Bitcoin Genesis Block
On January 3, 2009, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Bitcoin genesis block. The coinbase transaction embedded a headline from that day's Times of London: 'Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.' The whitepaper had been posted to a cryptography mailing list three months earlier, weeks after Lehman's collapse. No central bank, exchange, or regulator was involved. The entire premise was regulatory failure. Sixteen years later the asset class is worth trillions and still lacks a comprehensive US framework.
The Bitcoin whitepaper was published in October 2008 — one month after Lehman's collapse. It's arguably the most consequential piece of writing produced in response to the 2008 crisis, and was written entirely outside the regulatory process.
07 · Crypto
Bitcoin launched in January 2009. As of 2026, the United States still has no comprehensive federal framework for digital assets — only a fragmented enforcement regime spanning the SEC, CFTC, Treasury, and a dozen state regulators. Billions have been lost, refunded, or quietly written off in the meantime.
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