The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin Page #3

buy him pizza.

A man in London accepted

and placed

a long-distance phone call,

ordering him two pizzas

from papa John's.

This is generally acknowledged

as the first bitcoin transaction

for a tangible good.

Bitcoin was

gaining momentum,

but in order

for it to thrive

the coins needed to be

more widely accessible.

A Tokyo-based exchange

named mt. Gox was

the first on the scene

to take hold of the marketplace

and trading volume

started to pick up.

By November 2010,

already 4 million bitcoins

had been mined.

And the exchange price

briefly spiked to 50 per coin.

The market awoke and bitcoin

was starting to look like

it might have real potential

as a currency.

His name is Julian Assange.

Assange and his colleagues

collect confidential information

and then make it public.

The release of 250,000

state department documents

no doubt presents a serious

dilemma for this country.

DANIEL:

Following a massive release

of secret

U.S. diplomatic cables,

donations to wikileaks

were blocked

by bank of America,

visa, mastercard,

PayPal and Western union.

An article in "pc world"

suggested that bitcoin

could be used

as a workaround

to send donations

to wikileaks.

One of satoshi's

last known posts

was in response

to the article and stated...

Shortly after that

satoshi disappeared

from the forums

and was never

heard from again.

Two months later the silk road

anonymous marketplace was launched.

It functioned

as an online black market

for drugs

and other illicit goods

and used bitcoin

exclusively,

because it made

the money trail

nearly impossible

to trace.

The silk road

caught the attention

of New York senator

Charles schumer

who was outraged

and publicly called

for a crackdown

on the site.

Heroin, opium,

cannabis, ecstasy,

- psychedelics, stimulants.

- ( CAMERA CLICKS )

It's unbelievable.

DANIEL:

Throughout all this,

the exchange price

continued to climb.

By February of 2011,

bitcoin reached parity

with the U.S. dollar.

Sparking an influx

of new users and speculators.

By June the price had soared

to a peak of $31

before it came

crashing down.

As the market tanked, the mt.

Gox exchange was hacked,

further shaking

the confidence of investors

and hammering the price

all the way down

to the $2 range

by October.

While bitcoin enthusiasts

kept hope,

skeptics were quick

to share their hindsights

and rants on blogs

and in news articles.

Many thought that

the party was over

and that bitcoin was

on its way out.

I went online and I bought

one bitcoin last night.

Really? It's the future.

I don't know.

It didn't feel real.

No. Real's gonna change.

Just watch.

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