BITCOIN
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and
worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital
currency, as the system works without a central bank or
single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and
transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary. These
transactions are verified by network nodes through
the use of cryptography and recorded in a
public distributed ledger called a blockchain.
Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the
name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be
exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015,
over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Research produced by the University of
Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there are 2.9 to 5.8 million unique
users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.
Units
The unit of account of the
bitcoin system is bitcoin. Ticker
symbols used to represent bitcoin are BTC and XBT. Its Unicode character
is Small amounts of bitcoin used as alternative units are millibitcoin (mBTC),
bit (ƀ) and satoshi (sat). Named in homage to bitcoin's creator, a satoshi is
the smallest amount within bitcoin representing 0.00000001 bitcoins, one
hundred millionth of a bitcoin. A bit equals 0.000001
bitcoins, one millionth of a bitcoin or 100 satoshis. A millibitcoin equals
0.001 bitcoins, one thousandth of a bitcoin or 100,000 satoshis.
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