Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin: a closer look

What Bitcoin is

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency. It was described in a 2008 white paper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto and launched in January 2009. Bitcoin has no issuer or central operator: the rules are enforced by thousands of independent nodes, and the supply is capped at 21 million coins.

How Bitcoin works

The network uses Proof of Work with the SHA-256 algorithm: miners compete to add a new block roughly every 10 minutes and receive newly issued coins plus fees. Every 210,000 blocks (about four years) the block reward is cut in half, which slows issuance until the 21 million cap is reached. Balances are tracked as unspent transaction outputs (UTXO).

What Bitcoin is for

Bitcoin is mostly held as a long-term store of value and used as the base asset of the crypto market: most trading pairs, indices and derivatives are priced against it. It is also used for cross-border transfers and, through the Lightning Network, for small fast payments.

Sending BTC

Bitcoin addresses start with 1, 3 or bc1. The fee depends on how busy the network is, not on the amount you send, so wallets let you pick a faster or cheaper fee. A payment is usually treated as final after several confirmations; each new block adds one, so a transfer takes from about 10 minutes to an hour.

Where to keep Bitcoin

For long-term holdings a hardware wallet is the safest option, because the keys never leave the device. For everyday use there are mobile and desktop non-custodial wallets. Write down the recovery phrase on paper and never share it: whoever has the phrase controls the coins.

What to keep in mind

The price can move by tens of percent within weeks. Transactions are irreversible, so a mistyped address or wrong network means the funds are lost. Fees rise sharply during periods of high demand, which makes small transfers relatively expensive.