Bitcoin Achieves Major Milestone With Half a Billion Transactions Confirmed

The Bitcoin network has surpassed 500 million transactions since going live over 11 years ago. 

According to blockchain analytics site Statoshi, there have been half a billion transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain as of press time. 

Source: Statoshi

Crypto firm Casa CTO Jameson Lopp, co-founder & CTO site Statoshi celebrated the milestone on Twitter, saying:

“Today, as of block 00000000000000000001145bf2e7cb7f04df55feaf3b55d9f6511522bbbf333f at height 616064, Bitcoin surpassed 500 million transactions confirmed on the blockchain.”

From the First Bitcoin Transaction to Today’s Milestone

The first-ever Bitcoin transaction took place on Jan. 12, 2009. Nakamoto and the late Hal Finney were the early contributors to the project. Nakamoto sent Finney 10 BTC as a test, after which the computer scientist began mining blocks himself.

Ten months later, on Oct. 5, 2009, the New Liberty Standard set an initial Bitcoin exchange rate against the dollar. At the time, $1 was worth 2300.03 BTC.

The first-ever transaction of Bitcoin for physical goods took place on May 22, 2010. The famous Bitcoin Pizza saw two pizzas bought for 10,000 BTC by Laszlo Hanyecz. The programmer had offered users on a Bitcointalk forum the BTC in exchange for two pizzas. A teenager named Jeremy Sturdivant, nicknamed Jercos, accepted the Bitcoin and sent Hanyecz two pizzas from Papa John’s. This marks the first commercial transaction for Bitcoin.  

After 11 years, Bitcoin is now hitting another major milestone of passing half a billion transactions. As Twitter user Hodlonaut tweeted:

 “Bitcoin isn’t talking about this. Or about how revolutionary and unprecedented its traits of censorship resistance and immutability are. Bitcoin just is. And does. Once block at a time.”