What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency, created in 2008 by an anonymous person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto (you can find Bitcoin's white-paper at the bottom of this page).
It operates on a peer-to-peer network, allowing users to send and receive payments without intermediaries like banks. Transactions are recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, secured by cryptography and maintained by a network of computers (nodes). Bitcoin's key features include a fixed supply cap of 21 million coins, transparency, and resistance to censorship or control by any central authority.
Bitcoin is mainly used as a store of value today, but is also growing as a medium of exchange worldwide.
Bitcoin's History
Let's go back in time and start in October 31st 2008, when someone going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto publishes Bitcoin's white paper. See more
Digital Ownership: Blockchain
How do you own something that isn't physical? Learn what the Bitcoin blockchain is, how it is decentralised and how it stays temper-proof. See more
Bitcoin Wallet
What is a Bitcoin wallet?
Learn about private and public keys as well as UTXO's. See more
Bitcoin Mining
Learn how Bitcoin mining works, how it secures the network and how cheating is prevented. See more
Store of Value (SoV)
Learn what is a Store of Value, how Bitcoin fits the definition and how it compares to Gold. See more
Medium of Exchange (MoE)
What are the characteristics of a medium of exchange and how Bitcoin is used as one.
See more
The Lightning Network
The Lightning Network is a second layer solution for Bitcoin. Learn why Lightning is important for Bitcoin and how it works.
See more
Satoshi published the white paper for Bitcoin in October 2008:
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Abstract.
A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work. The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they'll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers. The
network itself requires minimal structure. Messages are broadcast on a best effort basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will, accepting the longest proof-of-work chain as proof of what happened while they were gone.
Download the full version here