BITCOIN (BTC)

Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is the first decentralized cryptocurrency.
Nodes in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight.
Consensus between nodes is achieved using a computationally intensive process based on proof of work, called mining, that secures the bitcoin blockchain.
Mining consumes large quantities of electricity and has been criticized for its environmental impact. Based on a free market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, an unknown person.
Use of bitcoin as a currency began in 2009, with the release of its open-source implementation.: ch.
1  In 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender.
It is mostly seen as an investment and has been described by many scholars as an economic bubble. [+]