What is Bitcoin? (Short explanation and background)

Hello dear blog readers,

In this article I would like to give you a short explanation about Bitcoin, for all of you who have just heard the name before, but have not really dealt with the topic yet.

Bitcoin is a decentralized, digital currency that only exists in digital form. So there are no paper notes as with traditional currencies that are issued by states. This results in some advantages such as these can be easily, quickly and cheaply shipped worldwide, for example.

There is thus no central entity such as e.g. a central bank that has the right to draw money or bitcoins. In the Bitcoin network, this task is carried out by the miners, who can mine a maximum of 21 million bitcoins.

Bitcoin is therefore a limited means of payment and can not be inflated. Nevertheless, bitcoins are extremely fungible, as they divide into 100 million units (Satoshis). This results in a total of 2.1 quadrillion Bitcoin units (Satoshis). Currently, almost 17.3 million Bitcoins are already in circulation, of which 4 million have already been irrevocably destroyed (due to the loss of the Private Key).

Bitcoin was first mentioned in 2008 in a document by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, who is now considered the inventor of Bitcoin. So far it is unclear who hides behind this pseudonym.

The current Bitcoin course on the various exchanges and how many Bitcoins are currently in circulation, you can look at Coinmarketcap.com: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

Best regards and hear you in my next article.

Michael Thomale - @michael.thomale