What is Bitcoin?

This is an innovative digital currency and a payment system that was introduced in 2009 by a man under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. He provided this idea to the world as an open-source design.

Bitcoin is completely different from conventional currencies, and so it is essential to understand the key qualities of Bitcoin, that is to say

Full decentralization
Bitcoins are issued and managed without the intervention of a central agency, which means that there is no government, company or bank that can influence the currency in any way. It is therefore completely impossible to counterfeit the currency, block accounts, manage the flow of money or cause inflation. In the network, there is no central point or person who can decide in relation to this one.

Bitcoins have been programmed by specialized software, so that new currencies are issued at a steady pace but still downward. Finally the number of currencies in circulation should reach 21 million (around 2140).

Payment transactions are made for free or for minimum fees
Unlike most currencies, Bitcoin does not depend on trust in its issuer nor an intermediary (the bank, the State). To perform the transactions, we use the database through the peer-to-peer network nodes.

You can send and receive any amount of money anywhere and from anyone in the world

Bitcoins can be kept on your personal computer as a file with the wallet, or in specialized hardware

Or they can be kept through a third party service
However you can also have a completely disconnected wallet (on a piece of paper)

Each bitcoin can be divided up to 8 decimals, and so it can be divided into a large amount of currency units. The smallest unit is therefore 0.000 000 01 BTC, called a Satoshi. And in case even this unit was not enough, the decimal separator can still be moved (unlike the final bitcoins quantity).

#BitcoinInfoSource