History is more useful as a chain of changed constraints than a list of prices.
Why it matters
A timeline prevents today's interface from being mistaken for the permanent shape of the system.
1997–2009 · Precursors and genesis
Hashcash and reusable proofs of work explored digital scarcity and abuse costs. The Bitcoin paper arrived in 2008; the network began in 2009 with rules that strangers could verify.
2010–2017 · Markets and programs
Early commerce made exchange value observable. Exchanges concentrated access and risk. Ethereum launched programmable contracts; new token funding expanded experimentation and abuse.
2018–2024 · Infrastructure and failure
Stablecoins, custody and scaling matured. DeFi demonstrated composability and cascading risk. Bridge, exchange and governance failures showed that decentralization claims could hide concentrated control.
2025–2026 · You are here
Institutional products, policy frameworks and tokenized-finance experiments coexist with hacks, speculative cycles and unresolved utility. The next chapter is conditional, so the timeline ends at Scenarios—not a fabricated forecast.