Q1: Development Indicators In July 2010, the first major touchpoint for Bitcoin appeared on a technology site called Slashdot. This posting about "version 0.3" was followed by large influxes of new users signed onto the Bitcoin network in rapid succession. By late 2010, PC World had explored Bitcoin as a means of P2P payment, while Wired and Forbes began publishing in-depth articles in 2011 and on the rise of prices and the first of many significant price fluctuations saw the focus shift from technical to speculation based upon the supply cap of 21 million coins. Q2: With the media now viewing Bitcoin as an investment, it became easier for editorial teams to tell their stories in terms of Bitcoin as digital gold than to describe the cryptographic hash process for creating Bitcoins-thus creating an easier narrative for readers. When the exchange rate spiked in 2011, media began viewing and theorizing about Bitcoin-as a commodity-based upon its price fluctuation patterns mirroring functionality similar to commodities in the physical world rather than those of software programs. Looking back at this narrative provides clear examples of how investments were born shortly after the market began pricing such a limited amount of a fixed protocol. If you are using these historic examples to build out an enterprise system today, remember, broadly speaking, the most successful technology examples are those that have established a clear, simplified model in the minds of the general public users.
Bitcoin's earliest governance took place in backwater tech forums, rather than the headlines. One of the earliest influential articles ran on the website Slashdot in July 2010. Developers were drooling over this, and so were the early adopters. Traditional channels didn't start to notice the growth in the currency until early 2011. The first articles were published in Forbes and Time Magazine in April 2011. Those stories popularized the digital asset among a wider circle of investors. Trade journals quickly ran their own deep dives. Bitcoin Magazine was established as a legitimate news outlet in 2012. And then some of the largest networks would start covering crypto as part of their routine reporting: CNBC, among others.