Bitcoin's price has been on a roller coaster ride since it first debuted in January 2009, but the long-term trajectory has been higher – “up and to the right,” as they say. Bitcoin ushered in the age of cryptocurrency, but it took quite a while before the public sat up and took notice. So in this article, we will take a look back at Bitcoin's price history and tell what the highest bitcoin has ever been.
Bitcoin Price in 2009: $0
At the very beginning, the price of Bitcoin price is $0.
On January 3, 2009, the Bitcoin network went live with the mining of the genesis block, which allowed the first group of transactions to begin a blockchain. This block contained a text note that read: “Chancellor on Brink of Second Bailout for Banks. ” This referenced an article in The London Times about the financial crisis of 2008 – 2009 when commercial banks received trillions in bailout money from central banks and governments. This event helped mark Bitcoin's original price at $0.
Bitcoin Price in 2011: $1 – $30
The Bitcoin price in 2009 was barely above zero. Real adoption of Bitcoin began to take place about two years later, and a major Bitcoin price surge happened for the first time.
In February 2011, BTC reached $1.00, achieving parity with the US dollar for the first time. Months later, the price of BTC reached $10 and then quickly soared to $30 on the Mt. Gox exchange. Bitcoin had risen 100x from the year's starting price of about $0.30.
By year's end, though, the price of Bitcoin was under $5. No one can say for sure exactly why the price behaved as it did, especially back when the technology was so new. It could be that 2011 marked the launch of Litecoin, a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain — and other forms of crypto began to emerge as well — signaling greater competition.
In 2012, Bitcoin saw its first halving, from a 50-coin reward for mining BTC to 25 coins. This set the stage for its precipitous growth. But the pattern of an 80% – 90% correction from record highs would continue to repeat itself going forward, even as much more Bitcoin liquidity would come into being.
Bitcoin Price in 2013: $13- $1,100
In 2013, the EFF began accepting Bitcoin again, and this was the strongest year in Bitcoin price history in terms of percentage gains. The cryptocurrency saw gains of 6,600%.
Starting at $13 at the beginning of the year, the price of Bitcoin rose to almost $250 in April before correcting downward by over 50%. The price consolidated for about six months until another historic rally in November and December of that year, when the price peaked at $1,100.
This bull run saw Bitcoin's market cap exceed $1 billion for the first time ever. It would be over three years before the Bitcoin price would reach $1,000 again. The Bitcoin price in 2013 bottomed out at -85% off its record high.
Bitcoin Price in 2017: $1,100 – $20,000
The Bitcoin price in 2017 breached the $1,100 mark in January, a new record high at the time — following the Bitcoin halving in July of 2016. By December, the price had soared to nearly $20,000. That's a 20x rise in less than 12 months, and it was followed predictably by a decline through 2018 and 2019. Bitcoin wouldn't see the other side of $20,000 until late 2020.
Bitcoin Price in 2021-2022: An Epic Rise and Fall
In August 2021, the price of Bitcoin was hovering around $46,000, and by November 2021 BTC hit its all-time high of over $68,500.
In any case, as of July 15, 2022, the price of BTC can be viewed through a couple of different lenses. One could note that at about $20,000, BTC is currently about 70% off its all-time high. Or one could take a long-term view of 2009 and calculate its staggering growth in just 13 years.
What is the highest bitcoin has ever been?
As you read above, the all-time high price of Bitcoin is $68,500 in November 2021.
