The launch of cryptocurrency was initially aimed at tracking illegal cross-border transactions.

Bitcoin underwent its notable "fork" in August 2017 specifically for this purpose. When it became evident that Bitcoin mining, as envisioned by Satoshi, was energy-intensive and impractical, the decision was made to alleviate the miners' burdens and introduce Bitcoin Light.

Over the next 15 years, Bitcoin experienced significant technical changes. The original purpose of Bitcoin (and cryptocurrencies in general) was to ensure transaction anonymity by making it physically impossible to trace the entire chain of operations.

The early adopters, who dared to purchase the coins, would reap the majority of their market value. This was due to the myriad simultaneous operations occurring on numerous computers.

Coin exchanges operated on a P2P (peer-to-peer) principle, meaning transactions occurred directly from one computer to another without any administrators, servers, nodes, or other intermediaries.

This peer-to-peer nature earned Bitcoin its name. The technology's creators adhered to the principle that "money doesn't smell" — it was impossible to track the path of an individual coin.

Over time, this concept was largely abandoned. Nowadays, most coins traded on crypto exchanges use different technology. Coins are "issued" by nodes, or trusted network nodes, belonging to specific organizations.

These organizations, whether legitimate or illegal, have identifiable owners who can be held accountable. Additionally, there are far fewer distributed nodes than individual computers, meaning that money has once again become traceable.

You’ve likely already realized that the crypto world isn’t as hidden as it once seemed, haven’t you?
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