Hi everyone,
I would like to use this time to view how Bitcoin has developed over the years 2012 to presently 2025. All too often people are only interested in the price, but there is some really interesting shifts going on in adoption, mining and transaction patterns that give a real sense of how far the network has progressed.
1. Adoption & Users
2012: The use of Bitcoin was controlled by early adopters, developers and small-scale online retailers. Worldwide reception was very poor. There was no exchange and wallets were primarily desktop.
2025: Bitcoin popularity is on full bloom around the world with large companies and payment providers accepting it. The easy addition of mobile wallets and institutional investors in addition to the use of Lightning Network has helped ease transactions like never before.
Did you know: there were less than 1 million of wallet users at the beginning of 2012, today, the guesses are more than 100 million in the entire planet.
2. Web Application Mining-Network Security
There were more hobbyists in mining as CPUs and GPUs was used. The challenge was not high, and any literate could be engaged, having a computer.
2025: Mining has become extremely industrial and is under the control of specific ASIC devices. The network security has become enormous, currently the hash rate increased several orders of magnitudes compared to the year 2012 making Bitcoin very secure.
Note: The risk of centralization of mining exists, however, the network is resilient and strong.
3. Transactions & Fees
2012: There was low volume of transactions; small fees. The times needed to get confirmation were often very early due to the fact the network was not loaded.
2025: Millions of transactions are done on a daily basis with Bitcoin. Different fees are charged on the basis of congestion in networks. SegWit and the Lightning Network have contributed to decreasing the fee and the speed.
Example: In 2012, transaction fee may be in the price range of 0.01, but in 2025 when the congestion is high micro-transactions may be expensive at times with a price higher than 20$, however, Layer 2 enables such transactions to remain cheap.
4. Community & Ecosystem
2012: Communication happened mostly on the forums and through IRC, at small meetings. There was little education material.
2025: Community global and located on wide range of channels worldwide (Bitcointalk, Reddit, Twitter/X, Discord). Thousands of projects have been created on top of Bitcoin, as well, be it wallets or DeFi integrations.
What do you suppose is the next major milestone of Bitcoin as we look forward in years?
What will adoption and technology look like in 2030?
Let’s discuss!