The New Liberty Standard holds a significant place in the history of cryptocurrencies as it was the world’s first crypto exchange, established in October 2009. At that time, Bitcoin was relatively unknown, and the New Liberty Standard attempted to establish a market value for it based on the cost of electricity used for mining.
The exchange developed a formula that calculated Bitcoin’s value by considering the average electricity cost to run a high CPU computer for a year and the average residential electricity cost in the United States. This calculation became the first formal method for determining Bitcoin’s value in the nascent crypto market.
While the New Liberty Standard played a pioneering role in the early days of cryptocurrency valuation, it eventually faded into obscurity, and its website went offline. The reasons for its decline and cessation of operations are not well-documented, but it paved the way for more sophisticated crypto exchanges and platforms to emerge.
Despite its eventual disappearance, the New Liberty Standard’s contributions to the early crypto space remain a notable part of Bitcoin’s history.