What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is known to be the first decentralized digital currency.
Unlike fiat currencies such as the euro or the dollar, which are issued and controlled by central banks, Bitcoin does not depend on any central entity.
Bitcoin is a monetary system, software and computer network all rolled into one.
Bitcoin is the main unit of measurement of the Bitcoin monetary system.
We therefore distinguish Bitcoin (with a capital B) which defines both the monetary system and the bitcoin computer network that composes it (with a lowercase b) which refers to the unit of account.
The creator of Bitcoin preferred to remain anonymous and communicates under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto”. He therefore named the sub-division of a bitcoin satoshi in homage to his pseudonym.
A bitcoin (BTC) is the unit of account best known to the general public, but the satoshi (sat) is the unit of account of the monetary system.
Private banks and the European Central Bank can create and put into circulation an infinite amount of Euros while no one can create bitcoins outside the pre-established rules.
So the other major difference that distinguishes Bitcoin from fiat currencies is its limited quantity to a maximum of 21 million bitcoins:
There will never be more than 21 million BTC, and each bitcoin is divisible into 100 million satoshis, so 21,000,000 BTC x 100,000,000 sat = 2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshis.
There can therefore never be more than 2.1 million billion satoshis.
Bitcoin is free to access, open to everyone and ... most importantly: decentralized!
Which means that no authority is able to change its monetary policy, no state, central bank or any supervisory body can change the rules that govern Bitcoin.
Here you will find an article on the subject, written by our CEO:
https://jonathan-herscovici.medium.com/why-bitcoin-is-unique-81659e556589
Unlike fiat currencies such as the euro or the dollar, which are issued and controlled by central banks, Bitcoin does not depend on any central entity.
Bitcoin is a monetary system, software and computer network all rolled into one.
Bitcoin is the main unit of measurement of the Bitcoin monetary system.
We therefore distinguish Bitcoin (with a capital B) which defines both the monetary system and the bitcoin computer network that composes it (with a lowercase b) which refers to the unit of account.
The creator of Bitcoin preferred to remain anonymous and communicates under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto”. He therefore named the sub-division of a bitcoin satoshi in homage to his pseudonym.
A bitcoin (BTC) is the unit of account best known to the general public, but the satoshi (sat) is the unit of account of the monetary system.
Private banks and the European Central Bank can create and put into circulation an infinite amount of Euros while no one can create bitcoins outside the pre-established rules.
So the other major difference that distinguishes Bitcoin from fiat currencies is its limited quantity to a maximum of 21 million bitcoins:
There will never be more than 21 million BTC, and each bitcoin is divisible into 100 million satoshis, so 21,000,000 BTC x 100,000,000 sat = 2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshis.
There can therefore never be more than 2.1 million billion satoshis.
Bitcoin is free to access, open to everyone and ... most importantly: decentralized!
Which means that no authority is able to change its monetary policy, no state, central bank or any supervisory body can change the rules that govern Bitcoin.
Here you will find an article on the subject, written by our CEO:
https://jonathan-herscovici.medium.com/why-bitcoin-is-unique-81659e556589
Updated on: 14/06/2023
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