What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was introduced through a 2008 whitepaper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” It was designed to allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.

The network is maintained by a distributed group of computers, called nodes, that collectively verify and record every transaction on a public ledger known as the blockchain. No single entity controls this ledger, which means no government or company can unilaterally freeze accounts, reverse transactions, or print additional units beyond the protocol’s defined rules.

Bitcoin has a fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins, a cap hardcoded into its protocol. New bitcoins are created through a process called mining, in which computers compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles. The rate at which new bitcoins are issued is reduced roughly every four years in an event called the halving.

• Ticker symbol: BTC
• Launched: January 2009
• Consensus mechanism: Proof of Work
• Maximum supply: 21 million BTC

Bitcoin transactions are pseudonymous rather than anonymous. Every transaction is permanently recorded on the public blockchain, meaning the flow of funds can be traced, though wallet addresses are not inherently linked to real-world identities without additional information.

As the oldest and most widely recognized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is often used as a benchmark for the broader digital asset market.