Bitcoin turns 18 after reaching new all-time high
Bitcoin marked its 18th anniversary following a record price surge and recent regulatory milestones.
Bitcoin turned 18 years old on the day the article was published. Satoshi Nakamoto posted the Bitcoin whitepaper to a cryptography mailing list eighteen years ago. The genesis block was mined on January 3, 2009, containing a message quoting a headline from The Times about a chancellor on the brink of a second bailout for banks.
Bitcoin broke through the $1,000 milestone by late 2013 and reached almost $20,000 by December 2017. It hit a new all-time high of more than $126,000 in October 2025. The US Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products in January 2024.
Recent technical discussions include a proposed upgrade known as BIP-360, which outlines a new type of Bitcoin output to reduce certain quantum vulnerabilities. Transaction fees accounted for just 0.67% of total miner revenue in the 90 days to October 4.
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