He was prophesied "death" more than 400 times, tried to ban him, called "joke" and "gold of fools". However, the skeptics' predictions did not come true and bitcoin is still with us.
Hundreds of billions of dollars of capitalization, millions of users and active adoption — over the relatively short period of its existence, bitcoin attracts more and more supporters.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin (from the English bit - the minimum unit of information and coin - coin) is a decentralized payment system based on the principle of direct exchange between users.
The technology is built on an open data transmission protocol. The system uses the unit of account of the same name "bitcoin" (BTC) - the first and most famous cryptocurrency. Since its inception, it remains the largest by market capitalization.
How Bitcoin Works
All transactions in the Bitcoin network are recorded on the blockchain. Its copy is stored in the full node. The data is regularly checked using the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm.
The issuance of coins and the processing of transactions are carried out collectively by network participants. No one alone can control bitcoin, block or cancel a transaction. At the same time, anyone can join the network or use it for transfers.
Bitcoin is said to be anonymous. Is that true?
This is another common mistake. Rather, we can talk about pseudo-anonymity. The movement of funds and the current balance of the address can be seen by anyone, but it is quite difficult to say who they belong to.
However, it is possible to track the sender's IP address even if it is not stored in the blockchain. For example, such information is available to the server owners of some wallet providers.
Bitcoin is about financial freedom about technology development about the future .