Bitcoin Lovers

Bitcoin is the world's first cryptocurrency, a form of electronic cash. It is the first decentralized digital currency: the system was designed to work without a central bank or single administrator : Bitcoins are sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network directly, without the need for intermediaries. 4,5 These transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.

Many economists and investors consider the bitcoin market to be a bubble. Bitcoin has also been criticized for its use in illegal transactions, its high electricity consumption, price volatility, and thefts from exchanges.

The domain name "bitcoin.org" was registered on 18 August 2008. In November 2008, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was posted to a cryptography mailing list. Nakamoto implemented the bitcoin software as open source code and released it in January 2009. The identity of Nakamoto remains unknown.
In January 2009, the bitcoin network was created when Nakamoto mined the first block of the chain, known as the genesis block. Embedded in the coinbase of this block was the following text:

The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.