$BTC

Bitcoin (Bitcoin, from English bit - the unit of information "bit" and coin - currency) - a decentralized payment system to conduct transactions with the eponymous currency, also called digital currency, virtual currency, or cryptocurrency. The concept of the system was published in November 2008 on the internet by its author (possibly a collective of authors) under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoins have no physical form and are stored in an "electronic wallet". Data about users' accounts and the transactions of exchanging bitcoins among them are stored in a system based on distributed database technology called blockchain. The functioning of the system is maintained by users and volunteers who run its application on their computers.

The Bitcoin system operates without a regulatory entity. The only source of issuance of the virtual currency is its "mining" (from English mining) by users who run applications: by using the resources of their computers, they automatically receive a small volume of bitcoins. The monetary mass in the system is limited - currently, about 19.8 million bitcoins are in circulation, and the algorithm for the system's operation is programmed.