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 held responsible for Bitcoin as there is no tape of a computer scientist by this proclaim prior to the launch of Bitcoin in 2009.
At the time, Satoshi claimed to be a 37 year-old man animate in Tokyo, Japan. The translation of his make known offers charming 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 suitably 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 all along a novel. Satoshis’ first pronounce used American spellings, however, every subsequent broadcast used British spellings and colloquialisms. His writing timestamps don’t narrowing to any particular era zone.
On the 23rd of April, 2011, Satoshi disappeared from the Internet, telling a developer in an email that he has « moved onto supplementary things. » Whoever Satoshi is, he is considered a polymath who possesses extensive knowledge with worship 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 on brink of second bailout for banks.”
Token
Bitcoin (with a lowercase “b”) or BTC is the digital asset token of the Bitcoin network (Bitcoin as soon as a capital “B”). All BTC balances and transactions are recorded on 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 other digital currencies.
Bitcoin can be purchased on a cryptocurrency quarrel and stored in a crypto wallet and custodian behind Gemini.
Supply
The supply of bitcoin is deterministic and resolved 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 subject of the world could attain consensus in the publicize of each supplementary and agree upon something, even if Definite computers were bad actors on the network aggravating to confuse the others.
This consensus mechanism allows the Bitcoin network to agree on which bitcoin transactions are valid, thereby solving the “double-spend” problem and ensuring that one bitcoin isn’t spent beyond once by the thesame person. As a result, it safeguards the integrity of the Bitcoin blockchain, a baby book of everything bitcoin balances and transactions, without the obsession 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 encourage the transactions of the Bitcoin network. The more computer power a miner brings to bear upon 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 to the side of resemble those of gold. In 2015, a U.S. Federal decide concluded in the Coinflip, Inc. order that bitcoin was legally a “commodity” under the Commodities and Exchange Act.
The when table offers a comparison between 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 function puzzle), that miner shall get a set number of bitcoin called the « block reward. » The Bitcoin protocol sets and adjusts the mining mysteriousness so that miners will be adept to win the block recompense roughly every 10 minutes. The block compensation is how everything new bitcoin are issued or minted, and how everything bitcoin in circulation have come into existence.
Every 210,000 blocks — roughly every 4 years — the block compensation is edited by half, an event 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 recompense from 25 to 12.5 bitcoin. The third halvening is received to happen in May, 2020 and will reduce the block return from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoin.
The block recompense will continue to undergo halvings until it reaches 0. This is estimated to happen sometime in the year 2140. At this point in time, there will be a sum 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 sum supply reaches 21 million (fixed).
HODL, HODLing, and HODLers
HODL is a slang in the crypto way of being that refers to the stroke of buying and holding bitcoin. The etymology of the term can be traced urge on 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 high volatility and large price declines. Those who HODL are called HODLers and are said to be HODLing. The basic principle at the rear HODLing is to accept a long term purchase and withhold view towards bitcoin as beside a short-term one that involves trading in and out of bitcoin on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. HODLING avoids having to correctly period trades gone the publicize and react to price volatility, which can upshot in buying tall or selling low. It does, however, require strong conviction and resolve during spread around downturns.
HOLDING may also result in tax encouragement 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 put occurring with that bitcoin may ultimately replace fiat currencies. It plus an important component of “stacking sats,” #stackingsats, or “stacking satoshis,” a popular investment strategy based on the premise that accumulating even little amounts of bitcoin (a satoshi is the smallest subunit) over mature will prove to be a necessary investment in the long run if bitcoin goes “to the moon!” — a popular tune 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 times bitcoin was used to purchase 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 daylight now referred to as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Initially, Laslo posted a declaration titled « Pizza for bitcoins? » on Bitcointalk’s Bitcoin Forum. An 18-year obsolete named Jeremy Studivant responded below the handle “Jercos” and the two forward-looking consummated the transaction higher than Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Afterwards, Hanyecz exclaimed: « I just desire to relation that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza. Thanks jercos! »
Lalso paid for the two pizzas using bitcoin that he mined considering his personal computer. At the time, the bitcoin that exchanged hands was valued at approximately $30 dollars. Since then, the value of that similar 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 nature of bitcoin and its accretion of value properties.
