Bitcoin, which has just passed the $90,000 threshold, is the most famous of cryptocurrencies, but it is shrouded in mystery and its reputation remains murky.
Mysterious creator
More than fifteen years after its invention, the authorship of bitcoin remains controversial.
The principles of this virtual currency were revealed on October 31, 2008 in the “White Paper”a nine-page document signed by a certain Satoshi Nakamoto.
He theorizes that“making online payments directly from one third party to another would avoid going through a financial institution”.
Bitcoin above $90,000 / Sabrina BLANCHARD, Sylvie HUSSON / AFP
And to free ourselves from central banks, traditionally the only ones authorized to create money.
Who was Satoshi? Is this a real name or the pseudonym of one or more individuals? Various hypotheses have been put forward over the years but the mystery remains unsolved.
Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur, claimed to be the inventor of bitcoin.
But the assertion was undermined: in March, a British judge ruled that the Australian was not the creator of the famous cryptocurrency, citing “overwhelming evidence” against him at the end of a trial opposing him to a sectoral association.
Repeated scandals
Since its creation, bitcoin has attracted criticism because it is a currency of choice for paying on the « darknet »a parallel network that guarantees anonymity, without leaving a trace. Regularly accused of being used to launder criminal money, it also allows funds to be extorted via ransomware attacks, viruses that block access to victims’ computer systems in exchange for the payment of a ransom.
According to a report from the analysis firm Chainanalysis, in the first half of 2024, $460 million was paid for this ransomware, a figure up 2% year-on-year.
Changpeng Zhao, boss of Binance, in federal court in Seattle, Washington state, April 30, 2024 / Jason Redmond / AFP/Archives
This adds to the reputation for volatility of the cryptocurrency sector, shaken in recent years by the fall of several star entrepreneurs and high-profile bankruptcies.
At the end of April, Changpeng Zhao, who was head of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform, was sentenced to four months in prison for money laundering by a San Francisco court. According to the investigation by American authorities, Binance had not put in place the necessary measures to prevent transactions carried out for the benefit of groups such as the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda or the armed wing of Palestinian Hamas.
Its biggest rival, FTX, went bankrupt at the end of 2022, and its co-founder and main shareholder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison for fraud and criminal conspiracy.
Pledges of respectability
Although many investors in bitcoin are for speculative purposes, the cryptocurrency has received signs of respectability in recent years.
The American financial regulator even approved in January a new type of investment, indexed to bitcoin, which allows a wider public to invest indirectly in cryptocurrency, without having to hold it directly. This decision largely contributed to the surge in prices.
A monument dedicated to bitcoin on Bitcoin Square in San Salvador, September 4, 2024 in El Salvador / Marvin RECINOS / AFP/Archives
In September 2021, El Salvador was the first country in the world to adopt it as one of its legal currencies. But cryptocurrency has not convinced the population: according to a survey by the University of Central America (UCA), 88% of Salvadorans did not use it in their transactions in 2023.
Some merchants have also announced that they will accept it as a means of payment, like billionaire Elon Musk who declared in 2021 that it was possible to buy Tesla cars with bitcoins – before turning around.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House could accelerate the trend towards normalization. The Republican in fact pledged during his electoral campaign to make the United States “the world capital of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies”when Democratic President Joe Biden was in favor of greater regulation of the sector.
A particular operation
Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology, a virtual ledger that allows information to be stored and exchanged in a secure, reliable and unmodifiable manner. Each transaction is recorded in real time, in a tamper-proof register.
Bitcoin “mining” racks in a warehouse in Rockdale, Texas, October 10, 2021 / Mark Felix / AFP/Archives
Bitcoin is created – or ” extract “ – as a reward when powerful, and therefore very energy-hungry, computers solve complex problems.
THE “minors” are those who contribute to the creation of blockchains by validating transactions.
To prevent an uncontrolled explosion, Satoshi Nakamoto limited the maximum number of bitcoin units that can exist in the world to 21 million (a level that is expected to be reached around 2140).
And approximately every four years the « halving »a technical event that reduces the supply of new bitcoins, by halving the bitcoin reward given to users (or “minors”) to make this digital currency work.
