The original digital store of value.
A peer-to-peer electronic cash system with a fixed 21M supply and a proof-of-work issuance schedule.
- Founded
- January 2009
- Team
- Anonymous founder ("Satoshi Nakamoto"); open-source contributor base since 2010
- Category
- Layer 1 · Store of Value
Bitcoin launched in January 2009 as the first cryptocurrency to solve the double-spend problem without a trusted intermediary. Its issuance is fixed by code: every block adds new coins on a halving schedule that caps total supply at 21 million.
The network secures itself through proof-of-work mining, with hashrate distributed across mining pools globally. Block intervals target ten minutes, and difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks to maintain that cadence.
Bitcoin's position as the deepest, most liquid digital asset is reinforced by spot ETF coverage in the U.S. and Europe, the largest miner network of any chain, and direct holdings by public corporations and sovereign treasuries.
Bitcoin is the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency, created in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It enables peer-to-peer electronic cash transactions without intermediaries like banks or governments, operating on a blockchain secured by Proof of Work mining and the SHA-256 cryptographic algorithm. With a fixed supply cap of 21 million coins and programmatic halvings every four years that reduce miner rewards, Bitcoin is designed as a deflationary digital asset often called "digital gold." Its value stems from solving the double-spending problem without trusted intermediaries, creating the first truly scarce digital asset with censorship resistance and permissionless access that no government, corporation, or individual can control. Bitcoin operates as a decentralized peer-to-peer network where transactions are recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, distributed across thousands of computers globally.