Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Bitcoin was first described in a white paper published by Satoshi Nakamoto in October, 2008. Nakamoto is believed to be a pseudonym for the individual or group responsible for Bitcoin as there is no stamp album of a computer scientist by this herald prior to the start of Bitcoin in 2009.
At the time, Satoshi claimed to be a 37 year-old man flourishing in Tokyo, Japan. The translation of his say offers interesting insights: satoshi means “clear-thinking” or “wise,” naka means “inside” or “relationship,” and moto means “the origin” or “the foundation.” Taken together, it could be translated as “thinking usefully inside the foundation.”
Satoshi continued to update the Bitcoin source code until 2010 and wrote hundreds of blog posts in flawless English totalling 80,000 words, roughly by the side of a novel. Satoshis’ first read out used American spellings, however, every subsequent name used British spellings and colloquialisms. His writing timestamps don’t dwindling to any particular mature zone.
On the 23rd of April, 2011, Satoshi disappeared from the Internet, telling a developer in an email that he has « moved onto other things. » Whoever Satoshi is, he is considered a polymath who possesses extensive knowledge with exaltation to computer programming, economics, cryptography, and peer-to-peer networking.
Bitcoin was born during the 2008 Financial Crisis. To commemorate this moment in time, Satoshi embedded a Times of London newspaper headline into the metadata of the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain, known as the Genesis Block. It reads: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor upon brink of second bailout for banks.”
Token
Bitcoin (with a lowercase “b”) or BTC is the digital asset token of the Bitcoin network (Bitcoin taking into consideration a capital “B”). All BTC balances and transactions are recorded upon the Bitcoin blockchain. The smallest subunit of BTC is the “satoshi,” which is named after Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. One satoshi is equal to 10-8 BTC or one hundred-millionth of a BTC (0.00000001 bitcoin). Bitcoin can be bought and sold for fiat currency or extra digital currencies.
Bitcoin can be purchased upon a cryptocurrency quarrel and stored in a crypto billfold and custodian subsequently Gemini.
Supply
The supply of bitcoin is deterministic and complete at 21 million BTC. The supply schedule is embedded in the Bitcoin protocol.
Bitcoin Mining
Satoshi’s major breakthrough was solving the The Byzantine Generals’ Problem. The Bitcoin mining algorithm that Satoshi proposed in the Bitcoin white paper demonstrated how a network of computers on the world could accomplish consensus subsequently each extra and agree on something, even if certain computers were bad actors upon the network aggravating to confuse the others.
This consensus mechanism allows the Bitcoin network to agree upon which bitcoin transactions are valid, thereby solving the “double-spend” problem and ensuring that one bitcoin isn’t spent higher than once by the same person. As a result, it safeguards the integrity of the Bitcoin blockchain, a sticker album of all bitcoin balances and transactions, without the infatuation for a trusted third party.
Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism uses a proof of work algorithm. Specifically, miners must solve math puzzles using the SHA-256 hash algorithm of the Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (SHA-2) family. By committing computational capability towards solving the Bitcoin mining algorithm, miners audit and announce the transactions of the Bitcoin network. The more computer faculty a miner brings to bear on the Bitcoin network, the more likely she or he is to solve the proof of produce an effect algorithm and win the bitcoin that the network rewards to the miner who writes the newest block to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Characteristics
Bitcoin is often called “digital gold” because its traits next to resemble those of gold. In 2015, a U.S. Federal consider concluded in the Coinflip, Inc. order that bitcoin was legally a “commodity” under the Commodities and Exchange Act.
The behind table offers a comparison surrounded by bitcoin and gold:
Bitcoin Halving or Halvening
The supply schedule of bitcoin is deflationary. This schedule — embedded in the Bitcoin protocol — dictates that every time a miner successfully writes a additional block to the blockchain (i.e., solves the proof of put on an act puzzle), that miner shall get a set number of bitcoin called the « block reward. » The Bitcoin protocol sets and adjusts the mining difficulty so that miners will be competent to win the block recompense roughly every 10 minutes. The block return is how all new bitcoin are issued or minted, and how whatever bitcoin in circulation have come into existence.
Every 210,000 blocks — roughly every 4 years — the block compensation is reduced by half, an concern often referred to as the « the halvening » or “the halving.” When Bitcoin launched in 2009, the initial block recompense was 50 bitcoin. On November 25, 2012, the first halvening occured, halving the block recompense from 50 to 25 bitcoin. On July 10, 2016, the second halvening occured, halving the block reward from 25 to 12.5 bitcoin. The third halvening is time-honored to happen in May, 2020 and will edit the block reward from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoin.
The block reward will continue to undergo halvings until it reaches 0. This is estimated to happen sometime in the year 2140. At this reduction in time, there will be a total of 21 million bitcoin in circulation.
BITCOIN SUPPLY SCHEDULE
Total Supply
21 million by 2140 (approx.)
Block Reward
Every 10 minutes (approx.)
Halving event
Every 4 years (aprrox.) Every 210,000 blocks until total supply reaches 21 million (fixed).
HODL, HODLing, and HODLers
HODL is a slang in the crypto broadcast that refers to the achievement of buying and holding bitcoin. The etymology of the term can be traced back up to a misspelling of the word “hold” in a publication posted to Bitcointalk’s Bitcoin Forum in 2013 and titled I AM HODLING. Some, however, have incorrectly assumed that the word is an acronym for the phrase “hold on for dear life.”
HODL has become a prominent internet meme and rallying cry for the Bitcoin community, especially during become old of tall volatility and large price declines. Those who HODL are called HODLers and are said to be HODLing. The basic principle astern HODLing is to take a long term buy and preserve view towards bitcoin as contrary to a short-term one that involves trading in and out of bitcoin upon a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. HODLING avoids having to correctly mature trades gone the spread around and react to price volatility, which can consequences in buying tall or selling low. It does, however, require mighty conviction and resolve during make public downturns.
HOLDING may also repercussion in tax abet related to capital asset treatment per IRS Virtual Currency Guidance (Please Note: nothing contained herein should be considered or construed as tax advice of any kind. This content is provided for suggestion purposes only).
The HODL strategy appeals to Bitcoin maximalists who acknowledge that bitcoin may ultimately replace fiat currencies. It along with an important component of “stacking sats,” #stackingsats, or “stacking satoshis,” a popular investment strategy based upon the premise that accumulating even small amounts of bitcoin (a satoshi is the smallest subunit) over epoch will prove to be a valuable investment in the long manage if bitcoin goes “to the moon!” — a popular sky metaphor and trope used by bitcoiners to describe bitcoin price appreciation.
The Bitcoin Pizza and Bitcoin Pizza Day
The bitcoin pizza refers to the first epoch bitcoin was used to buy a real good. On May 22, 2010, a programmer in Florida named Laslo Hanyecz (now referred to as the “Bitcoin Pizza Guy”) purchased two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin; a day now referred to as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Initially, Laslo posted a statement titled « Pizza for bitcoins? » on Bitcointalk’s Bitcoin Forum. An 18-year obsolescent named Jeremy Studivant responded below the handle “Jercos” and the two forward-thinking consummated the transaction more than Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Afterwards, Hanyecz exclaimed: « I just want to bank account that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza. Thanks jercos! »
Lalso paid for the two pizzas using bitcoin that he mined once his personal computer. At the time, the bitcoin that exchanged hands was valued at approximately $30 dollars. Since then, the value of that thesame amount of bitcoin has grown exponentially (worth over $90 million dollars as of May 22, 2020), making this the most costly pizza ever purchased in the world. Every year upon May 22, the Bitcoin community commemorates Bitcoin Pizza Day. This historical day highlights the deflationary birds of bitcoin and its deposit of value properties.
