The First block of 50 BTC was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto. Over a period of months various vulnerabilities were discovered and patched resulting in the rectification of 185 million fraudulent Bitcoins. Since then no new vulnerabilities have been discovered in the protocol.
As the proliferation of the Bitcoin client, protocol and awareness of its system gained wider reach it began to garner a loyal following with various parties using it for payments online.
Bitcoin garnered lots of negative attention due to its use in the Silk Road - an online black market - as it became the currency of choice for darknet transactions involving various illegal trades and activities including drugs and hitmen.
Various legitimate online communities and businesses such as Reddit,WordPress,Pirate bay and nearly a thousand others have begun accepting Bitcoins as payment or donations. The faith of the online community in the use of Bitcoins is highly encouraging towards its promise as a future standard for digital currency.
Various nations have dealt with the Bitcoin phenomenon in different ways. The United States has closely monitored the evolution and use of Bitcoins but beyond the individual level. Their concern has primarily been with respect to how it is used in money laundering activities by criminals as well as the monitoring the role of private companies or groups in transacting real money which is in the contradiction with financial laws.
Countries like China and Thailand have aggressively discouraged the use of Bitcoins due to the lack of legal frameworks that govern it. Countries such as Germany have even begun considering Bitcoins as valid form of e-currency due to its exhibited properties as a unit of account but not as a normal currency in real world use. But the bulk of the force behind bitcoin comes from its users and merchants, with recent revelation in Bitcoin insurance by Lloyds of London and acceptance by mainstream online companies like Overstock and Zynga.
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