Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency—money that lives on the internet and isn’t issued or controlled by any single company or government. It runs on a public ledger called a blockchain, maintained by a global network of computers.
Key points:
- Purpose: Send and store value directly between people anywhere in the world without a bank.
- How it works: Transactions are grouped into blocks and added to the blockchain by “miners” using proof-of-work. Many independent nodes verify the rules.
- Supply: Capped at 21 million bitcoins. New coins enter circulation as block rewards that halve about every 4 years.
- Ownership: You control coins with a private key. A wallet manages these keys and lets you send/receive to addresses. Transactions are irreversible.
- Transparency and privacy: The ledger is public (anyone can see transactions), but identities are pseudonymous unless linked to you.
- Pros often cited: Scarcity, censorship resistance, borderless transfer, no single point of failure.
- Trade-offs/risks: Large price volatility, potential loss if keys are mishandled, transaction fees and confirmation times vary, energy-intensive mining, and differing regulations/taxes by country.
- Origins: Proposed in 2008 and launched in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.
People use bitcoin as a store of value, for payments/remittances, or as a speculative i*********.
Feb 16 2026, 15:20Mark