The oldest and most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin is a digital cash alternative introduced in 2009. It has rapidly grown in popularity and now boasts a global user base. Enthusiasts point to bitcoin’s decentralized nature—meaning it is not created or controlled by any central government—lending it several potential advantages.
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Bitcoin is a digital cash alternative introduced in 2009 that rapidly grew in popularity and now boasts a global user base. Enthusiasts point to bitcoin’s decentralized nature—meaning it is not created or controlled by any central government—lending it several potential advantages.
Bitcoin has gone through several boom and bust cycles. Those peaks and valleys sit on top of a steadily rising value, growing as the currency gains wider adoption. As of 2024, bitcoin’s total market value was over $1.3T, with more than 19.6 million coins in circulation. Still, the value fluctuates.
A pseudonym used by the person or group of people who created bitcoin—the first decentralized cryptocurrency—the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has baffled millions of enthusiasts for years.
A bitcoin transaction is a transfer of value between two bitcoin addresses, with transactions recorded in a public ledger called the blockchain. The blockchain is a distributed ledger, meaning it is replicated on every node in the network, making it difficult to tamper with and the transaction information nearly irreversible.
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Do you ever wonder how much money you'd have now if you bought bitcoin in 2019? 2018? 2017? This calculator provides the answer. Plug in the amount of bitcoin you would have purchased, plus the year and the currency.
In 2010, a programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world transaction involving cryptocurrency—purchasing two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. While the transaction was lauded as a milestone for cryptocurrency, it has also become a tongue-in-cheek cautionary tale—the value of the purchase price exceeded $620M at bitcoin’s all-time high.
Cryptocurrency's key feature is decentralization. Unlike traditional money, they generally aren’t controlled by a single authority. As of early 2025, cryptocurrencies had a cumulative market cap of almost $3.4T, making them worth more than some of the world’s most valuable companies, like Google and Amazon (both valued at roughly $2.3T).
In 1976, a pair of computer scientists released a protocol for cryptographic communications, sparking the nascent field of sending secure information over the future internet. More than a decade later, the first attempt at an anonymous, digital cash alternative was made.
Satoshi Nakamoto's original introductory paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin.org provides assorted translations. While Nakamoto's identity remains a mystery, his ideas are neatly laid out here, along with supporting documentation.
Bitcoin, launched in 2009, is primarily a digital currency and store of value with a fixed supply. Ethereum, introduced in 2015, enables smart contracts and decentralized apps, offering more flexibility.
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