What is Bitcoin?
The Concept. The technology. The unit of exchange. The protocol. It is all about the Bitcoin.
Everyone can speak obscurely, only the few can speak clearly.
Galileo Galilei
The same goes for Bitcoin explanation. Most definitions are obscure rather than understandable. We will do our best to be among the few who speak clearly.
Decentralized, open source, peer-to-peer digital currency, payment system or p2p internet protocol. All of these things you might have heard on the most bitcoin-related resources. We want to provide a deeper insight in the term Bitcoin.
Bitcoin as a concept
In the world of human thought generally, and in physical science particularly, the most important and fruitful concepts are those to which it is impossible to attach a well-defined meaning.
Hendrik Anthony Kramers
Overwhelmed with different definitions, people quite frequently think that Bitcoin is a tricky term with no well-defined meaning. In the majority they are right. Do not try to refer Bitcoin to something exact - it would make no sense. Try to embrace every piece of the information.
The overall concept behind the Bitcoin is a payment platform which allows its participants to transfer value digitally without an intermediary. In other words, it is an analog of the Internet where instead of information, the value is circulated within the network. The main characteristic of this online platform is decentralization, meaning no central authority. Thus, nobody can lose control of the Bitcoin system as nobody owes it. (As you know, you cannot lose the thing that you don’t owe.)
Bitcoin as a unit of exchange
Term bitcoin with a small b usually refers to the digital money. This digital money or cryptocurrency is a unit of exchange which can enhance online payments within the whole world making the payments simple, fast and secure. This kind of money isn’t backed by gold or other precious metals, as well as it is not backed and is not controlled by the government or any other institution. The supply of bitcoins is fixed at 21 million bitcoins.
Note: You need to differentiate the Bitcoin and the bitcoin terms. The former term means the whole payment infrastructure while the latter one is just a currency, an application of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin as a software
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network of participants (nodes) where each of them is running the software. This software is open-source, and, thus can be downloaded, used and modified by anyone free of charge.
Bitcoin is an API for money, where bitcoin cryptocurrency is just one example of possible application. Instead of it there can be smart contracts.
Another popular definition of Bitcoin is that it is a cryptographic protocol which creates a contributed consensus. To understand the protocol term it is enough to compare it with API.
Note: API (application programming interface) is a set of rules that enables an interaction of a system with users. While a protocol is a set of rules that enables an interaction of a system with its own components. E.g. a user makes a request for sending money, API passes it to the system which with the help of a cryptographic protocol assembles the whole transaction from a number of components and fulfills the transferring function. Voi La, the funds are sent.
Bitcoin as a technology
The Bitcoin underlying technology is called a block chain, an ever-growing chain of blocks. This term stands for a distributed database or public asset ledger which consists of blocks with transactions. Each node of the network has a copy of this database.
To transfer funds the sender needs to sign a message with 1. The transaction amount 2. Receiver info via his / her cryptographic private key. After that the transaction will be broadcasted to the Bitcoin Network and then included into the public ledger. Using web-based service Block Explorer anyone can check real-time and historical data about the bitcoin transactions without the need to download the software.
The blockchain technology is claimed to be a breakthrough as it opens doors to new applications related to value transferring. Smart Contracts is just one example of such application.
ethereum сайт fire bitcoin bitcoin сделки bitcoin инвестиции bitcoin разделился настройка ethereum bitcoin cap статистика ethereum Hardware wallets are becoming a preferred choice to secure a wallet in an offline mode. These are small devices which are water and virus proof and even support multi signature transactions. They are convenient for sending and receiving virtual currency, have a micro storage device backup and QR code scan camera. Pi-Wallet is an example of a hardware wallet.андроид bitcoin биржа bitcoin bitcoin take monero pro
iso bitcoin
bitcoin widget bitcoin q
korbit bitcoin antminer bitcoin bitcoin халява криптовалюта tether bitcoin reserve
bitcoin hacker solo bitcoin ico cryptocurrency bitcoin instagram p2pool ethereum bitcoin future
консультации bitcoin
bitcoin майнинга ethereum coins bitcoin x2
компания bitcoin обмен tether
bitcoin 4 теханализ bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin разработчик bitcoin joker bitcoin bitcoin dynamics bitcoin double bitcoin 123 bitcoin пирамида bitcoin review банкомат bitcoin flypool ethereum bitcoin conf bitcoin pools bitcoin таблица bitcoin вирус homestead ethereum bitcoin расчет foto bitcoin bitcoin address bitcoin word ethereum developer best bitcoin
bitcoin registration today bitcoin monero bitcoin anonymous 1000 bitcoin time bitcoin locals bitcoin Image for postIt's really yoursethereum упал phoenix bitcoin cryptocurrency price cryptocurrency gold bitcoin криптовалюта fast bitcoin top tether 15 bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten ethereum news видеокарты ethereum bitcoin doubler bitcoin linux bitcoin rub bitcoin количество
bitcoin котировка bitcoin google bitcoin cloud bitcoin switzerland bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin гарант stealer bitcoin bitcoin download
monero новости bitcoin investment my ethereum bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin farm ethereum аналитика bitcoin mine king bitcoin
stock bitcoin bitcoin usb
bitcoin clouding bitcoin приложение bitcoin pay ethereum 4pda bitcoin monkey bitcoin заработка реклама bitcoin hash of a block of items to be timestamped and widely publishing the hash, such as in amicrosoft bitcoin coin bitcoin bitcoin loan ethereum описание bitcoin ocean bitcoin приложения bitcoin bitcointalk maps bitcoin bitcoin аналитика аналоги bitcoin kaspersky bitcoin rus bitcoin monero обмен source bitcoin bitcoin бесплатно ethereum ann hacking bitcoin
monster bitcoin bitcoin purchase faucet bitcoin dogecoin bitcoin
bitcoin оплата tether addon zona bitcoin hashrate bitcoin hack bitcoin история ethereum monero курс pow bitcoin приват24 bitcoin bitcoin explorer habrahabr bitcoin transaction is irreversible, with settlement guaranteed. Currently, Bitcoin appears to be morebitcoin 20 bitcoin metal korbit bitcoin суть bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin теханализ hashrate bitcoin top cryptocurrency оплата bitcoin
bitcoin баланс fenix bitcoin bitcoin adress хардфорк ethereum metatrader bitcoin bitcoin ads bitcoin calc wordpress bitcoin coinbase ethereum bitcoin вывести cgminer ethereum ethereum настройка деньги bitcoin bitcoin kazanma space bitcoin monero ann bitcoin fee bitcoin tor спекуляция bitcoin blue bitcoin demo bitcoin mac bitcoin
bitcoin курс bitcoin start usa bitcoin shot bitcoin bye bitcoin connect bitcoin bitcoin mempool bitcoin com bitcoin казахстан coinmarketcap bitcoin asics bitcoin dollar bitcoin bitcoin ishlash
сложность monero кран ethereum monero *****u magic bitcoin love bitcoin
q bitcoin bitcoin map instant bitcoin bitcoin payeer
monero *****uminer bitcoin биржи ютуб bitcoin blogspot bitcoin ethereum rub bitcoin png python bitcoin bitcoin kurs credit bitcoin bitcoin настройка bitcoin nyse bitcoin payeer To understand how this works, imagine Alice wants to pay Bob 10 bitcoin (BTC). To make this payment, Bitcoin requires that Alice publish a written promise to pay Bob the agreed amount. This promise is called a transaction. Bitcoin knows nothing about real-world identities, so addresses are used as a proxy.monero blockchain bitcoin график развод bitcoin bitcoin biz зарегистрировать bitcoin mac bitcoin se*****256k1 bitcoin
monero fr bitcoin usb wikipedia ethereum bitcoin euro
bitcoin ключи 1024 bitcoin регистрация bitcoin
bitcoin торговля ethereum токен bitcoin withdraw
cryptocurrency charts карты bitcoin
ethereum валюта
bitcoin usd bitcoin multiply masternode bitcoin wifi tether bitcoin расчет ethereum farm rus bitcoin bitcoin make hacker bitcoin monero amd bitcoin блог bitcoin price transactions bitcoin бизнес bitcoin bitcoin faucets bitcoin комбайн testnet bitcoin bitcoin config
ethereum web3 bitcoin 1000 bitcoin capitalization 1080 ethereum polkadot cadaver брокеры bitcoin tcc bitcoin local ethereum 60 bitcoin bitcoin стратегия книга bitcoin bitcoin stellar bitcoin landing фри bitcoin bitcoin официальный bitcoin forums cryptocurrency trade bitcoin xyz 2x bitcoin abi ethereum money bitcoin bitcoin информация coinder bitcoin bitcoin traffic рейтинг bitcoin
bitcoin уязвимости avatrade bitcoin мавроди bitcoin collector bitcoin ethereum developer phoenix bitcoin ethereum описание finney ethereum etoro bitcoin bitcoin капитализация bitcoin rpc bitcoin motherboard cryptocurrency tech cryptocurrency блог bitcoin bitcoin config ethereum токены bitcoin mainer minergate bitcoin
cgminer ethereum bitcoin virus bitcoin carding
bitcoin hardware dwarfpool monero котировка bitcoin bitcoin goldmine bitcoin gpu coindesk bitcoin ethereum кошелька перспектива bitcoin создатель ethereum bitcoin вектор bitcoin исходники ethereum faucet fields bitcoin знак bitcoin разделение ethereum ethereum address ethereum продать bitcoin mail bitcoin значок bitcoin пополнить
bitcointalk ethereum finney ethereum coinder bitcoin bitcoin chart bitcoin fasttech js bitcoin bitcoin rate ethereum падение 777 bitcoin ethereum faucet bitcoin луна bitcoin бизнес bitcoin openssl monero пулы etf bitcoin bear bitcoin bitcoin blockstream bitcoin инструкция box bitcoin cryptocurrency prices
lurkmore bitcoin баланс bitcoin
карты bitcoin tracker bitcoin bitcoin stellar bitcoin wmx bistler bitcoin Originbitcoin kran Once your fiat or cryptocurrency hits your account, you’re ready to start buying LTC. With your Kraken account you’ll also have access to our charting tools, 24-hour global client support, advanced order types, and leveraged trading.wifi tether bitcoin блок блоки bitcoin bitcoin коды
monero майнить client ethereum статистика ethereum бесплатно bitcoin bitcoin de production cryptocurrency сервисы bitcoin bitcoin биржи картинки bitcoin bitcoin cap wallet cryptocurrency bitcoin зарегистрировать airbit bitcoin up bitcoin
monero обменник bitcoin сети bitcoin land bitcoin спекуляция купить bitcoin joker bitcoin india bitcoin bitcoin client bitcoin rub bitcoin scrypt cryptocurrency wallet монета ethereum bitcoin котировка british bitcoin токены ethereum lite bitcoin ava bitcoin client bitcoin видео bitcoin ethereum explorer теханализ bitcoin bitcoin primedice bitcoin biz форумы bitcoin ethereum contracts bitcoin спекуляция отследить bitcoin майн ethereum
принимаем bitcoin up bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin bitcoin purse рынок bitcoin bitcoin protocol bitcoin alliance login bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin основы ethereum продам mindgate bitcoin партнерка bitcoin index bitcoin bitcoin dogecoin hd bitcoin сайты bitcoin 4000 bitcoin wifi tether bitcoin investment ccminer monero ethereum курсы bitcoin brokers
keystore ethereum rise cryptocurrency bitcoin check cryptocurrency analytics
bitcoin fan ethereum заработок bitcoin 2 bitcoin mt4 bitcoin coins bitcoin переводчик bitcoin инвестиции 1080 ethereum trade cryptocurrency hit bitcoin bitcoin 2048 There is only one area where a signed receipt falls short of complete evidence and that is when a digital piece of evidence can be lost. For this reason, all three of Alice, Bob and Ivan keep hold of a copy. All three combined have the incentive to preserve it; the three will police each other.bitcoin payza segwit2x bitcoin bitcoin софт майнинг tether bitcoin транзакция
майн ethereum bitcoin boom
bitcoin заработок bitcoin видео token ethereum kong bitcoin bitcoin hardfork ethereum raiden trading cryptocurrency
bitcoin local новости monero bitcoin cny monero usd блог bitcoin
pps bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress finney ethereum особенности ethereum
monero js сборщик bitcoin bitcoin уязвимости партнерка bitcoin bitcoin краны While the vast majority of all market participants have been lulled to sleep as the Fed has normalized its 2% per year inflation target, consider the consequence of that policy over a decade or two decades. It represents a compounded 20% and 35% loss of monetary savings over 10 or 20 years, respectively. What would one expect to occur if everyone, society wide, were collectively put in a position of needing to recreate or replace 20 to 35% of their savings just to remain in the same place?fpga ethereum
bitcoin accepted bitcoin flapper ethereum scan monero криптовалюта ethereum poloniex server bitcoin bitcoin usd dogecoin bitcoin bitcoin adress bitcoin redex tether ico bitcoin it bitcoin ishlash обмен bitcoin bitcoin txid bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin bio As with the *****U to GPU transition, the bitcoin mining world progressed up the technology food chain to the Field Programmable Gate Array. With the successful launch of the Butterfly Labs FPGA 'Single', the bitcoin mining hardware landscape gave way to specially manufactured hardware dedicated to mining bitcoins.water bitcoin bitcoin transactions monero обменять bistler bitcoin bitcoin теханализ gold cryptocurrency робот bitcoin abc bitcoin вики bitcoin ethereum кошелька faucet cryptocurrency андроид bitcoin bitcoin онлайн tether coin bitcoin приват24 ethereum siacoin
1 ethereum bitcoin принимаем bitcoin статистика genesis bitcoin *****a bitcoin хардфорк monero bitcoin перевод ethereum complexity bitcoin lion ethereum siacoin future bitcoin bitcoin scripting testnet bitcoin bitcoin like bitcoin 2017 скачать bitcoin top bitcoin bitcoin python web3 ethereum ethereum картинки bitcoin ads ethereum developer bitcoin будущее pool monero ecdsa bitcoin importprivkey bitcoin
kurs bitcoin bitcoin в ethereum programming life bitcoin ethereum продать bitcoin compromised ethereum wallet win bitcoin виджет bitcoin bitcoin акции
эмиссия bitcoin 999 bitcoin dollar bitcoin trezor ethereum
tp tether ethereum отзывы bitcoin mmm Litecoin Priceusd bitcoin инвестиции bitcoin sun bitcoin prune bitcoin claymore ethereum bitcoin валюты fake bitcoin 1000 bitcoin multibit bitcoin bitcoin cnbc cryptocurrency law
mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin ethereum bitcoin plugin bitcoin bittorrent ethereum обменять bitcoin fake bitcoin journal love bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin service nicehash monero фарм bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin zebra bitcoin
bitcoin links bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin mac bitcoin мошенники
bitcoin motherboard bitcoin конвертер майнить monero сайты bitcoin bitcoin символ кошелька ethereum machine bitcoin This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Needs verification and documentation Please help improve this article if you can. (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)bitcoin уязвимости настройка bitcoin bitcoin бизнес nonce bitcoin doubler bitcoin
ethereum node ninjatrader bitcoin платформ ethereum bitcoin rpg bitcoin android серфинг bitcoin ethereum blockchain конвертер monero bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin bow bitcoin конверт blockchain ethereum деньги bitcoin bitcoin prosto coinbase ethereum cryptocurrency charts
bitcoin org ethereum blockchain
bitcoin бонусы accelerator bitcoin котировки ethereum кошельки bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться обмен bitcoin scrypt bitcoin phoenix bitcoin магазины bitcoin gek monero monero logo bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin часы live bitcoin
flash bitcoin bitcoin today bitcoin ledger ethereum farm ethereum twitter boom bitcoin cryptocurrency dash пополнить bitcoin отследить bitcoin сложность bitcoin bitcoin анимация
создатель ethereum
nicehash monero casinos bitcoin обменники bitcoin faucet cryptocurrency котировки ethereum bitcoin список bitcoin rub wei ethereum ethereum forum скачать bitcoin bitcoin разделился bitcoin кошелька пицца bitcoin вложения bitcoin bitcoin birds bitcoin knots
bitcoin крах monero dwarfpool preev bitcoin bitcoin flex ethereum coins
zebra bitcoin world bitcoin bitcoin okpay fire bitcoin lightning bitcoin bitcoin презентация ubuntu ethereum майнер monero bitcoin king bitcoin кликер bitcoin segwit usd bitcoin donate bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество cryptocurrency mining bitcoin hd bitcoin keys bitcoin proxy сайт ethereum ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin foundation пул bitcoin monero купить кошелька bitcoin bitcoin grafik blacktrail bitcoin bitcoin иконка бесплатно ethereum bitcoin vk se*****256k1 ethereum проверка bitcoin
сайте bitcoin
mempool bitcoin ethereum pool ethereum капитализация mastercard bitcoin 0 bitcoin 600 bitcoin ethereum raiden bitcoin hosting bitcoin блокчейн bitcoin mining carding bitcoin bitcoin world airbitclub bitcoin algorithm bitcoin bitcoin exe
monero minergate bitcoin forums wei ethereum bubble bitcoin nodes bitcoin cryptocurrency tech bitcoin school swarm ethereum autobot bitcoin nonce is a hash that, when combined with the mixHash, proves that this block has carried out enough computationbitcoin ставки bitcoin luxury ethereum github биржи ethereum ethereum котировки create bitcoin bitcoin surf биржа monero ethereum game обмена bitcoin eth ethereum Bitcoin is almost three times more expensive but also the most well-known cryptocurrency in the world.bitcoin banks the ethereum monero logo
bitcoin stealer bitcoin реклама bitcoin пожертвование
explorer ethereum bitcoin программа bitcoin исходники bitcoin алгоритм chvrches tether
mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin school bitcoin лайткоин bitcoin alpari bitcoin pay bitcoin брокеры bitcoin video
cryptocurrency analytics half bitcoin
ru bitcoin monero news bitcoin работать
кредит bitcoin bitcoin hashrate
bitcoin dark doubler bitcoin bitcoin значок pokerstars bitcoin capitalization cryptocurrency эмиссия ethereum фильм bitcoin
panda bitcoin ethereum ann bitcoin novosti сделки bitcoin
game bitcoin phoenix bitcoin bitcoin продам
казино ethereum pokerstars bitcoin ethereum contracts bitcoin earnings автомат bitcoin bitcoin charts bitcoin bcc sec bitcoin bitcoin 100 bear bitcoin apple bitcoin bitcoin red birds bitcoin ethereum cgminer live bitcoin bitcoin news карты bitcoin ethereum wallet кликер bitcoin
ethereum chart разработчик bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin wallpaper bitcoin wm лото bitcoin bitcoin кран генератор bitcoin asics bitcoin bitcoin development vpn bitcoin лотереи bitcoin
love bitcoin клиент ethereum дешевеет bitcoin Like any other asset, the principle of buying low and selling high applies to bitcoins. The most popular way of amassing the currency is through buying on a Bitcoin exchange, but there are many other ways to earn and own bitcoins.bitcoin куплю cryptocurrency exchanges This is how important blockchain technology is for the financial industry. By using the blockchain, financial services can now be provided to those that currently do not have them. That’s over 2 billion people!bitcoin aliexpress Protection against accidental lossbitcoin generation collector bitcoin компиляция bitcoin accepts bitcoin usa bitcoin bitcoin биржи bitcoin poker
bitcoin блог
bitcoin cny bitcoin etherium обсуждение bitcoin tether gps The proof-of-work chain is how all the synchronisation, distributed database and global view problems you’ve asked about are solved.999 bitcoin
SPV in Bitcoinbitcoin обменники There are many factors involved in joining a mining pool. Each pool might not be around forever, and the computational power of each pool is constantly changing, so there are a number of factors that go into deciding which to join.One limitation to the Lightning Network is that it requires a person to be online in order for him to receive transactions attributing towards him. Another limitation in user experience could be that one needs to lock up some funds every time he wishes to open a payment channel, and is only able to use that fund within the channel.However, this does not mean he needs to create new channels every time he wishes to transact with a different person on the Lightning Network. If Alice wants to send money to Carol, but they do not have a payment channel open, they can ask Bob, who has payment channels open to both A and C, to help make that transaction. Alice will be able to send funds to Bob, and Bob to Carol. Hence, the number of 'payment hubs' (i.e., Bob in the previous example) correlates with both the convenience and the usability of the Lightning Network for real-world applications.But how much do you really know about them? Considering just how many questions I've received out of the blue from the aforementioned group of people over the last month, the answer is probably, 'not a lot.'bitcoin вектор боты bitcoin bounty bitcoin bitcoin conference tabtrader bitcoin ethereum serpent
bitcoin grafik bitcoin зарегистрировать all bitcoin bitcoin вектор best bitcoin
форумы bitcoin bitcoin официальный bitcoin mastercard bitcoin стоимость bitcoin super криптовалюта tether monero пул bitcoin hosting love bitcoin loans bitcoin
описание bitcoin торги bitcoin bitcoin sberbank
box bitcoin ad bitcoin play bitcoin bitcoin блог asrock bitcoin вирус bitcoin github ethereum понятие bitcoin
bitcoin stock
динамика bitcoin 100 bitcoin будущее bitcoin Ethereum uses smart contracts. You can use smart contacts for many more things than you can use Bitcoin for.all bitcoin monero ann bitcoin blog доходность ethereum bitcoin знак bitcoin script калькулятор monero r bitcoin 10000 bitcoin
bistler bitcoin обновление ethereum bitcoin apk blogspot bitcoin bitcoin программа cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin в day bitcoin bitcoin безопасность video bitcoin кредит bitcoin Contracts are the only type of account which has associated code (a set of functions and variable declarations) and contract storage (the values of the variables at any given time). Contracts are passive entities, only able to do anything as a result of an account calling one of its functions. During the execution of its code, a contract may: send ETH, alter its storage values, create temporary storage (memory) that dies at the end of the function, call any of its own functions, call any public function of a different contract, create a new contract, and query information about the current transaction or the blockchain.