In the previous chapter, we explored how mining developed during the second half of 2010. By fall, this advancement was well established. However, mining was not the only aspect of Bitcoin that found success: its ecosystem did.

Here, we will first address the beginning of Bitcoin's international exportation with the development of the Russian and French communities. We will then discuss improvements in communication and economic growth, which notably led to a new increase in the unit price of bitcoin. Finally, we will mention two symbolic events preceding Satoshi's departure: the Electronic Frontier Foundation's acceptance of Bitcoin and Hal Finney's return.

Bitcoin is an international project and, as such, must be accessible to as many people as possible outside the English-speaking sphere. This is why the community started to coordinate in May 2010 to translate the website and the software's graphical interface into several languages. Italian, German, and Dutch were notably included.

But that's not all. Martti Malmi began setting up sub-forums dedicated to non-English speakers at the end of July. The Russian community was the first to form: following a request from a certain bitcoinex, the dedicated sub-forum was created on July 28. Then, discussion threads dedicated to other linguistic communities were created: Italian, Dutch, Japanese, and Catalan in August; Spanish in September; and finally German in October. However, no group matched the Russian community, and only a few messages were exchanged.

It was with the French community that things changed, notably through the actions of one individual: Lucien Grondin, also known under the pseudonym Grondilu. On September 26, he discovered Bitcoin and was immediately enthusiastic about the project. Late in the evening, he wrote on IRC:

A few days later, on the 30th, he published a news release in French on LinuxFr.org (DLFP). This release, titled "Do you know about bitcoins?", is probably the first presentation of Bitcoin written in the language of Molière. The article reached a large number of people, generating nearly 350 comments. Here is the first paragraph as it appeared at that time:

In particular, this dispatch draws the attention of a certain Ploum, real name Lionel Dricot, a 29-year-old Belgian blogger and free software advocate. On October 25, he published an article on his blog, titled "Geek Currency, Monkey Money?", in which he advocates for decentralization and supports the principle of Bitcoin. Many French-speaking internet users heard about Bitcoin through this means, including Amaury Séchet, the developer who would go on to create Bitcoin Cash in 2017.

Lionel Dricot (Ploum) in 2012, then a candidate under the banner of the Pirate Party for the Belgian communal and provincial elections (source: Framablog)

On the same day, Ploum opened the discussion thread "French" on the Bitcoin forum. Messages from French-speaking forum members increased over the following months. Notably, David François (davout), registered on October 17 and future founder of Bitcoin-Central, and Mark Karpelès (MagicalTux), registered on November 7 and future owner of the Mt. Gox platform, participated. It also saw the involvement of a certain Jean-Luc who would open the site Bitcoin.fr on December 23 and begin to promote it in January. A French sub-forum would eventually be created by Martti Malmi on February 1, 2011.

In addition to the development of linguistic communities, there is a certain innovation in the methods used for communication about Bitcoin. On October 4th, a 38-year-old Australian using the pseudonym noagendamarket launched an initiative named BitcoinMedia. Promoting Bitcoin by creating content and advertising it in places likely to attract an audience is the idea. Although this initiative did not meet the expected success, it has the merit of leading to the production of the first videos talking about Bitcoin. The first video of the channel, published on October 5th, is a Google Search Story, created using the YouTube tool (see the screenshot below). The other videos will be generated with Xtranormal, an easy tool for creating video sequences from a set of pre-designed characters and settings.

Blog posts about Bitcoin are proliferating during this period. This is notably the case for Jon Matonis, who runs the blog The Monetary Future where he discusses digital currencies, free banking, and cryptography. He discovered Bitcoin in March and exchanged with Satoshi, after which he started writing on the subject. In October, he publishes a third article where he talks about the price increase and details the novelties of the ecosystem.

Profile picture of Jon Matonis in 2011 (source: Forbes)

At this time, a new Bitcoin logo has also been proposed. On November 1st, a forum member using the pseudonym bitboy published graphic elements to highlight the cryptocurrency. One of these elements is an orange logo with the B crossed out and slightly tilted:

This period is also marked by a remarkable growth of the ecosystem at the economic level. During the fall of 2010, platforms like Mt. Gox, Bitcoin Market, and others existed, but that was not enough. This is how over-the-counter exchanges start to multiply. Besides the exchanges done through private messages on the forum, a slightly more rigorous system is implemented: #bitcoin-otc. It is an IRC channel on Freenode opened by a user going by the name nanotube on October 18. The order book is hosted on the associated website and exchanges take place directly between the parties, without an escrow deposit, through various payment methods (PayPal, Liberty Reserve). The number of services accepting bitcoin also increases, even if it remains relatively low, as attested by the listing page of the official site. All these elements lead to the price increasing drastically. While it has stabilized around 6¢ since August, it begins to rise at the beginning of October. It goes to 10¢, reaching 20¢ at the end of the month. On November 6, it surpasses 50¢, which does not fail to excite the forum members.

BTC Price between July 18 and October 18, 2010, on Mt. Gox (source: The Monetary Future)

The rise of Bitcoin means that things start to be measured, whether in terms of price, activity on the chain, or mining. Everyone knows the ecosystem is experiencing some growth, but no one knows how to estimate it correctly. That's why services emerged during the second half of the year 2010 and at the beginning of 2011, among which the main ones are:

One last element indicating Bitcoin's success is that some sought to test its limits. Individuals amused themselves between November 15 and 26 by creating a flood of transactions, numbering in the thousands daily. This exceptional activity was reported on the 19th by Jeff Garzik. It forced Satoshi to implement measures, by restoring the transaction fee interface and adding limits on free transactions.

A key event at the end of 2010 is the acceptance of bitcoin by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an international organization for the protection of internet freedoms, co-founded in 1990 by Mitch Kapor, John Gilmore, and John Perry Barlow. This organization is dear to the heart of the first Bitcoin adherents, cypherpunks at heart. They are thus keen for it to accept bitcoin.

It was the forum member named Kiba who took the initiative on August 13, 2010, by proposing to contact the EFF and suggest they accept a donation, collected from the community. For this purpose, he set up an account on MyBitcoin where he gathered the funds and wished to transfer access to the EFF. He drafted an email (corrected by the community) that he sent at the end of August.

A second forum member came to his aid two weeks later, without a response. Using the pseudonym BrightAnarchist, this member knew one of the founders and emailed them on September 13. He received a reply the same day and wrote on the forum that "The EFF is definitely interested in receiving Bitcoins!" The account was then passed on to the organization.

The EFF took some time to start accepting public donations. After negotiation, the community convinced them to publish a donation address on their website. On November 9, the address appeared on the donation page. Bitcoin users began transferring funds.

A few days later, a post was written on the subject by the blogger jimbobway, which drew attention to Bitcoin. This article was shared on HackerNews. It was also transcribed into video by BitcoinMedia using Xtranormal:

This is very good news for Bitcoin as both initiatives share common values. Moreover, the EFF is renowned for providing legal protection to privacy preservation and data sharing projects like Tor and BitTorrent. Satoshi Nakamoto himself is aware of this and is particularly supportive of the organization's actions, as shown in his comment made in one of his emails addressed to Gavin Andresen on January 6, 2011:

After stepping away from Bitcoin in April 2009, Hal Finney quickly learned that he had been diagnosed with ALS, the diagnosis being made in August 2009. He adapts his way of living accordingly, but his motor skills gradually diminish.

On November 30, he signs up on the Bitcoin forum and begins participating in discussions, notably one concerning the BitDNS project. He does not hesitate to donate to various projects flourishing in the ecosystem.

Moreover, he studies the code, which he has not looked at since the launch, and realizes all the work that has been done. This realization prompts him to write the following comment on the forum on December 11:

Two hours later, Satoshi replies:

This was then the penultimate public message from the creator of Bitcoin, who would disappear a few months later.

During the fall of 2010, the ecosystem surrounding Bitcoin evolved significantly. Communication improved, and the economy developed. At that time, Bitcoin seemed ready to take off on its own. It was precisely during this period that Satoshi chose to disappear and leave the reins of the project to the community.