Cryptocurrency bitcoin
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Bitcoin
"₿" redirects here. It is not to be confused with "฿" for Thai baht.
Bitcoin (₿) is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system.[9]:3 It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator.[9]:1[10] The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary.[9]:4 These transactions are verified by network nodes through the use of cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto[11] and released as open-source software in 2009.[12]
Bitcoin
Prevailing bitcoin logo
Prevailing bitcoin logo
Denominations
Plural
bitcoins
Symbol
₿[a]
Ticker symbol
BTC, XBT[b]
Subunits
1⁄1000
millibitcoin[1]
1⁄100000000
satoshi[3]
Coins
Unspent outputs of transactions (in multiples of a satoshi)[4]:ch. 5
Development
Original author(s)
Satoshi Nakamoto
White paper
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System[5]
Implementation(s)
Bitcoin Core
Initial release
0.1.0 / 9 January 2009 (9 years ago)
Latest release
0.16.0 / 26 February 2018 (2 months ago)
Website
bitcoin.org
Ledger
Ledger start
3 January 2009 (9 years ago)
Timestamping scheme
Proof-of-work (partial hash inversion)
Hash function
SHA-256
Issuance
Decentralized (block reward)[6][7]
Block reward
₿12.5[c]
Block time
10 minutes
Block explorer
blockchain.info
Circulating supply
₿16,858,762 (as of 11 February 2018)
Supply limit
₿21,000,000
Valuation
Exchange rate
Increase US$8,812 (as of 25 April 2018)[8]
Market cap
Increase US$149.6 billion (as of 25 April 2018)[8]
The symbol was encoded in Unicode version 10.0 at position U+20BF ₿ BITCOIN SIGN in the Currency Symbols block in June 2017.[2]
Compatible with ISO 4217.
July 2016 to approximately June 2020, halved approximately every four years
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies,[13] products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.[14] Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.[15]
Etymology
History
Design
Economics
Legal status, tax and regulation
Energy consumption
Criminal activity
In popular culture
See also
Notes
References
External links
Last edited 18 hours ago by Blue Matt
RELATED ARTICLES
Bitcoin network
peer-to-peer payment network that operates on a cryptographic protocol
History of bitcoin
Bitcoin Core
Cryptocurrency wallet software
Wikipedia
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