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history vs future
A timeline of the most significant events shaping money, markets, and the future of finance.
Nixon closes the gold window. The Bretton Woods system collapses, ending the gold standard and ushering in the modern fiat currency regime. Central banks gain unprecedented control over money supply.
OPEC oil embargo triggers global economic crisis. Inflation soars while growth stagnates, challenging traditional economic models and forcing new monetary policy approaches.
Fed Chair Paul Volcker raises rates to 20% to crush inflation. The move triggers a severe recession but successfully tames inflation, establishing the Fed's credibility for decades.
Japan's real estate and stock market bubble collapses, leading to a "lost decade" of deflation and stagnation. Lessons in debt-fueled growth and asset bubbles.
Tech stock mania peaks and crashes. NASDAQ falls 78% from peak. Demonstrates the power of narratives, speculation, and the importance of fundamental analysis.
Subprime mortgage crisis triggers the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression. Lehman Brothers fails. Governments worldwide inject trillions in bailouts and quantitative easing.
Satoshi Nakamoto launches Bitcoin as open-source, peer-to-peer money. The Genesis Block includes a message referencing bank bailouts. Decentralized digital scarcity is born.
Cyprus seizes depositor funds to bail out banks, breaking the social contract. Demonstrates that bank deposits are not truly safe and accelerates Bitcoin adoption.
Vitalik Buterin launches Ethereum, introducing smart contracts and programmability to blockchain. Enables decentralized applications and composable financial protocols.
Initial Coin Offerings raise billions, then crash. Regulatory crackdowns follow. Demonstrates the cycle of innovation, speculation, and regulation in emerging markets.
Composability and liquidity mining reshape yield forever. Uniswap, Compound, and Aave demonstrate that financial primitives can be built on code, not institutions.
Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin. MicroStrategy accumulates billions. El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as legal tender. Traditional finance begins serious crypto integration.
Terra/Luna collapse triggers cascading failures. FTX implodes. Celsius, BlockFi, and others fail. Demonstrates the risks of centralized intermediaries and leverage.
SEC approves spot Bitcoin ETFs after years of rejection. Traditional investors gain easy access. Billions flow into crypto through regulated channels.
Inference at the edge plus verifiable data rails. AI agents interact with blockchains. Autonomous organizations and AI-driven trading emerge. The convergence of AI and crypto accelerates.
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) roll out. AI agents manage portfolios. On-chain identity and reputation systems mature. The line between traditional and crypto finance continues to blur.
