Bitcoin is a digital currency software that was created in 2008.
The whitepaper (document outlining what something is) describes Bitcoin as a "A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."
It is the first widespread decentralized digital currency.
"Decentralized" just means that no bank or 3rd party is required to send and receive funds.
Bitcoins can be sent anywhere in the world for a small transaction fee.
The Bitcoin network is made up of miners, nodes, and anyone with a bitcoin balance.
Miners use energy to verify transactions and nodes keep track of the digital ledger (a ledger is a record of financial transactions). This allows anyone with a bitcoin balance to send and receive coins from their digital wallet.
Bitcoin provides a solution to several global problems:
- It provides a sound store of value to the entire planet, free from debasement and hyperinflation.
- It allows anyone to transact across time and space, enabling global commerce (~ 25% of the planet is unbanked).
- It is resistant to authoritarian censorship and oppression. Your bitcoins cannot be frozen.
- It allows humanity to harness otherwise wasted and polluting energy and monetize it via mining.
Bitcoin is engineered money providing everyone with durability, acceptability, portability, divisibility, and scarcity.
Bitcoin is the best money.