Satoshi’s First Bitcoin Transaction Turns 17 Today
Today the crypto ecosystem marks a milestone: exactly 17 years ago, on January 12, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto sent what is recorded as the first peer‑to‑peer Bitcoin transaction to developer Hal Finney. Coming shortly after the genesis block, that early transfer demonstrated the protocol’s basic promise—moving value directly between parties—and is commonly cited as the practical birth of digital cash.
Seventeen years on, Bitcoin (BTC) has grown into a global network of exchanges, custody providers, layer‑two projects and institutional flows. The anniversary is a moment for retrospectives and technical progress updates, but it also highlights persistent debates over scaling, regulation and real‑world payments. For users and market participants, the date underscores how a single test transfer helped seed a decades‑long experiment in decentralized money.