Pseudonymous individual who published the first known Bitcoin-to-US-dollar exchange rate on October 5, 2009 ($1 = 1,309.03 BTC), based on electricity cost of mining. Conducted the first known bitcoin-to-fiat transaction with Martti Malmi and proposed the BTC ticker symbol.
NewLibertyStandard is a pseudonymous individual whose real-world identity has never been publicly revealed. They are BitcoinTalk user #26 (registered January 19, 2010) and were active on the forum until December 2012. They are known for creating the first Bitcoin exchange rate, conducting the first bitcoin-for-fiat transaction, and proposing the BTC ticker symbol.
First Bitcoin Exchange Rate: On October 5, 2009, NewLibertyStandard published the first known Bitcoin-to-US-dollar exchange rate: $1.00 = 1,309.03 BTC (approximately $0.00076 per bitcoin). The rate was calculated using a cost-of-production formula based on the electricity required to mine Bitcoin. As described in BitcoinTalk thread #42: the formula divided the average annual electricity cost of running a computer at high CPU by 12 months and by the number of bitcoins mined over the preceding 30 days. This was the first time Bitcoin was assigned a dollar-denominated price.
First Bitcoin-to-Fiat Transaction: On October 12, 2009, Finnish developer Martti Malmi sold 5,050 BTC to NewLibertyStandard for $5.02 via PayPal. This is widely recognized as the first known exchange of bitcoin for fiat currency, establishing Bitcoin as an economic good with real-world monetary value.
New Liberty Standard Exchange: NewLibertyStandard operated a website (newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com) that offered to buy and sell bitcoins for US dollars via PayPal. It was not a traditional exchange with a matching order book; rather, NewLibertyStandard set a fixed price and manually processed trades. It was the earliest known bitcoin trading service.
BTC Ticker Proposal: On February 5, 2010, NewLibertyStandard posted on BitcoinTalk (thread #41) proposing the adoption of the Thai baht symbol (฿) and the three-letter currency code “BTC” for Bitcoin. While the symbol was debated, the BTC ticker code became the universally adopted standard.
Acknowledged by Satoshi: In the Bitcoin 0.2 release announcement (December 2009), Satoshi Nakamoto wrote: “Many thanks to Martti (sirius-m) for all his development work, and to New Liberty Standard for his help with testing the Linux version.” This acknowledgment places NewLibertyStandard among the small group of individuals personally recognized by Satoshi for their contributions.
3 entries
NewLibertyStandard published the first-ever exchange rate for Bitcoin: $1 = 1,309.03 BTC ($0.000764 per BTC). The rate was calculated based on the electricity cost required to mine Bitcoin — a rudimentary but historically significant first attempt to assign monetary value to Bitcoin.
Martti Malmi sold 5,050 BTC to NewLibertyStandard for $5.02 via PayPal — the first known exchange of Bitcoin for fiat currency. The transaction established a real-world price of approximately $0.001 per BTC.
NewLibertyStandard proposed adopting the Thai baht currency symbol (฿) as Bitcoin's official symbol and 'BTC' as the three-letter currency code. This proposal on BitcoinTalk established the currency notation still used today.