There’s nothing particularly special about a bitcoin transaction. Every day, 300,000 of them occur on the BTC and BCH networks without fanfare. But occasionally, a perfunctory transaction will attain historical significance. These bitcoin transfers can be viewed in any blockchain explorer, where they have been immortalized by the public ledger and mythologized by the public.
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Bitcoin History Begins on the Blockchain
All bitcoin transactions are equal in the eyes of miners. Provided there’s a sufficient fee attached, it makes no difference to them who sender or recipient may be or how many BTC are transferred. It’s only once hindsight and context are applied that significance can be attached to a transaction like an opcode. With over 360 million BTC transactions to date, the following article details just 0.0000022 percent. But within this slender selection lurks a trove of Bitcoin history. There’s magic and mystery encoded in the blockchain if you know where to look.
First Bitcoin Transaction
We might as well start at the start, with the first BTC transaction sent between two people and the only one known to have been sent by Satoshi. It occurred on Jan. 12, 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 50 BTC to Hal Finney in block 170. The cost of the transaction, like so many in the early days, was 0 BTC.
First Bitcoin to Fiat Sale
The first known sale of BTC in exchange for fiat occurred on Oct. 12 2009 when Finnish developer Martti Malmi sold 5,050 BTC for $5.02, with the fiat amount transferred via Paypal. The number of BTC sent corresponds with the fact that the only way bitcoin could be
