$BTC Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency, meaning that all transactions occur directly between equal and independent parties in the network without the need for any intermediary. Bitcoin was created, in Nakamoto's own words, to allow "online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution."

While there were some similar concepts to decentralized digital currencies that preceded Bitcoin (BTC), what distinguishes Bitcoin is that it is the first cryptocurrency ever to enter practical use.

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