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 answerable for Bitcoin as there is no stamp album of a computer scientist by this read out prior to the establishment of Bitcoin in 2009.
At the time, Satoshi claimed to be a 37 year-old man buzzing in Tokyo, Japan. The translation of his herald offers fascinating 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 straightforwardly 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 reveal used American spellings, however, every subsequent read out used British spellings and colloquialisms. His writing timestamps don’t tapering off to any particular times zone.
On the 23rd of April, 2011, Satoshi disappeared from the Internet, telling a developer in an email that he has « moved onto new things. » Whoever Satoshi is, he is considered a polymath who possesses extensive knowledge with esteem 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 with 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 extra digital currencies.
Bitcoin can be purchased on a cryptocurrency exchange and stored in a crypto billfold and custodian bearing in mind Gemini.
Supply
The supply of bitcoin is deterministic and final 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 order of the world could attain consensus next each new and agree on something, even if positive computers were bad actors on the network bothersome 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 higher than once by the similar person. As a result, it safeguards the integrity of the Bitcoin blockchain, a folder of whatever bitcoin balances and transactions, without the dependence 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 assert the transactions of the Bitcoin network. The more computer aptitude a miner brings to bear upon the Bitcoin network, the more likely she or he is to solve the proof of enactment 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 closely 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 taking into account table offers a comparison amongst bitcoin and gold:
Bitcoin Halving or Halvening
The supply schedule of bitcoin is deflationary. This schedule — embedded in the Bitcoin protocol — dictates that all time a miner successfully writes a new block to the blockchain (i.e., solves the proof of perform 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 accomplished to win the block return roughly every 10 minutes. The block compensation is how whatever new bitcoin are issued or minted, and how all bitcoin in circulation have come into existence.
Every 210,000 blocks — roughly every 4 years — the block reward is reduced by half, an event often referred to as the « the halvening » or “the halving.” When Bitcoin launched in 2009, the initial block return was 50 bitcoin. On November 25, 2012, the first halvening occured, halving the block return from 50 to 25 bitcoin. On July 10, 2016, the second halvening occured, halving the block compensation from 25 to 12.5 bitcoin. The third halvening is acknowledged to happen in May, 2020 and will cut the block compensation 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 tapering off 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 total supply reaches 21 million (fixed).
HODL, HODLing, and HODLers
HODL is a slang in the crypto impression that refers to the prosecution of buying and holding bitcoin. The etymology of the term can be traced put taking place to 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 period of high volatility and large price declines. Those who HODL are called HODLers and are said to be HODLing. The basic principle at the back HODLing is to accept a long term purchase and preserve view towards bitcoin as versus a short-term one that involves trading in and out of bitcoin on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. HODLING avoids having to correctly times trades in the vent of the broadcast and react to price volatility, which can result in buying high or selling low. It does, however, require mighty conviction and resolve during promote downturns.
HOLDING may also result in tax give support to 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 counsel purposes only).
The HODL strategy appeals to Bitcoin maximalists who acknowledge that bitcoin may ultimately replace fiat currencies. It plus 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 mature will prove to be a indispensable investment in the long govern if bitcoin goes “to the moon!” — a popular proclaim 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 mature bitcoin was used to purchase a genuine 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 morning now referred to as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Initially, Laslo posted a proclamation titled « Pizza for bitcoins? » on Bitcointalk’s Bitcoin Forum. An 18-year out of date named Jeremy Studivant responded below the handle “Jercos” and the two complex consummated the transaction over Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Afterwards, Hanyecz exclaimed: « I just want to version that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza. Thanks jercos! »
Lalso paid for the two pizzas using bitcoin that he mined behind his personal computer. At the time, the bitcoin that exchanged hands was valued at approximately $30 dollars. Since then, the value of that same 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 morning highlights the deflationary birds of bitcoin and its amassing of value properties.
