HISTROVECRYPTO / SEASON ONE
SEASON ONE / CRYPTO

The crypto timeline.

Scroll through the years.
Open a moment. Get lost in the details.

01
CHAPTER 01 / 1982 — 2004

Before Bitcoin.

From private signatures to reusable proof of work, the ideas that made a different kind of money possible.

01 / 19

1982

The idea before the coin.

Privacy becomes a question of mathematics.

01 MOMENT
02 / 19

1993

A movement finds its voice.

Cypherpunks put their principles into code.

01 MOMENT
03 / 19

1997

The cost of a computation.

Proof of work takes an early, practical form.

01 MOMENT
04 / 19

2004

One step closer.

Reusable proof of work connects the dots.

01 MOMENT
02
CHAPTER 02 / 2008 — 2012

An idea becomes a network.

A whitepaper becomes working code. People send it, spend it, mine it and discover what it can do.

05 / 19

2008

Nine pages. A new possibility.

The Bitcoin whitepaper arrives.

01 MOMENT
06 / 19

2009

The network comes to life.

A first block. A first transfer.

02 MOMENTS
07 / 19

2010

An experiment enters the world.

Pizza, free coins, a bug and a mining pool.

04 MOMENTS
08 / 19

2011

Beyond the screen.

Donations, physical coins and digital silver.

03 MOMENTS
09 / 19

2012

The rules keep their promise.

The block reward is cut in half.

01 MOMENT
03
CHAPTER 03 / 2013 — 2019

The culture takes shape.

New communities and possibilities arrive, alongside failures and hard lessons. Crypto becomes much more than a technical experiment.

10 / 19

2013

Crypto finds its culture.

New ideas, everyday uses and unforgettable memes.

07 MOMENTS
11 / 19

2014

A much wider world.

Community, privacy, art and hard lessons.

08 MOMENTS
12 / 19

2015

A network and its rules.

New York regulates virtual-currency businesses as Ethereum’s Frontier goes live.

02 MOMENTS
13 / 19

2016

Security, splits and collecting.

The DAO exploit, Ethereum split and Bitfinex theft test security and trust, Rare Pepes bring meme collecting onto Bitcoin, and Zcash prepares its trusted setup.

05 MOMENTS
14 / 19

2017

New venues and separate paths.

CryptoPunks give digital collecting a face, a yellow sign reaches a congressional hearing, Binance launches, and Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin.

10 MOMENTS
15 / 19

2018

Payments, exchange and giving.

Lightning Labs and Uniswap open new possibilities for payments and exchange, while the Pineapple Fund turns Bitcoin wealth into charitable work.

03 MOMENTS
16 / 19

2019

Trust travels, and is tested.

The Lightning Torch carries payments around the world, QuadrigaCX exposes missing backing, Chainlink connects Ethereum contracts to external data, and Libra proposes a global currency.

04 MOMENTS
04
CHAPTER 04 / 2020 — 2022

A world under pressure.

A global crisis tests crypto markets, financial mechanisms and the people holding on.

17 / 19

2020

The world reaches crypto.

Pandemic panic crashes through markets and tests decentralised finance.

07 MOMENTS
18 / 19

2021

Crypto reaches wider institutions.

Tesla adds bitcoin to its balance sheet, digital art reaches a major auction house, and Coinbase enters public markets.

13 MOMENTS
19 / 19

2022

Crypto reaches the big game.

A bouncing QR code brings Coinbase to a Super Bowl television audience.

06 MOMENTS

The story is still unfolding.

80 published moments. A collection of 100 in the making.

Back to the beginning