What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency created in 2009 by an anonymous person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto. Unlike traditional currencies issued by governments (fiat money), Bitcoin operates on a peer-to-peer network without any central authority.

Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded on a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin can be sent directly from one user to another without intermediaries like banks, making it censorship-resistant and borderless.

There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins, making it a scarce digital asset often compared to gold. This fixed supply is enforced by the protocol itself and cannot be changed by any single entity.