The First Bitcoin Trade: 20 BTC for $0.04951 per whole bitcoin Recalled

On this day in 2010, the first Bitcoin trade took place on the now-defunct bitcoin exchange, Mt Gox, with the transacting parties exchanging 20 BTC for $0.04951 per whole bitcoin. The total size of the transaction was just under $1.

The historical data shared today by Bitcoin OG, Clark Moody identifies that 20 BTC trade as a crucial development that preceded the launch of several automated electronic exchange venues for the cryptocurrencies, and real-time price discovery for the cryptocurrency.

Although bitcoin had already been used at that point for real-life transactions such as on the now-famous Bitcoin Pizza day, the emergence of Mt Gox made it a whole lot easier for people to buy and sell bitcoin from anywhere in the world for the first time.

The story of Mt Gox’s ignominious exit after a large scale BTC hack is one for another day but does not becloud a genuinely historic moment.

First Bitcoin Trade Details

According Time: 2010-07-17 23:09:17 UTC

Amount: 20.00000000

BTC Price: $0.04951

Value: $0.9902

Block Height: 68,773

Total Issued supply of Bitcoin: 3,438,650

Market Cap: $170,000

How Much Will the Bitcoins be Worth Today?

With the price of bitcoin has come a long way since that first automated trade, it is only reasonable for one to wonder how much the 20 BTC transacted in the first bitcoin trade will be worth in today’s price. Going by a press time price of $9149.28, that amount will be worth $182,985.6, higher than bitcoin’s market cap on that date.

Interestingly, the figure would also mean 184,000× return, backing reported information that bitcoin was the best investment of the last decade.

Although past performance is not a guarantee of future results, the above numbers are timely, given that the price of bitcoin has seen incredibly low volatility, and is seemingly stuck between the $9000’s. Further price appreciation and volatility are not out of the picture, with the current numbers only another cycle in the cryptocurrency’s already momentous lifetime.

Would anyone have predicted a $9149.28 future price for bitcoin on the day of the first bitcoin trade?