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Please refer to Affiliate Disclosure. Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency originally described in a whitepaper by a person, or group of people, using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. It was launched soon after, in January Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer online currency, meaning that all transactions happen directly between equal, independent network participants, without the need for any intermediary to permit or facilitate them. Some concepts for a similar type of a decentralized electronic currency precede BTC, but Bitcoin holds the distinction of being the first-ever cryptocurrency to come into actual use.
As of , the true identity of the person β or organization β that is behind the alias remains unknown. PCs and mining software. The first known Bitcoin commercial transaction occurred on May 22, , when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10, Bitcoins for two pizzas. However, while Nakamoto was the original inventor of Bitcoin, as well as the author of its very first implementation, he handed the network alert key and control of the code repository to Gavin Andresen, who later became lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation.
It has managed to create a global community and give birth to an entirely new industry of millions of enthusiasts who create, invest in, trade and use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their everyday lives.
The emergence of the first cryptocurrency has created a conceptual and technological basis that subsequently inspired the development of thousands of competing projects. Thanks to its pioneering nature, BTC remains at the top of this energetic market after over a decade of existence. This is owing in large part to growing institutional interest in Bitcoin, and the ubiquitousness of platforms that provide use-cases for BTC: wallets , exchanges, payment services, online games and more.
