Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency.
It was created in 2009 by an anonymous programmer, or group of programmers, under the name Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money. It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. From a user perspective, Bitcoin is pretty much like cash for the Internet. You can use it to pay online and in physical stores just as you would with cash.
Bitcoin is often called the first cryptocurrency, although prior systems existed and it’s more accurate to call it the first decentralized digital currency.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 by a mysterious figure using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning no banks! There are no transaction fees and no need to give your real name. More merchants are beginning to accept them: You can buy web hosting services, pizza, play casino or even manicures.
An entire ecosystem has evolved around Bitcoin, including exchanges where you can trade dollars for bitcoins, mining pools where you can earn bitcoins by contributing your computer’s processing power to solving complex mathematical problems and buying and selling websites like Reddit Gold that offer special features and discounts for Bitcoins.
As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants accept bitcoin as payment.
Research produced by University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017 there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.
The word bitcoin first occurred and was defined in the white paper that was published on 31 October 2008. It is a compound formed from two words: bit and coin.
In parts of the world including China, where it has been prohibited by the government due to concerns about financial crimes