There were no exchanges before 2010. In late 2009, the most visible seller was NewLibertyStandard[1], who had a unique pricing methodology[2]. You could buy r

There were no exchanges before 2010. In late 2009, the most visible seller was NewLibertyStandard[1], who had a unique pricing methodology[2]. You could buy roughly a thousand bitcoins for $1. This was widely considered overcharging. [1]: http://newlibertystandard.wetpaint.com/page/2009+Exchange+Rate http://newlibertystandard.wetpaint.com/page/2009+Exchange+Ra... [2]: "During 2009 my exchange rate was calculated by dividing $1.00 by the average amount of electricity required to run a computer with high CPU for a year, 1331.5 kWh, multiplied by the the average residential cost of electricity in the United States for the previous year, $0.1136, divided by 12 months divided by the number of bitcoins generated by my computer over the past 30 days."