WHAT IS BITCOIN?
As its inventor Satoshi Nakamoto described it, bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. It is a decentralized digital currency without a central administrator, bank or controlling authority. It can be sent or received on an international peer-to-peer network without the need for middlemen or intermediaries.
It is denoted by the symbol BTC, and the bitcoin value is the highest of any cryptocurrency in the world. However, it’s important to understand bitcoin isn’t just a form of currency; it is a payment system that allows users to send verifiable payments to each other electronically and in a secure manner, without the presence of a central authority. All transactions are stored in a public ledger called the “blockchain” which contains all transactions ever processed on the bitcoin network.
Released as open-source software in 2009, Bitcoin is often credited as the world’s first cryptocurrency and is best defined as a digital currency that only exists electronically. Bitcoin is decentralized, meaning it doesn’t have a central issuing authority or political institution that controls the amount of bitcoin in circulation. But the Bitcoin platform is far from anarchy.