Bitcoin
The first decentralised cryptocurrency, secured by cryptography and consensus rules. Operates without any central authority since 2009.
Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency invented by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto and launched in 2009. It is the first practical solution to the problem of digital money without a trusted central authority, using a public blockchain ledger maintained by thousands of independent computers worldwide.
Bitcoin transactions are validated by miners who compete to solve cryptographic puzzles (proof of work), with the winner adding the next block of transactions to the chain and receiving newly minted bitcoin plus transaction fees. The total supply is permanently capped at 21 million bitcoin.
Bitcoin is used as a store of value, hedge against currency depreciation in unstable economies, and increasingly as an institutional asset. It is volatile, energy-intensive, and pseudonymous rather than truly anonymous.