What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous developer called “Satoshi Nakamoto” and was the first and original cryptocurrency. Bitcoin allows people to send and receive funds without a third party intermediary and as such, it is a decentralized payments system.

The network is controlled by no single person or authority, nor is it backed by any central bank. Instead, transactions are verified by a community of “miners” who use their computational power to confirm the movement of “funds”. In return, miners are rewarded with additional Bitcoin for contributing to the network.

The technology that supports Bitcoin is called a blockchain, which is like a giant accounting book. Every single transaction that has ever been processed on the Bitcoin network is available to view on the blockchain. Furthermore, once a transaction has been added, it can never be changed or removed – which makes it extremely transparent.