🗞️ New York Times Writes About E-Cash On October 19, 1994, the New York Times published an article dedicated to David Chaum's E-Cash. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/1994-10-19/new-york-times-writes-about-e-cash

🍸 Room77 Closes On October 18, 2020, the legendary bar Room77, which became the first establishment to accept Bitcoin, was forced to close. The founder of the establishment cited lockdowns related to COVID as the main reason. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2020-10-18/room77-closes

📈 A Channel for Traders "bitcoin-otc" Created on Freenode IRC On October 17, 2010, a trading bitcoin-otc channel was created on freenode IRC. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2010-10-17/a-channel-for-traders-bitcoin-otc-created-on-freenode-irc

🇺🇸 Assange Thanks the US Government On October 14, 2017, Julian Assange published a tweet in which he thanked the US government for pushing him to buy bitcoin. "I want to express my deepest gratitude to the US government, Senator McCain, and Senator Lieberman for pushing Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, AmEx, Moneybookers, etc., to impose an unlawful banking blockade against WikiLeaks, which began in 2010. This forced us to invest in Bitcoin and gain a profit of over 50,000%." https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2017-10-14/assange-thanks-the-us-government

🪦 Bitcoin Obituary On October 13, 2017, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, called Bitcoin an index of money laundering. "Bitcoin just shows how great the demand for money laundering is." Seven years later, Fink launched the largest Bitcoin ETF in the world. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2017-10-13/bitcoin-obituary

Were any interesting historical Bitcoin events posted on Nostr this week, @hal ?

💵 First Bitcoin to Fiat Exchange On October 12, 2009, a user with the nickname Sirius (known to us today as Martti Malmi) sold 5,050 BTC to New Liberty Standard for $5.02 via PayPal. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2009-10-12/first-bitcoins-to-fiat-exchange

This reply in @Sirius 's bitcointalk thread offering a1000 BTC bounty to whoever orangepills a large business back in 2011 didn't age well 😆

[EXPIRED] [BOUNTY] 1000 BTC for getting a major business to accept Bitcoin

[EXPIRED] [BOUNTY] 1000 BTC for getting a major business to accept Bitcoin

🪦 Bitcoin Obituary On October 11, 2014, Jeremy Bowman publishes an article "3 Reasons Why Bitcoin is Doomed". The author attributes the guarantees of bitcoin's failure to its volatility, lack of necessity, and suspiciousness. 1 BTC = $358.69 https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2014-10-11/bitcoin-obituary

🧮 BitVM Launched On October 9, 2023, Robin Linus announced the launch of the BitVM project – a virtual machine aimed at expanding the functionality of the Bitcoin network. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2023-10-09/bitvm-launched

💸 Pilot ECash for 1,500 Clients of Deutsche Bank On October 8, 1997, Deutsche Bank launched a pilot version of ECash for 1,500 of its clients. Over the next few months, about 1,500 Deutsche Bank clients will be able to purchase goods and services in 35 electronic virtual stores and pay for them with a single click of the mouse. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/1997-10-08/pilot-ecash-for-1500-clients-of-deutsche-bank

◼️ Square Acquires 4,700 BTC On October 8, 2020, Jack Dorsey's company Square acquired 4,709 bitcoins for $50 million. This amount represed 1% of the company's assets. 1 BTC = $10,645 https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2020-10-08/square-acquires-4700-btc

🐻 The Slaying of the Giant Bear On October 6, 2014, a bitcoin whale placed an order to sell 30,000 BTC, leading to an epic showdown between HODLers and the "bear whale." For six hours, the price remained at $300 until all the coins were sold, and the bear was defeated. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2014-10-06/the-slaying-of-the-giant-bear

💱 First Bitcoin Exchange Rate Published On October 5, 2009, the first bitcoin exchange rate was published on New Liberty Standard. The rate was 1,309.03 BTC per one US dollar, or about eight hundredths of a cent per bitcoin. The rate was determined by the cost of electricity required for a computer to mine bitcoin. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2009-10-05/first-bitcoin-exchange-rate-published

😢 Hal Finney Diagnosed With ALS On October 5, 2009, Hal Finney informed the world about his terminal diagnosis. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2009-10-05/hal-finney-diagnosed-with-als

🌐 Launch of Wikileaks On October 4, 2006, an international non-profit organization was founded, highlighting, among other things, government war crimes. Five years later, Wikileaks began accepting bitcoin in response to a banking blockade by the US, becoming the cause of a tsunami of new bitcoin users. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2006-10-04/launch-of-wikileaks

👨‍💻 I Broke Bitcoin On October 3-4, 2015, Alistair MacLean attacked the Bitcoin network by substituting the S value in ECDSA signatures of user transactions. This led to a change in the transaction hash after their publication and caused confusion, leading to some exchanges suspending withdrawals. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2015-10-03/i-broke-bitcoin

🪦 Bitcoin Obituary On October 2, 2015, an article titled "Why Bitcoin is Not the Wave of the Future" is published. "Analyzing the facts, it becomes clear that Bitcoin is not destined to grow and become more mature than it is now." 1 BTC = $237.40 https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2015-10-02/bitcoin-obituary

⛏️ First Public Software for Mining on OpenCL On October 1, 2010, the first public software for Bitcoin mining on OpenCL was released. The OpenCL miner is software for Bitcoin mining that uses the OpenCL framework for hashing. When used with a modern GPU, this approach provided hash rates an order of magnitude higher than those achievable with a CPU. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2010-10-01/first-public-software-for-mining-on-opencl

👮‍♂️ Ross Ulbricht's Arrest On October 1, 2013, federal agents arrested Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the online marketplace Silk Road, in a San Francisco public library on charges of drug trafficking, computer hacking, and money laundering. Later, Ulbricht was convicted and received two life sentences for non-violent crimes. https://bitcoin-calendar.org/en/events/2013-10-01/ross-ulbrichts-arrest