Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public dispersed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.
How does Bitcoin work?
Bitcoin is one of the first digital currencies to use peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments. The independent individuals and companies who own the governing computing power and participate in the Bitcoin network, also known as "miners," are motivated by rewards (the release of new bitcoin) and transaction fees paid in bitcoin.
Bitcoin is created when a miner finds a block rewards are given in proportion to the computational power of each miner. Miners keep the blockchain consistent, complete, and unalterable by repeatedly verifying and collecting newly broadcast transactions into a new group of transactions called a block. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data.
Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.
What are Bitcoin's characteristics?
Decentralization
Bitcoin is decentralized-meaning it's not subject to control by a single party.
Anonymity
Bitcoin is pseudonymous, meaning that funds are not tied to real-world entities but rather bitcoin addresses.
Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public dispersed ledger called a blockchain.
Security
Bitcoin is secure because cryptography is used to secure the transactions and to control the creation of new units.
Pseudonymity
Bitcoin is pseudonymous, meaning that funds are not tied to real-world entities but rather bitcoin addresses.
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