Bitcoin’s “genesis block”—the digital token’s very first set of transactions—was mined nine years ago today. The reward for the block computation is listed at 50 BTC, which at today’s price is worth roughly $670,000.
First adopted by techno-libertarians with the intention of building a trustless payment system that skirted the regulatory control of governments, the very definition of what a bitcoin is remains open for debate. Whether it’s a “store of value” similar to gold, an alternative digital cash, a security, or something else entirely depends largely on who you’re asking and what they might be trying to sell you.
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