Bitcoin, is the world's first and most popular cryptocurrency. It has a total supply of 21 million, and nearly 90% has already been mined. In the 12 years that Bitcoin has been around, it has revolutionized the entire crypto industry.

The supply of Bitcoin is finite, which makes the world's oldest cryptocurrency more valuable as more people join in.

Bitcoin is available on all crypto exchange platforms, and on CoinSwitch Kuber, a popular cryptocurrency exchange in India, it was the most traded cryptocurrency.

Evolution of Bitcoin - From Pizza to El Salvador

The concept of Bitcoin was introduced to the world in 2008 by a person who goes by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. By January 2009, the blockchain was launched, but it took more than a year for the first economic transaction to take place. A Florida man negotiated to have two Papa John's pizzas, valued at $25, delivered for 10,000 bitcoins. While this might sound like a sad story for the Florida man, this transaction established bitcoin's initial real-world price or value. Today a pizza can be bought for 0.00027 Bitcoin - and 10,000 Bitcoins would buy 37 million pizzas.

Fast-forward to 2022, and Bitcoin is the most valued cryptocurrency with a ridiculous market valuation attracting investors worldwide. In early 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, the largest investment by a mainstream corporation in cryptocurrency.

And El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Additionally, El Salvador is planning to build a Bitcoin city.

Further, 2021 saw global companies add Bitcoin to their reserves. Mastercard, Bank of New York Mellon, and Twitter added Bitcoin to their company reserves.

If Bitcoin can achieve all these in just 12 years, imagine what a single bitcoin can do in the next 12 years.

Bitcoin Price History

Bitcoin has taken investors and the rest of the world on a wild ride since its humble beginnings. It spiked and crashed, rallied and fell again in just over a decade.

In February 2011, bitcoin's price crossed $1, and for its first few years, its price was under $2. In June 2011, the price rocketed to around $31 before sinking back down to the single-digit range.

Two years later, in 2017, Bitcoin's price reached $200, and by the end of the year, it was worth more than $1,000. It then rose tenfold to $10,000 in November 2017, and the highest price was about $19,650 in December 2017. Convert BTC to INR here.

2017 to 2019 witnessed more ups and downs, with the highest peak in January 2018, around $17,527. The lowest dip was around $3,236 in December 2018.

In 2020, Bitcoin's price began to accelerate its upward trend. By December 2020, Bitcoin's price had increased by more than 300 percent since January.

Bitcoin doubled its value in 2021, and broke its previous all-time high with over $68,000 on Nov. 10. However, by January 2022, it had fallen back below $35,000.

While some experts believe that the price of Bitcoin will exceed $100,000, we don't know if and when it will happen.

The Future of a Supply-Limited Bitcoin

In 12 years since its inception, 83 percent of all Bitcoin that will ever exist has already been mined. By the early 2030s, 97 percent of Bitcoin would already exist, with the remaining 3 percent appearing over the next 110 years until 2140 based on Bitcoin's halving schedules and the network's activity estimates. Though the initial 90% took just over a decade, the remaining 10% will happen only in the next century.

Interestingly, the prices have mirrored the increasing supply of bitcoin in the open market.

When only 10% of the bitcoin was mined in early 2010, the price was $0.10. And at 50% in December 2012, prices hovered at around $7.50. Nine years later today, at 90% supply, one bitcoin is valued at $50,000 approx.

With a decrease in supply and an exponential increase in demand, the price of Bitcoin will only skyrocket.

What happens if all 21 million are mined? No new bitcoins will be issued after the maximum number of bitcoins is reached. Bitcoin transactions will continue to be pooled and processed, and Bitcoin miners will be rewarded.

Note: Not all of the bitcoins mined are available in the open market. Nearly 3.7 million bitcoins have been lost due to reasons ranging from people losing their private keys to death.