What is it?

A digital currency, used to make payments of any value without fees.  It runs on the blockchain, a decentralised ledger kept running by  “miners” whose powerful computers crunch transactions and are rewarded  in bitcoins 

Who invented it?

Satoshi Nakamoto, a secretive internet user, invented bitcoin in 2008  before it went online in 2009. Many attempts to identify Satoshi have  been made without conclusive proof 

What’s it for?

People see value in money free from government control and the fees  banks charge; as well as the blockchain, to verify transactions. Bitcoin  has been seen as a tool for private, anonymous transactions, and it’s  the payment of choice for drug deals and other illegal purchases 

Is it worth anything?

Yes. As of July 2017, there were around 16.5m bitcoins in  circulation. In March 2017, the value of a Bitcoin, at  $1,268, exceeded  that of an ounce of gold ($1,233) for the first time. 

What is Bitcoin Cash?

In August 2017, the blockchain forked to support another  cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash, which is optimised slightly differently.  People who held Bitcoin received an equal value of Bitcoin Cash  following this ‘hard fork’.