Cryptocurrency and Bangladesh 

Thirteen years ago this month, Bitcoin was created on the heels of the worst economic recession in 2009. Many consider it as the original cryptocurrency. It is the world’s first public blockchain crypto token and a decentralised digital currency and its actual inventor is known only by a pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. In January 2009, late legendary American computer programmer Hal Finney was the pioneer who had run the Bitcoin software after Satoshi Nakamoto, according to global media.

Here’s a flashback of cryptocurrency’s thrilling journey.

2009: First Bitcoin transaction

On January 12, 2009, Hal Finney received the world’s first Bitcoin mining reward (10 BTC) for mining the block-70. He received the tokens from ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ and since then it has been widely speculated that it was Satoshi who created the Bitcoin blockchain network since he also published Bitcoin’s whitepaper back in 2008.

2010: Pizza sells for Bitcoin

A year later, Bitcoin was still a novelty and only enthusiasts and computer geeks interacted with it. But a programmer paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John’s Pizza pies; 10,000 BTC would be worth roughly $613 million today.

2011: Price touches $1 for the first time

On February 9, 2011, Bitcoin’s price reached $1, according to historical data from investing.com. The trading volume that day was just 49,630; a miniscule figure compared to now. Moreover, this was the time when the whole crypto market reached $10 million market capitalization, according to Statista.

2012: Student makes Bitcoin-Euro vending machine

A student in Germany built the country’s first Bitcoin-Euro-based vending machine in 2012, as per an archived post by Verge. This was a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency, which was until then thought of simply as a computer novelty technology. The year witnessed a sudden and rapid jump in Bitcoin’s price and volume. The BTC price and volume doubled to $9 and 20,000, respectively.

2013: Market cap touches $1 billion for the first time

In 2013, Bitcoin’s total supply was about 11 million while the price was range-bound with extreme volatility in the latter part of the year. In October, BTC price was $196, but shot up to $1,153 in just two months, Verge reports. 

2014: Bitcoin blockchain-based wedding takes place

On August 5, 2014, a Florida-based couple had a Bitcoin blockchain-based wedding. They used 0.1 BTC to arrange their ceremony at Disneyland, Coindesk.com reported. On December 11, 2014, the world’s largest computer and related service provider, Microsoft, accepted Bitcoin as a form of payment, in association with BitPay, a crypto payment processor, Cointelegraph.com reported.

2015: NYSE, White House announces Bitcoin plan

This was the year when the vast potential of blockchain technology and Bitcoin was explored by big corporations and also eminent universities. One of the most notable announcements was made by NASDAQ when it came out with its blockchain exploration plan. In 2015, MIT’s Media Lab also launched its digital currency initiative, which was to be led by Brian Forde, a former White House Senior Advisor. Forde announced the three primary goals of the lab in a detailed post on Medium.

2016: A game-changer year  

Bitcoin’s price jumped 121 per cent from $433 to touch $959 in December 2016, according to coinmakretcap.com. The highest trading was happening in China with many Chinese buying Bitcoin to hedge against the falling Chinese currency in 2016, according to various media reports. 

2017: Ernst & Young (EY) start accepting Bitcoin

One of the Big Four accounting firms, Ernst & Young (EY) started accepting Bitcoin in January 2017 for its services, according to various media reports. Meanwhile, Jamie Dimon, CEO of American multinational investment bank JPMorgan, said Bitcoin was a “fraud”. He later took it back. Bitcoin’s price touched an all-time high of $20,000 in March, according to a CNBC report. 

2018: Warren Buffett comments on Bitcoin

American business magnate, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, in an interview with CNBC, said cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and others were “rat poison squared”. By that time, Bitcoin’s prices had already crossed $10,000. Buffett said in the interview that he did not have any short or long position in Bitcoin since he did not yet understand the underlying technology. Overall, Bitcoin had a rough journey that year and investors saw their wealth erode quite significantly, with many of them questioning the crypto’s future. Its value dropped by 70 per cent during the year, according to a Coindesk report.

2019: Bitcoin intraday high touches 40 per cent

Bitcoin’s prices touched an intraday high of 40 per cent, just after an announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping was made public. He said that they would start exploring blockchain technology for future development in their financial system. He is reported to have said that China should “seize the opportunity offered by blockchain”. 

2020: Black Thursday for Bitcoin

On March 12, 2020, Bitcoin’s price crashed by more than 50 per cent to hit a year-low of $4,000. This was also the year when Covid-19-related lockdowns were imposed. Due to the sudden price drop and there being no circuit-breaker mechanism in crypto exchanges, many crypto traders hit their Stop-Loss mechanism, which dragged the price even lower. This event, which came to be known in the crypto community as ‘Black Thursday’, led to various ripple effects in other crypto tokens. The DeFi sector, which particularly relied on BTC for powering transactions, too suffered heavy losses.

 2021: A Bitcoin Year 

Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $68,789.63 on November 10. Cryptocurrency as a whole created a lot of buzzes, thanks to celebrity comments. Tesla chief Elon Musk tweeted in March that anyone could buy a Tesla car using Bitcoin. On April 14, the crypto’s price jumped reaching a high of $64,829.14. But later, on May 13, Musk tweeted that Tesla won’t accept payments in Bitcoins for its cars due to environmental concerns around the mining of the cryptocurrency. This resulted in Bitcoin crashing by nearly 50 per cent, CNBC reported.  Acceptance, however, was growing. On June 9, 2021, the Central American country of El Salvador became the first to make Bitcoin legal tender. Although the US dollar continues to be El Salvador’s primary currency, Cryptocurrencies can also be used for all financial transactions. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also announced that his government will build an oceanside “Bitcoin City” at the base of a volcano. Bitcoin got its upgrade, popularly known as Taproot, in November 2021.

2022: Bitcoin could be more precious than gold

Goldman Sachs says this crypto may hit the $100,000 mark in 2022. Bitcoin currently has 20 per cent share of the “store of value” market citing it’s $700 billion market capitalization compared to the around $2.6 trillion worth of gold owned as an investment, it said. Bitcoin will take market share away from gold in 2022 as digital assets become more widely adopted, Goldman Sachs analyst Zach Pandl said in a research note to clients. Bitcoin will “most likely” become a bigger proportion over time, Goldman Sachs said, in a list of 2022 predictions.

Countries that banned crypto

Bitcoin has been controversial since its launch. While widely criticised for its volatility, its use in nefarious transactions and for the exorbitant use of electricity to mine it, Bitcoin is being seen by some, particularly in the developing world, as a safe harbour during economic storms. Some countries, including Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kosovo, Morocco, Nepal, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam, have placed limitations on the way Bitcoin can be used, with banks banning its customers from making cryptocurrency transactions.

China

China was at one point home to the world's largest number of Bitcoin miners. While the reason behind China's ban on cryptocurrency remains unclear, a report by CryptDailyUse claims that the decision was made in favour of reducing energy prices and greenhouse fuel emissions associated with crypto transactions. China cracked down on cryptocurrencies with increasing intensity throughout 2021. On August 27, 2021, Financial Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the People’s Bank of China warned people to "protect their pockets". On September 24, 2021, it went further and outright banned cryptocurrency transactions.

India

Backtracking from its earlier position, India has recently legalised buying and trading of cryptocurrencies. In March 2020, after a verdict by the Supreme Court of India, cryptocurrencies were made legal and a previous ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India was overruled. On November 23, 2021, India announced its intention to introduce a new bill to the Indian parliament which would establish a new central bank-backed digital currency as well as ban almost all cryptocurrencies. India has yet to formulate its own regulatory framework for crypto assets, and has already decided to study regulatory measures elsewhere and how global standards on cryptocurrencies evolve. The finance ministry has reached out to the Bank for International Settlements to frame its legislation.

Russia

Back in September 2017, Russia's central bank had said that it was totally against regulating cryptocurrencies as real money. Market sites for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are blocked in Russia. It is however expected that in the coming future, Russia might reconsider trading in cryptocurrencies. Russia passed its first laws to regulate cryptos in July 2020, which for the first time designated cryptocurrency as property liable to taxation.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh Bank (BB) banned crypto-trading as it goes against the country's financial regulations. If found in violation of the law, crypto traders can face imprisonment in the country. The central bank considers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as illegal in line with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, and the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012. The government sticks to preventing the use of Bitcoin and issued warnings and even made arrests linking to Bitcoin trading. 

One of the main worries that the government might have is the capital flight. The money laundering rules can be a tool to deal with the concern. It can ensure compliance for Bitcoin and all other types of cryptocurrencies. It can be established by government-approved cryptocurrency exchanges and having user-based quotas on National ID or passport. The government can also benefit from the large sum of capital tax gains. After all, Bitcoin is considered by many experts as the best performing asset over the last decade.

The writer is a journalist. He can be contacted at kamsohel@gmail.com