Hoardwise

The record

Gold and bitcoin, in order

Fifteen dated moments, from the earliest stamped gold coins to the first halvings of bitcoin and the spot bitcoin funds of 2024. Each entry summarizes a documented event. The record is a summary, not a complete history, and it does not argue that one entry causes another.

Fifteen entries, in order

Read from top to bottom. On wide screens, entries alternate between the left and right of the rail.

  1. c. 600 BCE

    Gold becomes money in Lydia

    Rulers in Lydia, in western Anatolia, begin striking coins from electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. A stamp that vouches for weight and purity lets strangers trade without weighing every payment.

  2. 1816

    Britain adopts the gold standard

    A British act ties the pound to a fixed weight of gold, so that paper money can be redeemed in gold coin. Over the following decades, many other countries adopt the same anchor.

  3. April 1933

    Gold is called in

    Executive Order 6102 requires most Americans to deliver gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates to the Federal Reserve, with limited exceptions. The order shows that a gold-backed system can be changed by decree.

  4. July 1944

    Bretton Woods sets the rules

    Delegates meeting in New Hampshire agree to a postwar system in which the US dollar is convertible into gold for foreign governments, and other currencies are fixed to the dollar.

  5. August 1971

    The gold window closes

    The United States suspends the exchange of dollars for gold at the official rate. The dollar no longer rests on a fixed link to the metal, and that link is not restored.

  6. March 1973

    Major currencies float

    Major currencies move to floating exchange rates, set mainly by markets. From here on, no major currency is held at a fixed price in gold by its government.

  7. November 2004

    A gold fund trades like a stock

    A gold exchange-traded fund begins trading in the United States. Investors can gain exposure to the metal through a brokerage account, without taking delivery of bars.

  8. October 2008

    A paper describes digital cash

    A paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System is circulated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It describes a payment network that needs no trusted central issuer to keep its records.

  9. January 2009

    The genesis block

    The first block of the bitcoin chain is mined, and the network starts paying a block reward of 50 new bitcoin. The block data includes a newspaper headline about bank bailouts, a note on the context in which the system appeared.

  10. May 2010

    Bitcoin buys two pizzas

    A programmer pays for two pizzas with bitcoin, one of the earliest widely reported purchases of goods with the new currency. Bitcoin users still remember the date as a first everyday purchase.

  11. November 2012

    The first halving

    The block reward falls from 50 to 25 new bitcoin. The cut was written into the software from the start, so it arrives at a set block count rather than by vote.

  12. July 2016

    The second halving

    The block reward falls from 25 to 12.5 new bitcoin. Each halving slows new issuance by half, while the total supply keeps approaching the fixed cap of 21 million coins.

  13. May 2020

    The third halving

    The block reward falls from 12.5 to 6.25 new bitcoin. As issuance shrinks, miners rely more on transaction fees and on the market price of bitcoin to cover their costs.

  14. January 2024

    Spot bitcoin funds arrive in the United States

    The Securities and Exchange Commission approves spot bitcoin exchange-traded products, which begin trading in January. Investors can hold exposure through a brokerage account, a different route from holding coins with their own keys.

  15. April 2024

    The fourth halving

    The block reward falls from 6.25 to 3.125 new bitcoin. The cut continues the schedule that began in 2012, and each cut follows the block count rather than the calendar.

Reading the record

Dates are given to the month where the source supports it. The mark c. shows an approximate date. Each entry is a summary, and the sources behind them are the public records of the events and the bitcoin protocol itself.

Bitcoin halvings follow block counts, not calendar dates. For that reason, this record gives no date for the next one, and it makes no claim about what any price will do when it arrives.