Bitcoin's birth stemmed from reflections on the centralized risks of the traditional financial system. The peer-to-peer electronic cash system proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto in the whitepaper first achieved distributed consensus through the proof-of-work mechanism. The core value of this period was to verify feasibility: global volunteers ran nodes to maintain the network, competing for bookkeeping rights with computing power in exchange for block rewards.

Early participants were mostly cryptography geeks and technological idealists. The transaction on May 22, 2010, where a programmer exchanged 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas, became the first case of physical pricing. At this time, the market value of cryptocurrencies was less than $10 billion, with only a few self-built exchange platforms, and users needed command-line operations for wallets. Technical challenges focused on the theoretical risk of 51% attacks and the embryonic form of block capacity limitations.

Key Event: First real-world Bitcoin transaction (10,000 BTC for pizzas, 2010)

The launch of Ethereum marked a major turning point. Its smart contract function unlocked programmable financial application scenarios, and the birth of the ERC-20 token standard in 2015 even催生 (gave birth to) the initial coin offering boom. Market infrastructure improved accordingly: compliant exchanges like Coinbase went live with fiat currency channels, Blockchain.info launched graphical interface wallets, and BitPay initiated enterprise payment services.

Regulatory frameworks began to explore, with New York State issuing the BitLicense licensing system in 2015, while China's central bank叫停 (halted) token financing in 2017. During this phase, Bitcoin's price first broke the $10,000 mark, but security incidents such as the theft of 850,000 bitcoins from the Mt.Gox exchange exposed the vulnerability of the early ecosystem. Market participants expanded from technical communities to venture capital and retail investors.

• Ethereum's smart contracts enable decentralized applications (DApps)
• ERC-20 standard fuels the ICO boom (2017 peak)
• Mt.Gox collapse highlights security risks (2014)

The bear market cycle pushed the industry into deep adjustment. Three major trends reshaped the landscape: first, technological evolution, with the mainnet launch of Bitcoin's Lightning Network improving small-payment efficiency, and Ethereum establishing a roadmap to shift to proof-of-stake consensus; second, regulatory clarity, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission included some tokens in securities regulation, and the Financial Action Task Force issued global anti-money laundering standards; third, institutional entry, with MicroStrategy adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet in 2020, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launching futures contracts.

El Salvador's 2021 attempt to make Bitcoin legal tender sparked discussions on sovereign state application scenarios. During this period, the total market value of cryptocurrencies peaked at over $3 trillion, but risk events like the Terra ecosystem collapse showed that system stability still needed improvement.

Regulatory Milestone: FATF's global anti-money laundering standards for cryptocurrencies (2019)

The core feature of the current stage is the accelerated integration of the traditional financial system and the crypto ecosystem. In early 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved Bitcoin spot ETFs, allowing institutional funds to be allocated through traditional brokerage channels, with BlackRock's fund inflowing over $10 billion in the first month. Technically, attention is focused on scalability solutions, with Ethereum's Layer2 network Arbitrum exceeding one million daily transactions, and Bitcoin's Ordinals protocol opening up non-monetary application explorations.

Regulation has shifted to precise measures, with the EU's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) implementing a分级牌照 (classified licensing) system, and the Bank for International Settlements promoting unified global stablecoin rules. Central bank digital currencies have entered the experimental stage, with over 130 countries conducting R&D, and China's digital yuan pilot expanding to cross-border trade settlement. Montrava observes that institutional investors pay more attention to the efficiency improvement of underlying blockchain technology rather than short-term token price fluctuations.