OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures | Episode 45: The Development of Bitcoin and Blockchain

Hello everyone, I'm Little K. Today we're going to talk about: "The Development of Bitcoin and Blockchain."

In our last lesson, we mentioned that during 2011-2014, blockchain technology entered China, and the mining industry began to gradually emerge domestically. Additionally, the international blockchain industry was also continuously developing, although it chose a different path—that of cryptocurrency.

Going back to 2011, this was the year when Satoshi Nakamoto completely vanished from the blockchain world. Bitcoin development authority fell to Satoshi's successor at the time—Gavin Andresen. The first thing Gavin Andresen did after taking over was to decentralize Bitcoin's management authority to other members of the Core development team. Thus began the era of complete decentralization for Bitcoin.

Not long after this event, on September 27, 2012, the Bitcoin Foundation was officially established to standardize, protect, and promote the healthy development of Bitcoin. This foundation played an indispensable role in Bitcoin's compliance and community development in the years that followed.

Then on November 28, 2012, Bitcoin experienced its first halving event in its history. The Bitcoin mining reward was reduced from "50 Bitcoin per 10 minutes to 25 BitcoinBitcoin," marking its first historical peak.

In the following period, Bitcoin's price began to soar. Although some negative events occurred intermittently, such as exchange hacks and private key leaks, they did not affect Bitcoin's continued price upward trend.

Finally, on November 29, 2013, Bitcoin's price reached a peak, surpassing gold for the first time at an astonishing $1,242/Bitcoin, while gold's price at the same time was only $1,241.98 per ounce. Based on Bitcoin's rapid development, the outside world began to pay strong attention to Bitcoin, and more tech experts and funds gradually began researching the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin.

Everyone bet on the cryptocurrency payment track, but unfortunately, during this period, apart from some projects showing innovation, most projects simply plagiarized Bitcoin's concepts, modifying parts of the code and issuing them to the market—cryptocurrency for cryptocurrency's sake. This led to a large number of山寨 projects appearing in the market.

However, they didn't run wild for long. On December 5, 2013, the People's Bank of China and five other ministries issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks," explicitly stating that Bitcoin does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not circulate in the market as currency. On the day the notice was issued, Bitcoin's price fell in response, and Bitcoin entered its first major bear market. In the following time, those山寨 projects with no application value disappeared one by one into the long river of history, while Bitcoin in this stage completely transformed into digital gold.

Overall, during the 2012-2014 stage, the entire international blockchain community seemed to collectively enter a thinking trap, believing that blockchain technology could only be applied to cryptocurrency. It wasn't until 2014, when a young man appeared, that this limitation was broken. This young man was the later-renowned Vitalik. And Vitalik, with his Ethereum, would completely unveil a revolution truly belonging to blockchain, bringing a wave of public chain technology.

As for the specific story of Vitalik and Ethereum, let Little K keep you in suspense—we'll talk about it in the next lesson~

Thanks to Cao Yin for his help and guidance on this episode's content.
Sina Weibo: @高等曹寅

"OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures" is a blockchain educational animation video co-produced by OKX and Sina Technology, targeting zero-basis blockchain users. Through series articles, educational animations, and other forms, from the perspectives of concepts, technology, and applications, through 5 major sections and 60 knowledge points, it vividly explains blockchain concepts. This episode's content was guided and completed by Cao Yin, Managing Director of the Digital Renaissance Foundation.

Disclaimer

This article may contain product-related content not applicable to your region. This article is intended only to provide general information and does not assume responsibility for any factual errors or omissions herein. This article represents only the author's personal views and does not represent OKX's views. This article is not intended to provide any of the following advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins) involves high risk, may fluctuate significantly, and may even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. For questions about your specific situation, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. The information appearing in this article (including market data and statistics, if any) is for general reference only. Although we have taken all reasonable precautions in preparing these data and charts, we assume no responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be copied or distributed in its entirety, or excerpts of 100 words or less from this article may be used, provided that such use is non-commercial. Any copying or distribution of the entire article must also prominently state: "This article is copyrighted © 2025 OKX, used with permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article name and include the source, for example "Article Name, [Author Name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX". Some content may be generated or assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Derivative works or other uses of this article are not permitted.

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