About That Orange B... The History of Bitcoin's Logos

In creating a symbol that resembled those of other currencies, bitcoin was visually introduced to newcomers as money.

The story of the bitcoin logo, much like the cryptocurrency itself, is one of evolution, one of facelifts, community collaboration and - occasionally - of controversy.

The earliest iteration of the logo was rendered by pseudonymous bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto himself shortly after the software's launch and featured a BC on a gold coin.

Little is known about the original logo, as its creation predated the popular Bitcoin Talk forum.

With his first post on Bitcoin Talk, a still unidentified user going by the handle "Bitboy" forever changed the visual legacy of bitcoin.

Bitboy's comments on Bitcoin Talk suggest the designs were created with something akin to marketing in mind.

The logo's nod to Mastercard hasn't been the only push to define bitcoin as a payment method, and the comparison has since created additional pressure for bitcoin and its developers as the project has had to contend with its scaling limitations.

The appeal of bitboy's designs has also arguably been crucial to the commodification of bitcoin.

A Google search suggests bitcoin merchandise has become a burgeoning industry, with more than 11 million results for the search term "Bitcoin merchandise" and 34 million results for the term "Bitcoin t-shirt."

Speaking to their reasons, the group argues, "As a widely distributed, peer-to-peer digital currency, bitcoin needs an open-source graphic identity, designed with open source software by and for the community."