When someone tells you that you should diversify your financial portfolio, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For some, it is stocks, but for a growing number of financial investors, what first comes to mind is cryptocurrency.
Now, when you think about digital currency, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Most of us would be lying if we said it wasn’t Bitcoin. Since 2008 Bitcoin has shaken up the financial trading world and has set the industry standard for what crypto currency is (and can be).
Read on below to learn more about this cryptocurrency trendsetter and why their logo has become one of the most recognizable financial logos in the world.
Meet Bitcoin
Nowadays, cryptocurrency trading has become just as common as stock trading. And the leader in this digital currency world is none other than Bitcoin. Once Bitcoin gained popularity by investors, other cryptocurrencies followed suit. These fellow cryptos joined Blockchain technology after Bitcoin paved the way for them.
Bitcoin was founded by Satoshi Nakamoto, a programmer, who sought out to create a digital currency that allowed peer-to-peer financial transactions to be made with ease. Bitcoin was the first of its kind and took off because it is easy to verify, hard to earn, and limited in supply. Satoshi went on to also create the first Bitcoin logo before outsourcing external help.
Beyond knowing that Bitcoin is a digital currency, many don’t know how the coin works. Bitcoin operates by using miners to discover new blocks. These “blocks” that miners are searching for are a series of transactions that occur in a certain timeframe. Every time a miner uncovers a new block, a new set of bitcoins are released. These miners don’t do the work for free though. They receive a Bitcoin reward, which keeps them focused on continuing to seek out new blocks which in turn, unveil a new batch of coins that can enter the Bitcoin market. However, at any one time, there can never be more than 21 million coins in circulation.
Bitcoin’s Evolution
2008-2009: The birth of Bitcoin
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, an investor, invented Bitcoin while the world was battling an ongoing financial crisis. Satoshi put his concept onto paper and titled it “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” This paper detailed how a cryptocurrency would operate, the logic behind his creation, and when the cryptocurrency would officially launch. While this paper was published on October 31, 2008, the Blockchain technology was not launched until January 3, 2009. By releasing the paper before the coin launched, Satoshi was able to slowly roll out this idea of a decentralized digital currency to the world. His idea of a decentralized digital currency meant that there was not just one person controlling it. More specifically, instead of having a public ledger to keep track of the currency, users would store it. As part of the launch, when Bitcoin was first released, the coins had no monetary value
2010: Bitcoin has its first economic transaction
On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz used Bitcoin for the first-ever financial transaction. In Florida, Laszlo paid 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas totaling $25.00. Since this was the start of bitcoins being used as a currency, cryptocurrency supporters celebrate May 22 as Pizza Day.
2012: Satoshi introduces halving
With so many coins being added due to miners, Satoshi implemented “halving” to control the circulation of these coins. By halving, Satoshi can cut in half the number of coins entering circulation every four years. The first time this happened was in 2012. Since then, Satoshi has set for this to happen every four years so halving also occurred in 2016, 2020, and will occur in 2024.
Roadblocks Along the Way
Any new currency that enters the financial market will not enter without some pushback and objection. For instance, with Bitcoin, the legality is dependent on each country. Some countries love the idea of digital currency, while other governments restrict digital currency usage. Recently though, on September 7, 2021, El Salvador was the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal form of payment for an entire country. So, while some countries do not embrace cryptocurrency, others do. Additionally, just like with the stock market, the price of Bitcoin rises and falls and is not immune to the volatility of the financial market.
The Meaning of Bitcoin’s Logo and Bitcoin’s Logo History:
Unlike some brand logos, Bitcoin’s logo has always elected to stay simple with minimal colors, few shapes, and one, sole letter. Even with these few components, the logo has still become a globally recognized symbol due to its scalability and eye-catching features.
The two brains behind the logo are Satoshi and Bitboy. Satoshi designed the original logo (and the second version) before outsourcing the creative work to Bitboy. Below we break down the logo’s evolution and the different features of the emblem.
2009: The original Bitcoin logo
This first iteration of Bitcoin’s logo featured the letters “BC” engraved on a gold coin. This version included a straightforward graphic letting the viewer into what the brand was. Satoshi aimed to have viewers see that digital objects can mimic their physical counterparts, meaning that digital cryptocurrency works just like a physical currency.
2010: The second version of the Bitcoin logo
Just one year later, Satoshi enhanced his original logo, making a second iteration of it. Released in February 2010, this logo drew inspiration from the dollar sign. Satoshi opted to keep the gold coin in the logo, but instead of the “C,” Satoshi only elected to keep the “B” in the center. The “B” this time had two lines through the symbol, coming out of the top and bottom but never crossing the lines of the letter. While Satoshi was inspired by the dollar sign, he kept his symbol unique where the line never goes through his “B” symbol as it does for the dollar sign.
2010: The third version of the Bitcoin logo
Just shy of a year, the logo was updated again after the Bitcoin community was critical of the second version. This third iteration was updated by Bitboy, a Bitcoin forum member in November 2010. Bitboy drew inspiration from the MasterCard logo, playing around with the shape, position, font, color, and border.
Bitcoin’s logo font:
There is not much typography on the Bitcoin logo, however, there is one small wordmark that is written in a unique font, Ubuntu Bold Italic, a sans serif font developed by Dalton Maag Limited. This font is not unique to Bitcoin, however, so anyone can use it for their own personal or commercial projects without any legal consequences.
Bitcoin’s logo color:
The Bitcoin logo has always featured four distinct colors: orange, gold, white, and black. The orange color is most prominent in the current logo, although it is like the gold tone used for the coin in earlier logos. Originally, the gold color was chosen to represent digital gold, what Bitcoin was. Satoshi felt this was a good color selection since gold represents wealth, success, royalty, victory, magic, and prosperity. Since that hue was not very bold, Satoshi sought out a more vibrant color, which Bitboy adapted for the current logo. Orange is symbolic of creativity, success, joy, safety, and change while also evoking freedom, ambition, and friendship. These are all traits that the Bitcoin brand embodies.
A second color, white, has also been a dominant color in the logos throughout the years. White is used to provide balance to the other elements of the logo, like the “B” letter and the orange frame. White is a common choice with logos because it evokes lightness, possibility, and good.
A final color featured in the Bitcoin logo is black. Black is a neutral color choice that complements any graphic image and can stand out regardless of the other noise going on around a logo. Black conveys mystery, power, authority, strength, and prestige. Like the other colors, these are all traits that the Bitcoin brand, and its consumers, embody.
Bitcoin’s logo symbols:
While Bitcoin’s logo is simple in stylistic elements, the symbols that are used are intentional. For instance, an orange circle is used to provide a frame around the logo. The mission of Bitcoin is to allow people across the globe to send and receive money digitally with ease. This ties in nicely with the circle that represents infinity, eternity, and timeliness. The only other symbol the brand uses is the letter “B.” If you think about the currencies across the world, each one has a unique symbol tied to it. Because of that, Bitcoin needed a unique symbol, so the “B” was chosen. The “B” has hard lines that dash out of the top and bottom parts of the letter. Once this was chosen as Bitcoin’s universal symbol, it is now used to represent the entire Bitcoin network and is often used to represent the entire digital currency world.
Bitcoin Today
Today, Bitcoin has continued to dominate the cryptocurrency space, however, it has paved the way for other cryptocurrency developers to also enter the market. Bitcoin is tradeable on a wide array of platforms but if you are looking to trade Bitcoin, be sure to use BTC for the stock symbol. With so many stocks and cryptocurrencies out there, one wrong letter could mean you are buying the wrong crypto! But just like with any tradeable asset, the market is volatile and constantly changes. Because of that, you’ll want to be careful and understand the ins and outs of the market to avoid losing money.
Even with restrictions in some parts of the world, Bitcoin has been able to gain the trust and following of millions of people across the globe and is even a legal payment method in El Salvador. Beyond that, most advanced counties even recognize Bitcoin as a valuable digital currency to own (even if they legally do not accept it as a currency yet).
Satoshi himself is a man of mystery with many unsure of whether he is just one individual or a large group of individuals. And as far as ownership of the digital currency, Bitcoin founder, Satoshi still owns the most Bitcoin. He is known to own about one million Bitcoins which totals about $34.5 billion. What started as only being valued at only $1 in 2011, is now valued at $43,000 in 2021. Today, there are about 18 million bitcoins circulated, and every day, Bitcoin miners successfully add about 900 more bitcoins into circulation.
Lessons Learned from Bitcoin
As mentioned earlier, when you think about the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin is probably the first thing that comes to mind. This isn’t just because Bitcoin founded this world and was the first digital coin, it’s because everything about their brand is memorable.
Take their logo for instance. As you are developing your logo, follow the same steps Satoshi took. First, create a logo that is simple because simple emblems are the most effective. All you need is a logo that is clean and stands out with its simple components. Then, look at making your logo attractive with these simplistic elements. Make your logo pleasing to the eye and play around with the positioning, colors, and emotions certain components convey. Then, look at how unique your logo is. Look at your competitors and make sure your emblem is not like any of your competition. You don’t want confusion and you don’t want possible consumers to mistakenly go to a competitor. Next, look at the versatility of your logo like Bitcoin. When it comes to a brand, you’ll encounter a wide array of marketing channels and needs. You’ll need a logo that can scale up, or down, for whatever channel you need to include it on. And finally, make sure your logo is relevant. Make sure your logo conveys what it is your business does and that it conveys this boldly to your potential consumers.
