Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo has shared a statement believed to have been made by pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, dating back to June 22, 2010. In this statement, Satoshi laid the foundation for understanding Bitcoin’s intrinsic value.
Fourteen years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto explained why Bitcoin had value even though it was trading in cents. This was at a time when Bitcoin was still in its infancy, and its price was trading around a mere $0.07 at that time.
✨ Satoshi Nakamoto explaining why #Bitcoin has value at $0.07, exactly 14 years ago pic.twitter.com/BxkcpGUwhO
— The Bitcoin Historian (@pete_rizzo_) July 22, 2024
Pete Rizzo recently brought this historical statement to light, sharing a screenshot that captured the words of the pseudonymous BTC creator.
Satoshi’s statement goes thus: “Bitcoin has value because it is accepted as payment by many. You cou say that Bitcoin is ‘backed up’ by the price tags of merchants and currency exchangers- a price tag is a promise to exchange goods for a specified amount of currency.”
Satoshi’s statement echoes 14 years later
Fourteen years on, Satoshi Nakamoto’s statement about Bitcoin’s value continues to ring true. Bitcoin has soared in value from a mere $0.07 to trade in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Bitcoin hit an all-time high of about $74,000 in March, driven by expectations of strong demand from U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETF).
Since Satoshi’s statement, Bitcoin’s use as a payment method has expanded dramatically.
In the early days of Bitcoin, perhaps from 2009 until around 2012, merchant adoption was almost nonexistent due to a lack of awareness and infrastructure. The first real-world Bitcoin transaction occurred in 2010, when a BTC holder purchased two pizzas for 10,000 BTC, which is now recognized as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
This narrative has grown as merchants continue to adopt cryptocurrencies, indicating a growing preference for digital currency payments as a viable alternative to traditional methods.
At the time of writing, BTC was up 1.30% in the last 24 hours to $67,846, per CoinMarketCap data.