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In 1983, American cryptographer David Chaum conceived of a type of

cryptographic electronic money called ecash.[10][11] Later, in 1995, he implemented it


through Digicash,[12] an early form of cryptographic electronic payments. Digicash
required user software in order to withdraw notes from a bank and designate specific
encrypted keys before they could be sent to a recipient. This allowed the digital
currency to be untraceable by a third party.

In 1996, the National Security Agency published a paper entitled How to Make a Mint:
The Cryptography of Anonymous Electronic Cash, describing a cryptocurrency system.
The paper was first published in an MIT mailing list (October 1996) and later (April
1997) in The American Law Review.[13]

In 1998, Wei Dai described "b-money," an anonymous, distributed electronic cash


system.[14] Shortly thereafter, Nick Szabo described bit gold.[15] Like bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies that would follow it, bit gold (not to be confused with the later gold-
based exchange BitGold) was described as an electronic currency system that required
users to complete a proof of work function with solutions being cryptographically put
together and published.

In January 2009, bitcoin was created by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto. It


used SHA-256, a cryptographic hash function, in its proof-of-work scheme.[16][17] In April
2011, Namecoin was created as an attempt at forming a decentralized DNS. In October
2011, Litecoin was released, which used scrypt as its hash function instead of SHA-
256. Peercoin, created in August 2012, used a hybrid of proof-of-work and proof-of-
stake.[18]

Cryptocurrency has undergone several periods of growth and retraction, including


several bubbles and market crashes, such as in 2011, 2013–2014/15, 2017–2018, and
2021–2023.[19][20]

On 6 August 2014, the UK announced its Treasury had commissioned a study of


cryptocurrencies and what role, if any, they could play in the UK economy. The study
was also to report on whether regulation should be considered.[21] Its final report was
published in 2018,[22] and it issued a consultation on cryptoassets and stablecoins in
January 2021.[23]

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