1.3. Performance

The first real-world transaction with Bitcoin was arranged in May 2010 when two pizzas worth $25 were bought for 10,000 BTC, valuing one Bitcoin at less than one cent ($0.01). Just about one year later Bitcoin had already achieved parity with the US Dollar ($1) and kept rapidly shooting higher over the next years until it peaked at around $1,250 at he end of 2013.

The collapse of Mt. Gox which was by far the biggest exchange at that time, handling almost 70% of the total trading volume, dealt a severe blow to the confidence of Bitcoin investors and BTC prices had to go through a long lasting consolidation phase until the all-time high was broken in early 2017 but once the ATH was broken Bitcoin skyrocketed.

2017 was a monumental breakthrough year for Bitcoin as we experienced prices shooting from under $1,000 at the beginning of the year up to almost $20,000. Even this astonishing performance was excelled by some Altcoins like ETH which posted record gains of almost 5,500% in 2017. These kinds of almost ridiculous performances can’t be achieved in any other market