How widely known is it on this sub that Bitcoin was not the first attempt at a cryptocurrency? The first cryptocurrency was eCash, created by David Chaum's company DigiCash in 1990. This and others like it were influential in Bitcoin's creation but they w

I looked into it after Michael Saylor mentioned it in one of his interviews. eCash was the first form of cryptocurrency developed in 1990 but only lasted three years after inception (from 1995 to 1998) before being dissolved. B-money and Bitgold were never officially launched. Hashcash was phased out around 1997 or shortly after. Bitcoin has influences from all these precursor cryptos but surpasses them all. In Saylor's words: "Bitcoin isn’t the first crypto idea. People tried fifty times before to launch a crypto network and they all failed for one reason. They were too centralized. There was an attack surface."

Bitcoin turns fifteen years old on January 3rd 2024. Does anyone else feel like they're part of something truly amazing?