistent downward trend, many have written off Bitcoin as a fad, having failed to cement its place in the mainstream market.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and stock markets plummeted in mid-March 2020.

Bitcoin was not spared and lost 50% of its value in less than 48 hours to trade below INR 3,29,464. Some hypothesized that the Covid-inspired dip would be Bitcoin’s final nail in the coffin.

But those skeptics were very wrong. With the Federal Reserve responding to the Covid-19 pandemic by printing money for fiscal stimulus, asset prices generally rose sharply.

Growth and tech stocks have posted explosive gains, but Bitcoin has everyone talking. After halving to less than INR 3,29,464 in March, BTC hit INR 8,23,537 in May 2020.

But it made its real move in the last quarter of 2020. It smashed its all-time high by crossing INR 12,35,197 in November 2020, moved above INR 16,47,196 in December 2020 and ended the year at around INR 23,88,435 with a market capitalization of over INR 44,384 billion.

As retail investors poured into markets and the Federal Reserve continued to print money, assets continued to inflate. Bitcoin reached INR 32,93,890 per week in 2021, INR 41,17,363 in February 2021 and INR 49,41,104 in March 2021.

After a turbulent few weeks in May, it fell to less than INR 27,99,959 before rising to another all-time high near INR 56,81,883 in November 2021.

Crypto Winter: 2022

Since November 2021, Bitcoin has struggled with the rest of the market. The only story from the days of money printing was over, with economies hit by rampant inflation.

The Fed has been raising interest rates since early 2022, with assets at the far end of the risk spectrum being punished the most.

Higher interest rates mean a higher cost of borrowing, less investment and a general reduction in the level of demand in the economy.

Bitcoin has been in freefall since early this year amid the crypto winter.

The most damaging month this year was May, when the collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD triggered a round of contagion in the cryptocurrency markets, pulling Bitcoin down from INR 32,10,148 in early May to INR 16,46,230 by mid-June, where it move today .

Investors are hoping that this downturn is just the latest drop that precedes a sharp rise, as history has repeatedly shown for Bitcoin.

Historically, October is known as a “green” month, increasing by an average of 26%. If this is the case, we can see prices moving towards the INR 19,75,609 mark.

Bitcoin Recovery: 2023 to 2024

The Bitcoin market experienced a strong recovery in 2023 after experiencing a slight downside due to global macroeconomic situations and inflation data. The year seems to be out of control for the cryptocurrency, BTC.

In the first month of the year January, Bitcoin traded at a low value of $16,000, it reached its peak later in July at $31,000 with a market capitalization of approximately $607 billion.

The stubborn inflation in countries like the US and the UK also led BTC to fall below the $26,000 level. However, Bitcoin walked the steps of recovery in the second half of the year. In July 2023, it reached around $30,500, but maintained recovery from stability from October, when it traded at around $34,298. At year-end 2023, BTC traded at $42,809 as of December 20 with a market cap of $838.58 billion.

At the beginning of the current year 2024, in the first week of January, BTC was trading at around $43,906 with a market cap of around $915.81 billion. The recovery and rise brought stability among the coins BTC and ETH.

As of February 13, 2024, BTC reached the level of $50,107 for the first time since December 2021 with a market cap of $982.72 billion and a cryptocurrency market cap of $1.87 trillion.