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Bitcoin History Milestones
Block is our religion
Bitcoin history, block by block
From the Genesis block mined on January 3, 2009 to today, the Bitcoin timeline and history has been written block by block: four halvings, protocol upgrades, and the moments that defined the network. Every milestone below is mapped to its block height and mining date.
From January 3, 2009 · 16 milestones · 4 halvings
#1
Genesis Block
The very first Bitcoin block, mined by Satoshi Nakamoto. It contains the embedded headline: 'The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.'
#2
First Block After Genesis
Mined 6 days after the genesis block, this block contains the first spendable coins. The delay is one of Bitcoin's enduring mysteries — possibly Satoshi waiting for other nodes to join the network.
#3
First Peer-to-Peer Transaction
Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney, a renowned cryptographer and the first person to run Bitcoin after Satoshi. This was the first ever Bitcoin transaction between two parties.
#4
Bitcoin Pizza Day
Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC (then ~$41) for two Papa John's pizzas. The first real-world commercial Bitcoin transaction. Today celebrated annually as Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22.
#5
Value Overflow Incident
A critical bug created over 184 billion BTC in a single transaction. The vulnerability was discovered and patched within hours, and the chain was forked to remove the invalid coins. Bitcoin's biggest bug.
#6
First Bitcoin Halving
Bitcoin's first block reward halving: 50 → 25 BTC. This event reduced the rate of new Bitcoin creation, implementing Satoshi's disinflationary monetary policy as coded in the protocol.
#7
Second Bitcoin Halving
Bitcoin's second block reward halving: 25 → 12.5 BTC. By this time, Bitcoin had matured significantly, with growing adoption, institutional interest, and a much higher market price.
#8
Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork
The last shared block between Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The community split over block size debate — BCH increased to 8 MB blocks, creating a new cryptocurrency.
#9
SegWit Activation
Segregated Witness (SegWit) was activated, fixing transaction malleability and increasing block capacity. It also enabled second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network.
#10
Third Bitcoin Halving
Bitcoin's third block reward halving: 12.5 → 6.25 BTC. Occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bitcoin's price surged in the following months, reaching new all-time highs.
#11
Romans 12:21 Block
A famous vanity address block: multiple transactions embedded the Bible verse 'Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good' (Romans 12:21) directly into the blockchain using vanity addresses.
#12
Taproot Activation
Taproot, Bitcoin's most significant upgrade since SegWit, activated. It introduced Schnorr signatures, improved privacy, enabled more complex smart contracts, and reduced transaction fees.
#13
First Ordinals Inscription
Casey Rodarmor inscribed Inscription #0, the first Ordinal on the Bitcoin blockchain. This sparked a new wave of NFT-like assets directly on Bitcoin, changing how people use the network.
#14
Largest Bitcoin Block
At 3.96 MB, the largest Bitcoin block ever mined at the time. Contained the Taproot Wizard inscription, showcasing the new capabilities unlocked by Taproot and Ordinals.
#15
Fourth Bitcoin Halving
Bitcoin's fourth block reward halving: 6.25 → 3.125 BTC. This halving also saw the launch of Runes protocol, enabling fungible token creation directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.
#16
Block #900000 Milestone
Bitcoin reached block #900000, marking over 16 years of continuous, uninterrupted operation of the network. A testament to Bitcoin's resilience and longevity as the world's leading cryptocurrency.
