Bitcoin (BTC)
The first and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, created in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is designed as a decentralized digital currency with a hard-capped supply of 21 million coins, enforced through a halving mechanism that reduces new coin issuance approximately every four years. It uses Proof of Work consensus and is often referred to as 'digital gold.'
“Many investors consider Bitcoin a store of value and inflation hedge. Its fixed supply schedule means only ~3.125 BTC are created per block after the 2024 halving.”
Satoshi (sat)
The smallest unit of Bitcoin, equal to 0.00000001 BTC (one hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin). Named after Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, sats allow for precise microtransactions and are increasingly used as a unit of account as Bitcoin's price rises, making whole BTC amounts impractical for everyday use.
Cryptocurrency
A digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates on a decentralized network, typically a blockchain. Unlike traditional currencies issued by governments, cryptocurrencies are not controlled by any central authority and use consensus mechanisms to validate transactions and maintain the integrity of the ledger.
Mining
The process of using computational power to validate transactions and add new blocks to a Proof of Work blockchain. Miners compete to solve a cryptographic puzzle (finding a hash below a target difficulty), and the first to succeed earns the block reward plus transaction fees. Mining secures the network by making it prohibitively expensive to attack.
Halving
A pre-programmed event that cuts the block reward for mining new blocks in half, reducing the rate at which new coins are created. Bitcoin's halving occurs every 210,000 blocks (approximately every 4 years) and is a core mechanism for enforcing its deflationary supply schedule. Halvings are historically correlated with subsequent bull markets due to reduced sell pressure from miners.