Entries → protocol timelines
Key Dates in Crypto: A Reference Timeline
The events that changed how this sector works, with dates and what each one actually altered.
| Entry type | reference |
|---|---|
| Section | protocol timelines |
| Last verified | |
| Compiled by | Reference Desk |
Entry last verified August 2026.
The timeline
| Year | Event | What it changed |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Bitcoin whitepaper published | Established the design |
| 2009 | Bitcoin network launched | First operating instance |
| 2010 | First commercial transaction | Demonstrated use as payment |
| 2014 | Mt. Gox failure | Established that exchanges are a distinct risk |
| 2015 | Ethereum launched | Programmable settlement became available |
| 2016 | The DAO exploit and fork | Demonstrated that immutability is a social property |
| 2017 | Token issuance boom | Most assets from this period never recovered |
| 2017 | SegWit activated | Increased Bitcoin’s effective capacity |
| 2020 | Decentralised finance grew substantially | On-chain lending and trading at scale |
| 2021 | Taproot activated | Improved Bitcoin efficiency and privacy |
| 2021 | EIP-1559 | Protocol-set fees, burned rather than paid |
| 2022 | Algorithmic stablecoin collapse | Ended that design category |
| 2022 | Major lending and exchange failures | Produced reserve attestations and regulatory attention |
| 2022 | The Merge | Ethereum moved to proof of stake |
| 2023 | Staked ETH withdrawals enabled | Completed the proof-of-stake transition |
| 2024 | Spot exchange-traded products approved in the US | Changed the composition of holders |
| 2024 | Dedicated rollup data capacity | Cut layer 2 costs by a large multiple |
The four that changed the most
Mt. Gox, which established that where you hold matters as much as what you hold.
The DAO fork, which demonstrated that the rules are enforced by people running software rather than by the software alone.
The Merge, which changed the security model of the second largest network without a halt or a split.
Spot products, which moved a meaningful share of ownership into regulated wrappers held by institutions, changing how the asset correlates with everything else.
The pattern in the failures
Each major failure was followed by a specific technical or regulatory response, and by the general lesson being forgotten within about two years.
The exception is the exchange custody lesson, which has been relearned repeatedly and still produces losses, because the convenience of leaving funds at a venue is immediate and the risk is hypothetical until it is not.
Where to verify
Protocol changes are in improvement proposals and client release notes. Regulatory events are on regulators’ own sites. Failures are documented in court filings, which are public and more informative than coverage.
Venue-level records, such as listing and delisting notices from platforms including exchanges quoting a direct fiat pair, document the market structure changes that follow each of these events.
Figures in this entry were correct on the date shown. Spotted something out of date?Send a correction and the entry gets updated.