What Is Bitcoin?

ETF.com Insight and Analysis
In the words of its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin is “peer-to-peer electronic cash.” Created in 2008, bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency and the first application of blockchain technology—the distributed ledger that underpins the Bitcoin system, also invented by Nakamoto.

Using a combination of cryptography, game theory and peer-to-peer networks, the Bitcoin system enables the transfer of value over the internet without an intermediary—a revolutionary innovation. Bitcoin, the system made up of users and transaction verifiers, allows anyone with an internet connection to transfer a form of digital cash (also called bitcoin) to others.

The transactions are broadcast over the Bitcoin network and verified by anyone who wants to participate in the process. Miners, a special type of network participant, also verify transactions and group them into blocks, which are cryptographically linked to previous blocks of transactions (hence “blockchain”).