The first cryptocurrency started 2009. Many investors consider bitcoin to be the original cryptocurrency. Founded in 2009 by a programmer (or, possibly, a group of programmers) under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin ushered in a new age of blockchain technology and decentralized digital currencies.

The first crypto country in June 2021, El Salvador became the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, after the Legislative Assembly had voted 62–22 to pass a bill submitted by President Nayib Bukele classifying the cryptocurrency as such.