Bitcoin BTC

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that lets people send value over the internet without a bank or payment company in the middle. It was described in a 2008 white paper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, and the network went live in January 2009.

Transactions are recorded on a public blockchainBlockchain A shared, append-only record of transactions that many independent computers keep in sync. maintained by thousands of independent computers. New blocks are added through proof of workProof of work A consensus method where miners spend computing power to earn the right to add the next block. miningMining Using specialised computers to secure a proof-of-work blockchain in exchange for new coins and fees., where miners spend electricity competing to add the next block and earn newly created bitcoin plus transaction fees.

The protocol caps total supply at 21 million BTC. The rate at which new coins are created is cut in half roughly every four years in an event known as the halvingHalving The scheduled event, about every four years, when Bitcoin's block reward is cut in half.. That predictable, limited supply is central to why many holders treat bitcoin as a long-term store of value, sometimes called “digital gold.”

Things to understand before you follow bitcoin news: its price is volatile; ownership is controlled by private keysPrivate key A secret number that proves ownership of crypto. Anyone who has it can move the funds., so losing them usually means losing the coins; and most day-to-day buying and selling happens on exchanges, not on the Bitcoin network itself.