Major Events in Blockchain History

About this events archive

Events are grouped into seven categories. Technical milestones record protocol-level breakthroughs: the genesis block being mined, the first peer-to-peer transfer, the arrival of SegWit and the Lightning Network, and Ethereum's switch from proof of work to proof of stake. Application events track the moments the technology was actually used, from two pizzas bought for 10,000 BTC to DeFi protocols holding tens of billions in locked value.

Market events cover price cycles and structural turning points: halvings, bull and bear transitions, institutional entry, and spot ETF approvals. Crisis events are the most instructive part of this history. Mt. Gox, The DAO, Terra/Luna, and FTX each exposed an assumption the industry had quietly been relying on. Regulatory and standards events record how the rules were written, from SEC enforcement actions and the MiCA framework to technical standards such as ERC-20 and ERC-721 that made the ecosystem interoperable.

Each category page provides a timeline, the people involved, the consequences that followed, and primary sources you can trace back: block explorer records, post-mortem reports, regulatory filings, and court documents.