History — The Story of Crypto

100 milestones across 12 eras — evenly spaced by chronological rank. Hover to trace, click to open a card.

1976/11/06

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1976/11/06Rank 1

Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Paper (1976)

1977/04/04

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1977/04/04Rank 2

RSA Public-Key Cryptosystem Paper (1977)

1979/09/05

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1979/09/05Rank 3

Merkle Tree Patent (1979)

1983/08/01

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1983/08/01Rank 4

David Chaum's eCash

1989/04/01

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1989/04/01Rank 5

DigiCash

1992/09/01

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1992/09/01Rank 6

Cypherpunk Mailing List Launch

1997/03/28

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1997/03/28Rank 7

Hashcash

1998/11/01

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1998/11/01Rank 8

b-money

1998/12/01

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)1998/12/01Rank 9

Bit Gold

2004/08/15

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)2004/08/15Rank 10

Reusable Proofs of Work

2008/10/31

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2008/10/31Rank 11

Bitcoin Whitepaper

2009/01/01

ICO Boom2009/01/01Rank 12

2018 Crypto Winter

2009/01/01

Pre-Blockchain Foundations (1970s–2008)2009/01/01Rank 13

Crypto-Anarchist Manifesto

2009/01/01

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2009/01/01Rank 14

Ethereum Launch (2015)

2009/01/01

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2009/01/01Rank 15

Ethereum Merge

2009/01/03

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2009/01/03Rank 16

Bitcoin Genesis Block

2009/01/12

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2009/01/12Rank 17

Hal Finney Receives First Bitcoin Transaction

2009/11/22

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2009/11/22Rank 18

BitcoinTalk Forum Launch

2009/12/30

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2009/12/30Rank 19

First Bitcoin Difficulty Adjustment

2010/05/22

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2010/05/22Rank 20

Bitcoin Pizza Day

2010/07/18

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2010/07/18Rank 21

Mt. Gox Launch

2010/11/27

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2010/11/27Rank 22

Slush Pool Launch

2011/05/01

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2011/05/01Rank 23

BitPay Launch

2011/08/30

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2011/08/30Rank 24

Blockchain.info Explorer Launch

2011/11/05

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2011/11/05Rank 25

Electrum Wallet Launch

2013/04/01

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2013/04/01Rank 26

Mt. Gox Dominance

2013/11/24

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2013/11/24Rank 27

NXT Launch

2013/11/27

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2013/11/27Rank 28

Ethereum Whitepaper

2014/01/02

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2014/01/02Rank 29

Counterparty Launch

2014/02/28

Bitcoin Era (2008–2013)2014/02/28Rank 30

Mt. Gox Collapse

2015/08/17

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2015/08/17Rank 31

Augur Token Sale

2015/11/19

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2015/11/19Rank 32

ERC-20 Token Standard Proposal

2016/04/30

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2016/04/30Rank 33

The DAO Launch

2016/06/17

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2016/06/17Rank 34

The DAO Hack

2016/07/20

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2016/07/20Rank 35

Ethereum Classic Created

2016/07/20

Smart Contract Era (2013–2016)2016/07/20Rank 36

Ethereum Hard Fork

2017/06/12

ICO Boom2017/06/12Rank 37

Bancor ICO

2017/06/26

ICO Boom2017/06/26Rank 38

EOS ICO

2017/07/01

ICO Boom2017/07/01Rank 39

Tezos ICO

2017/07/14

ICO Boom2017/07/14Rank 40

Binance Launch

2017/07/25

ICO Boom2017/07/25Rank 41

SEC DAO Report

2017/08/10

ICO Boom2017/08/10Rank 42

Filecoin ICO

2017/09/01

ICO Boom2017/09/01Rank 43

MetaMask Growth

2017/10/01

ICO Boom2017/10/01Rank 44

Truffle Suite Growth

2018/01/15

ICO Boom2018/01/15Rank 45

ICO Bubble Burst

2018/09/26

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2018/09/26Rank 46

USDC Launch

2018/10/15

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2018/10/15Rank 47

USDT Growth

2018/11/02

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2018/11/02Rank 48

Uniswap v1 Launch

2019/03/13

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2019/03/13Rank 49

Cosmos Hub Launch

2019/05/23

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2019/05/23Rank 50

Compound v2 Launch

2019/06/01

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2019/06/01Rank 51

ETHGlobal Growth

2019/10/01

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2019/10/01Rank 52

Hardhat Launch

2019/11/18

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2019/11/18Rank 53

MakerDAO Multi-Collateral DAI Launch

2020/02/15

DeFi Summer2020/02/15Rank 54

bZx Flash Loan Attacks

2020/03/16

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2020/03/16Rank 55

Solana Mainnet Beta Launch

2020/05/07

Institutional Adoption (2020–Present)2020/05/07Rank 56

Paul Tudor Jones Bitcoin Thesis

2020/05/26

Infrastructure & DeFi Foundations (2018–2020)2020/05/26Rank 57

Polkadot Mainnet Launch

2020/06/15

DeFi Summer2020/06/15Rank 58

Compound Yield Farming Launch

2020/06/16

DeFi Summer2020/06/16Rank 59

Compound COMP Launch

2020/06/20

DeFi Summer2020/06/20Rank 60

Synthetix Liquidity Mining Program

2020/07/17

DeFi Summer2020/07/17Rank 61

Yearn Finance Launch

2020/08/04

DeFi Summer2020/08/04Rank 62

Curve yPool Integrations

2020/08/11

Institutional Adoption (2020–Present)2020/08/11Rank 63

MicroStrategy Bitcoin Purchase

2020/08/28

DeFi Summer2020/08/28Rank 64

SushiSwap Vampire Attack

2020/09/16

DeFi Summer2020/09/16Rank 65

Uniswap UNI Airdrop

2020/10/02

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2020/10/02Rank 66

Ethereum Rollup-Centric Roadmap

2020/12/03

DeFi Summer2020/12/03Rank 67

Aave v2 Launch

2021/02/01

NFT Boom2021/02/01Rank 68

NBA Top Shot Boom

2021/02/08

Institutional Adoption (2020–Present)2021/02/08Rank 69

Tesla Bitcoin Purchase

2021/03/01

NFT Boom2021/03/01Rank 70

CryptoPunks Popularity

2021/03/01

Web3 Expansion (2021–Present)2021/03/01Rank 71

Mirror Growth

2021/03/11

NFT Boom2021/03/11Rank 72

Beeple Everydays Sale

2021/04/30

NFT Boom2021/04/30Rank 73

Bored Ape Yacht Club Launch

2021/08/01

NFT Boom2021/08/01Rank 74

OpenSea Volume Surge

2021/08/23

NFT Boom2021/08/23Rank 75

Visa CryptoPunk Purchase

2021/08/31

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2021/08/31Rank 76

Arbitrum One Launch

2021/09/01

NFT Boom2021/09/01Rank 77

Celebrity PFP Wave

2021/09/01

Web3 Expansion (2021–Present)2021/09/01Rank 78

Friends With Benefits Growth

2021/11/09

Web3 Expansion (2021–Present)2021/11/09Rank 79

ENS Airdrop

2021/11/29

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2021/11/29Rank 80

Starknet Alpha Launch

2021/12/01

Web3 Expansion (2021–Present)2021/12/01Rank 81

Farcaster Launch

2021/12/16

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2021/12/16Rank 82

Optimism Mainnet Launch

2022/05/09

Market Crises & Industry Resets (2022)2022/05/09Rank 83

Terra/LUNA Collapse

2022/05/18

Web3 Expansion (2021–Present)2022/05/18Rank 84

Lens Protocol Launch

2022/06/27

Market Crises & Industry Resets (2022)2022/06/27Rank 85

Three Arrows Capital Collapse

2022/07/01

Emerging Era2022/07/01Rank 86

MakerDAO Real World Asset Vaults

2022/07/13

Market Crises & Industry Resets (2022)2022/07/13Rank 87

Celsius Bankruptcy

2022/11/11

Market Crises & Industry Resets (2022)2022/11/11Rank 88

FTX Collapse

2023/03/01

Emerging Era2023/03/01Rank 89

Bittensor Growth

2023/03/24

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2023/03/24Rank 90

zkSync Era Launch

2023/04/18

Emerging Era2023/04/18Rank 91

Helium Migration to Solana

2023/05/01

Emerging Era2023/05/01Rank 92

Render Network AI Compute Expansion

2023/06/15

Institutional Adoption (2020–Present)2023/06/15Rank 93

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Filing

2023/06/29

Institutional Adoption (2020–Present)2023/06/29Rank 94

Fidelity Bitcoin ETF Filing

2023/07/01

Emerging Era2023/07/01Rank 95

Autonolas Agent Network Growth

2023/10/31

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2023/10/31Rank 96

Celestia Mainnet Launch

2024/01/10

Institutional Adoption (2020–Present)2024/01/10Rank 97

U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval

2024/03/20

Emerging Era2024/03/20Rank 98

BlackRock BUIDL Launch

2024/04/09

Scalability Era (2021–Present)2024/04/09Rank 99

EigenDA Launch

2024/10/16

Emerging Era2024/10/16Rank 100