Bitcoin - #1 Crytocurrency
Bitcoin is a global, digital, decentralized, deflationary, cryptographic currency. It was invented in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto who wrote a technical paper titled, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. This paper outlined the entire theory and mathematics of how such a system could operate. No person named Satoshi Nakamoto has been identified and it is likely an alias of a person or group who feared persecution for their idea. Bitcoin was invented at the perfect time right after the 2008 housing crisis occurred.
This was the first time that it had been made possible to send a peer to peer transaction online with no need for a third party for security. There is no middle man like VISA, Mastercard, Venmo, or a banking institution. It is a permisionless network meaning any person can get an address and send money without the need to ask an authority or verify any identity. No one can freeze a bitcoin account. It is a decentralized network that is made up of individuals running nodes to earn a "mining" reward in exchange for their computer computational power or hash-rate. These rewards are the generation of new coins. There is a limit of 21 million coins that will ever be produced, and the rate of production decreases by a half approximately every 4 years. The deflation, decreased rate of production, and eventual cease of production makes bitcoin scarce and more valuable over time. There is no centralized authority of control and this strengthens the network because it is resistant and resilient to attack.
This was the first time that it had been made possible to send a peer to peer transaction online with no need for a third party for security. There is no middle man like VISA, Mastercard, Venmo, or a banking institution. It is a permisionless network meaning any person can get an address and send money without the need to ask an authority or verify any identity. No one can freeze a bitcoin account. It is a decentralized network that is made up of individuals running nodes to earn a "mining" reward in exchange for their computer computational power or hash-rate. These rewards are the generation of new coins. There is a limit of 21 million coins that will ever be produced, and the rate of production decreases by a half approximately every 4 years. The deflation, decreased rate of production, and eventual cease of production makes bitcoin scarce and more valuable over time. There is no centralized authority of control and this strengthens the network because it is resistant and resilient to attack.