Every revolution stands on the shoulders of giants. Discover the technologies, visionaries, and pivotal moments that had to happen before Satoshi could write the whitepaper.
How Six Pillars Became Bitcoin
Click each technology to see how it connects to Bitcoin's design
Public-Key Crypto
→ Digital ownership
P2P Networks
→ Decentralization
Timestamping
→ Immutability
🌳 Merkle Trees
→ Efficient proofs
💎 Proof of Work
→ Spam prevention
🧩 Failed Attempts
→ Learned mistakes
1970s
The Age of Secret Codes
Whitfield Diffie & Martin Hellman invented public-key cryptography (1976), followed by RSA encryption (1977).
These breakthroughs made digital ownership possible for the first time.
1983-1990s
The Internet Goes Global
TCP/IP protocol connects computers worldwide without central control. This peer-to-peer foundation
became essential for Bitcoin's decentralized network.
1989
DigiCash - First Digital Money
David Chaum created the first cryptographic digital currency. It worked perfectly but required trust
in a central company - the missing piece Bitcoin would later solve.
1991
Time-Stamping & Timechains
Stuart Haber & Scott Stornetta created the first "timechain" - linking documents together so no one
could backdate or alter them. This became Bitcoin's blockchain foundation.
🌳
1992
Merkle Trees Added
Haber, Stornetta & Bayer improve their design with Merkle Trees. Now, multiple documents can be
linked into a single proof efficiently. This innovation later powers Bitcoin's block structure.
💎
1997
Hashcash - Proof of Work
Adam Back invented Hashcash to fight email spam. Users had to solve a small math problem before
sending emails, making spam expensive. Bitcoin uses this exact concept: Proof of Work.
👥
1998-2005
Cypherpunks & Failed Prototypes
Privacy advocates created b-money (Wei Dai), Bit Gold (Nick Szabo), and e-gold (Douglas Jackson).
Each solved part of the puzzle, but none achieved full decentralization.
📜
October 31, 2008
The Bitcoin White Paper
Satoshi Nakamoto publishes "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" - elegantly combining
all previous innovations into one self-sustaining system.
⛏️
January 3, 2009
Genesis Block
Satoshi mines the first Bitcoin block with a hidden message: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink
of second bailout for banks" - a protest encoded in history.
🍕
May 22, 2010
First Real Purchase
Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC - the first real-world Bitcoin transaction.
Today, that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.