Blockchain and distributed ledgers have taken the nation by storm; discussed in fortune 100 boardrooms, used in rap lyrics, and asked about at your holiday family gatherings. Somehow, at the same time, we’ve seen failed proof of concepts, dire news of a crashing market, and mass skepticism.

The world is asking where will this all go – will distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency usher in the era of the decentralized internet or an overhyped blip in history?

In order to formulate your own opinion, it’s best to understand how we got here and how distributed ledger technology has quickly evolved since Bitcoin snuck onto the scene in a single forum post in 2008. A look at bitcoin.org in the wayback machine shows a humble site with a world-changing promise:

Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that's completely decentralized, with no central server or trusted parties. Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly with each other, with the help of the network to check for double-spending.

From the origin of Bitcoin as a digital gold, to Vitalik establishing a new development paradigm, distributed ledger technology has begun to enable a fully decentralized world.

Understand the growth of distributed ledgers and how the technology has changed to make new dapps possible in the Evolution of Distributed Ledger Technologies infographic.