2008 to 2009
A core sample of the first months.
The design fixed its shape in a handful of dated moments: a paper, a first block, a release, a second block and a first transfer. Drag the scrubber, or step through with the buttons, and read what each moment settled.
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The ground it stood on
The 2008 paper is short, and much of it is assembly. Its reference list points to earlier work on timestamping documents with hashes, on using computational work as a stamp of effort, and on cryptographic signatures.
Why it matters
What the paper adds is the arrangement: those pieces fitted together so that a network of strangers can keep one ledger without a central keeper. Knowing the pieces already existed makes the choices easier to follow, because each one has a history of why it was used.
The question it leaves: Which parts of the design were new, and which were arrangement?
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The paper is announced
It describes electronic payments sent directly between parties, a peer-to-peer network, proof of work, and a chain of timestamped blocks. It names the problem plainly: online commerce depends on trusted third parties.
Why it matters
Many of the choices on the questions page can be traced to ideas this paper sets out. This site takes no position on who is behind the name; the paper is what can be read, and the reasons are in it.
The question it leaves: What would you have to believe for proof instead of trust to be a good trade?
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The genesis block
It has no predecessor, so the software carries it as a fixed starting point that every node agrees on. Its data includes a short line of text about the news of that day, which shows the block could not have been made earlier.
Why it matters
Every later block names its predecessor, and following those names back always ends here. By a quirk of the software, the coin reward attached to this block can never be spent.
The question it leaves: What does it mean for a system to start from a block everyone hard-codes?
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The software is released
From this point the rules are no longer only a description. Anyone who runs the software applies the rules to everything they see, which is the beginning of the idea, explored on the open-source question, that running is enforcing.
Why it matters
Publishing the code also made it possible for others to find mistakes and propose changes in public, which is how the project has been maintained since.
The question it leaves: What changes when rules arrive as code you can run instead of a promise you must believe?
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Block 1 extends the chain
It is the first block built by the process the paper describes: a header that names its predecessor and meets the proof-of-work target. The gap of six days between the first two timestamps is a reminder that the early network was very small.
Why it matters
A chain with one block is only a claim. With a second block the mechanism is operating, because each block commits to the one before it.
The question it leaves: Is a chain real the moment it has a second link?
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The first payment between people
Earlier blocks held only the rewards given to whoever produced them. Until this block the chain could only issue coins; here it records a transfer for the first time.
Why it matters
A transfer is what the unspent-output model exists to describe: an existing output is spent, and new outputs are created in its place. The question of double spending begins here, because now there is something that can be spent.
The question it leaves: When does a ledger become a payment system?
What this timeline leaves out
It stops in January 2009 on purpose. The question this site asks is why the design looks the way it does, so the timeline covers only the moments that fixed its shape. It leaves out prices, every later development, and anything about who was involved beyond the name printed on the paper. Nothing here is a claim about identity, and nothing is a forecast.
Dates are the calendar days commonly recorded for each event. Times of day are left out, since neighbouring time zones would change the day shown. Where the text says that something happened, it is describing the public record of the blocks and the published messages, not anyone’s intentions.
How to read it
The six events sit in a vertical column like layers in a core sample, oldest at the top. Moving the scrubber highlights one layer, fills in a short summary beside the core, and marks the matching card on the right. Each card ends with a question, because a timeline answers when and the more useful work begins with why. To follow one up, the questions page lays out the eight design choices behind these first months.
Why Satoshi is independent and unaffiliated with any software project, company or organisation. This page runs entirely in your browser.