Bitcoin, an idea that originated in 2008, has since become a popular digital currency the world over, amassing a market value of under $20 bln.Since 2008, though, it hasn’t been an easy ride for the currency, which has experienced many highs and lows on its journey to acceptance.Let’s take a seat then as we revisit some of Bitcoin’s major crashes up to the present day, with this handy infographic from Investoo, a learn to trade website.According to legend, it’s believed that Satoshi Nakamoto initially began working on the idea of Bitcoin in 2007.However, it wasn’t until 2008, that a paper by the elusive Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, was published.3, 2009, the Genesis Block was mined, while the first Bitcoin transaction in block 170, took place between Satoshi and Hal Finney, on Jan.12, 2009, kicking off what has been a roller coaster ride for the currency.It wasn’t until Feb.9, 2011, however, that Bitcoin achieved parity with the US dollar, costing $1 per Bitcoin at Mt Gox.

website struggling to handle traffic at the news of Bitcoin’s parity, on June 19, 2011, the Bitcoin price fell $3 within minutes to less than $16 after the Mt Gox hacking.A repeat incident took place again on Feb.11, 2012, when the Bitcoin price dropped by $2 to around $4 after Paxum ceased accepting the currency.Several weeks later on March 1, the Bitcoin price plunged to $4.89 after 46,000 Bitcoin were stolen in the Linode hacking, at the time worth just under $230,000.Even though the currency rose slightly in the proceeding months of 2012, on Aug.17, 2012, the Bitcoin price dropped by $3 to less than $11 after Priateat40 stopped Bitcoin payments.Over the proceeding months, Bitcoin price steadily rose as interest in the currency increased.However, on April 10, 2013, the currency crashed $60 to just $122 in what was reported to be an apparent distributed denial of service attack.Later in the year, on Dec.5, 2013, People’s Bank of China bans Bitcoin transactions, causing the currency to nosedive $300 to $840.

7, 2014, Bitcoin records a $100 drop as major exchanges experience widespread DDoS attacks.bitcoin price graph indiaBitcoin miners and developers block size debate on Feb.bitcoin bronx ny21, 2014 sees the currency plunging $30.bitcoin buy uaeWhile the announcement of the closure of Mt Gox on Feb.bitcoin babe24, 2014, causes Bitcoin to drop by around $57 to $550.bitcoin millionaire pcAfter the IRS declares Bitcoin as a property on March 26, 2014, Bitcoin plummets by $150 to $453.earn litecoin for freeBitstamp suspended its service after a hack, which saw 19,000 bitcoin stolen; however, nearly a week later, it reopened.como comprar bitcoin en eeuu

The currency continues to rise and fall over the next year and on August 19, 2015 Bitcoin price declines by $45 to $214 after the release of new client software XT Fork, in a bid to resolve the scalability question.bitcoin io errorDespite a slight increase in price, it then fell by $50 to $334 as its sign was accepted into Unicode on Nov.bitcoin donation taxAfter Mike Hearn terms Bitcoin a ‘failure’ on Jan.14, 2016, the Bitcoin price records a $40 decline.Later that year, the second-biggest security breach took place at the Bitfinex bitcoin exchange when hackers stole 120,000 bitcoin on Aug.Fast-forward to 2017 and on the Jan.5, Bitcoin plunges 31 percent to $889 as Chinese officials mull restrictions on Bitcoin transactions.While it certainly hasn’t been an easy ride for the currency, the fact that it’s still here is a testament to the fact that people believe in the currency despite the setbacks it experiences.

People who thought that bitcoins could serve as either an investment vehicle or an alternative world currency got their heads handed to them on Thursday and Friday.That's when the price of the attention-grabbing crypto-currency got crushed, falling from a quoted $1,200 per "coin" to less than $600.At this writing, it's quoted on the Mt.Gox exchange at about $830.The whipsaw validates what we wrote about bitcoins just two weeks ago: they're useful as a medium of transfer, but even then you have to be nimble.If you were a Greek or a Spaniard using bitcoins to move money out of your home country without having to worry too much about your local foreign exchange or banking rules, and you figured on Thursday that you could get around to transferring your asset back out of bitcoins and into dollars or sterling--whoops!You lost half your stake in a matter of hours.The minimum time required to complete a trade in bitcoins is ten minutes; that's about how long you should hold them to keep exchange rate risk low.And if you were taken in by all the talk about bitcoins replacing gold as a storehouse of value, well, now you've been taken down.

Much of that talk was generated by the peak quote of bitcoins last week at $1,200, which was sometimes described as equivalent to or even higher than the price of gold.That's an absurd statement, of course: $1,200 bought you an ounce of gold bullion, but on the bitcoin market it only bought you a putative claim on the outcome of a mathematical algorithm.The proximate cause of the bitcoin crash was a warning by China's central bank against treating bitcoins as legal tender.The Beijing government didn't ban bitcoins, however, stating that Chinese citizens are still free to engage in bitcoin transactions at their own risk.The bitcoin market's reaction underscores what Stanford economist Susan Athey has said--that the value of bitcoins lies in their potential to facilitate transactions.The more transactions you think can be done in bitcoins, the higher their price.Because the Chinese government's statement may reduce confidence in bitcoin trades there, the market plunged.Bitcoins will undoubtedly rise in quoted value again, and also fall again.

The one inevitability about them is their volatility, to which there's no end in sight.What does this tell us about bitcoins' future as an alternative currency?This is the hope of gold bugs and other critics of central banks and their fiat currencies, but plainly bitcoins aren't anywhere near that stage yet, and probably never will be.Bitcoin advocates love to talk as though their new medium will be a counterforce to governments' tendencies to devalue their own currencies for economic gain.As Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff recently wrote: "Anyone familiar with current U.S.monetary policy might well wonder whether our country wouldn't be better served with bitcoins replacing the dollar."YouThe answer is no.Reach me at @hiltzikm on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or by email.MORE FROM MICHAEL HILTZIK Obamacare success stories you haven't read The toll of the anti-vaccination movement, in one scary map Net neutrality is dead.Bow to Comcast and Verizon, your overlords