A Brief History of Blockchain

The foundation and core of the popular cryptocurrencies that we’ve all heard or read about is blockchain technology. This technology is being used today for so much more than cryptocurrencies. To fully appreciate the potential of this new type of digital trust that has the ability to disrupt industries in a variety of areas, we need to understand the history of blockchain.

Although blockchain history is older than you might think, we’ve simplified it by responding to four crucial questions:

Who invented the blockchain?

David Chaum, a cryptographer, presented the first blockchain-like technology in 1982.

W. Scott Stornetta and Stuart Haber wrote about their study on consortiums later in 1991.

In 1998, a notable computer scientist named Nick Szabo began developing Bit Gold, a concept for a decentralized currency.

But Satoshi Nakamoto—a supposed pseudonym for a person or group of people—was responsible for creating and implementing the first blockchain network after he deployed the first digital currency, Bitcoin, in 2009.

Who owns blockchain technology?

Blockchain technology is like the internet; no one owns it, but anyone can use it to run and own their own blockchains.

Who founded Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto

Who carried out the first Bitcoin transaction?

In 2004, Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney, who built the first reusable proof-of-work system.

To learn more about blockchain and its use cases, you can watch this video on an Introduction to Blockchain and read about The Fundamentals of Blockchain Technology.