BITCOIN

As the first form of digital cash, Bitcoin uses a blockchain – a community-maintained database – to record transactions from one user to another, without relying on any centralised intermediaries such as banks or payment processors. The properties of the blockchain, which Nakamoto articulated in the white paper, mean that transactions are direct (peer-to-peer), irreversible, and have a relatively high degree of privacy. All subsequent cryptocurrencies and blockchain platforms build on Bitcoin’s technologies. Since the first Bitcoin exchanges were launched in 2010, Bitcoin has increased in value from a few cents to $20,000 at the end of 2020.