What is Bitcoin?

O que é Bitcoin? is a digital currency that allows people to send and receive payments without the need for banks or credit card companies. It operates through a decentralized peer-to-peer computer network. This network verifies transactions through cryptography and records them in a public distributed ledger, called the blockchain, without central oversight. This gives it unique properties that allow exciting new uses.

Bitcoin Scalability: Challenges and Solutions for Mass Adoption

When Bitcoin was first created (by a person or group that remains unidentified to this day), it solved a critical problem of commerce on the Internet: how do you transfer value between two parties without having a trusted middleman? The solution was to create a new type of money that is designed for the internet, has the potential to be completely open, and doesn’t depend on banks, credit-card networks, or payment processors.

Every transaction involving Bitcoin is recorded on this massive public ledger, the blockchain. This is similar to a bank’s ledger, but there is one key difference: the blockchain isn’t owned by any company, government, or third party; it is maintained by the entire Bitcoin network through the collective computing power of its users (referred to as “miners”). There are currently 21 million bitcoin in existence, and only those with the private keys can access them from this virtual vault.

A person who owns bitcoins has a unique Bitcoin address, which they can disclose to others so that they can send them to them. These Bitcoins can then be stored in a special wallet, which will keep them safe and secure. They are also pseudonymous, meaning that there is no way to connect these addresses with a real-world identity.