Bitcoin

Extracted Attributes

• Sign

  ₿

• Type

  Decentralized cryptocurrency

• Ideology

  Free-market ideology

• Supply Cap

  21 million BTC

• Abbreviation

  BTC

• Smallest Unit

  Satoshi (1/100,000,000 BTC)

• Creator Pseudonym

  Satoshi Nakamoto

• Environmental Impact

  High electricity consumption, estimated 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted since launch

• Underlying Technology

  Blockchain, Peer-to-peer network, Cryptography, Proof-of-work

• Legal Status in El Salvador

  Legal Tender

• Regulatory Body (US Policy)

  SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

• US Crypto Policy Distinction

  Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (for long-hold)

• Regulatory Status (as of 2021)

  Banned in nine countries, implicitly banned in fifteen countries

• Economic Classification by Nobel Laureates

  Economic bubble

Timeline

• White paper 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' published by Satoshi Nakamoto. (Source: DBPedia, Wikipedia, Web Search)

  2008-10-31

• Initial release of open-source implementation (Bitcoin Core 0.1.0); use of Bitcoin as a currency began. (Source: Wikipedia, Web Search)

  2009-01-09

• First recorded real-world transaction: 10,000 BTC exchanged for two pizzas (Bitcoin Pizza Day). (Source: Web Search)

  2010-05-22

• El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia, Summary)

  2021

• Banned by several countries due to regulatory attention on criminal use. (Source: Wikipedia, Summary)

  2021

• Ukraine accepted cryptocurrency donations, including Bitcoin, to fund resistance against Russian invasion. (Source: DBPedia, Summary)

  2022

• Criticism regarding high electricity consumption and environmental impact of Bitcoin mining, contributing to climate change. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia, Summary)

  Ongoing

• Iran used Bitcoin to bypass sanctions. (Source: DBPedia, Summary)

  Ongoing

• Discussion in US crypto policy distinguishing a 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' from other digital assets. (Source: Related Document)

  Ongoing

Bitcoin

Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. Use of bitcoin as a currency began in 2009, with the release of its open-source implementation. In 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender. As bitcoin is pseudonymous, its use by criminals has attracted the attention of regulators, leading to its ban by several countries as of 2021. Bitcoin works through the collaboration of computers, each of which acts as a node in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Each node maintains an independent copy of a public distributed ledger of transactions, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Transactions are validated through the use of cryptography, preventing one person from spending another person's bitcoin, as long as the owner of the bitcoin keeps certain sensitive data secret. Consensus between nodes about the content of the blockchain is achieved using a computationally intensive process based on proof of work, called mining, which is performed by purpose-built computers. Mining consumes large quantities of electricity and has been criticized for its environmental impact.

Web Search Results

• Bitcoin Price, BTC Price, Live Charts, and Marketcap - Coinbase

  Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized digital asset introduced in 2008 by an anonymous creator or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto. It became operational in January 2009, with the goal of allowing individuals to exchange value directly without relying on intermediaries. Bitcoin operates on a peer-to-peer network, with transactions recorded transparently on a distributed ledger called the blockchain. Its supply is capped at 21 million BTC, and it can be divided into smaller units called satoshis [...] Bitcoin was introduced in 2008 by an individual or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto's whitepaper outlined a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that would operate without reliance on centralized authorities. Despite numerous attempts to uncover Nakamoto's true identity, it remains a mystery, emphasizing the decentralized and community-driven ethos of Bitcoin. Nakamoto is estimated to hold around 1 million BTC, but their identity has not been revealed, which further [...] Bitcoin was introduced in 2009, marking a new approach to decentralized systems. The first block, called the genesis block, was mined by its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. This was followed by the first recorded transaction in 2010, when 10,000 BTC were exchanged for two pizzas. Known as "Bitcoin Pizza Day," this event underscores the asset’s practical use over time. Since its inception, Bitcoin has undergone ongoing improvements by contributors to its open-source software, ensuring the system

• Bitcoin - Wikipedia

  Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is the first decentralizedcryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto.( Use of bitcoin as a currency began in 2009,( with the release of its open-source implementation.( ch. 1 In 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender.( As bitcoin is pseudonymous, its use by criminals has attracted the attention of regulators, leading to its ban by [...] Bitcoin works through the collaboration of computers, each of which acts as a node "Node (networking)") in the peer-to-peerbitcoin network. Each node maintains an independent copy of a public distributed ledger of transactions, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Transactions are validated through the use of cryptography, preventing one person from spending another person's bitcoin, as long as the owner of the bitcoin keeps certain sensitive data secret.( ch. 5 [...] (Unicode: U+20BF₿BITCOIN SIGN)( Code BTC Precision 10−8 Subunits 1⁄1000 millibitcoin 1⁄1 000 000 microbitcoin 1⁄100 000 000 satoshi( Development Original author(s)Satoshi Nakamoto White paper"Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" Implementation(s)Bitcoin Core Initial release 0.1.0 / 9 January 2009 (16 years ago)(2009-01-09) Latest release29.0 / 14 April 2025 (3 months ago)(2025-04-14)( Code repository "Repository (version control)")github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin Development status Active

• Investing in cryptocurrency - Investopedia

  Bitcoin is the most well-known digital currency created in January 2009, after the concept was published in a white paper by the mysterious and pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies at large are touted to lower transaction fees when compared to traditional online payment methods, and unlike traditional government-issued currencies, it is operated by a decentralized authority. Learn More: What is Bitcoin? - What is Ethereum? [...] Bitcoin mining is the process of creating new bitcoin by using computers with specialized chips to solve complicated mathematical puzzles. The first so-called miner to solve the puzzle can earn bitcoin rewards by running such programs using systems that use massive amounts of electricity to mine the cryptocurrencies—a process that has come under criticism because the mining process is not considered environmentally friendly. Learn More - Digital currency

• What is Bitcoin? - Coinbase

  - even just a way to explore an emerging technology Bitcoin is a currency native to the Internet. Unlike government-issued currencies such as the dollar or euro, Bitcoin allows online transfers without a middleman such as a bank or payment processor. The removal of those gatekeepers creates a whole range of new possibilities, including the potential for money to move around the global internet more quickly and cheaply, and allowing individuals to have maximum control over their own assets. [...] Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous person or team who outlined the technology in a 2008 white paper. It’s an appealingly simple concept: bitcoin is digital money that allows for secure peer-to-peer transactions on the internet. [...] Unlike credit card networks like Visa and payment processors like Paypal, bitcoin is not owned by an individual or company. Bitcoin is the world’s first completely open payment network which anyone with an internet connection can participate in. Bitcoin was designed to be used on the internet, and doesn’t depend on banks or private companies to process transactions.

• Buy Bitcoin - BTC Price Today, Live Charts and News - Robinhood

  Bitcoin (BTC), launched in 2009, is a cryptocurrency powered by the Bitcoin network—a peer-to-peer network for verifying transactions. That means BTC is borderless, decentralized, and transparent. BTC are "mined" or created through proof-of-work, a way for computers on the Bitcoin network to validate a new block of transactions. But BTC can't be mined forever. In fact, its anonymous creator(s), a person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto, designed BTC to be scarce and deflationary. There can

• Instance Of

  Q7889

Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. The cryptocurrency was invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency began use in 2009, when its implementation was released as open-source software. The word bitcoin was defined in a white paper published on 31 October 2008. It is a compound of the words bit and coin. The legality of bitcoin varies by region. Nine countries have fully banned bitcoin use, while a further fifteen have implicitly banned it. A few governments have used bitcoin in some capacity. El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, although use by merchants remains low. Ukraine has accepted cryptocurrency donations to fund the resistance to the 2022 Russian invasion. Iran has used bitcoin to bypass sanctions. Bitcoin has been described as an economic bubble by at least eight recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The environmental impact of bitcoin is significant. Its proof-of-work algorithm for bitcoin mining is designed to be computationally difficult, which requires the consumption of increasing quantities of electricity, the generation of which has contributed to climate change. According to the University of Cambridge, bitcoin has emitted an estimated 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since its launch.