Bitcoin (BTC)

For a long time money has been controlled by governments and banks. People are exposed to a broken financial system, depend on these third parties and witness monetary inflation. According to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is peer-to-peer digital cash that eliminates the required trust in third parties and enables participants to stay anonymous. It was launched as direct response to the financial crisis and bailout of banks in 2008.

These resources help you to get to know Bitcoin, to understand how Bitcoin works and to start using Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the first implementation of Blockchain technology and the most tested. Other blockchain protocols usually compare themselves to Bitcoin and try to improve in some areas.

These resources help you to get to know Bitcoin on a technical level and to start working with it. After going through these resources you are able to determine when it makes sense to use Bitcoin, how to set up and run a node, network or application. Don’t forget to check out the tooling.

Bitcoins are used as peer-to-peer cash and to pay miners for transactions. Miners solve cryptographic puzzles to mine a block and add it to the blockchain (Proof of Work). If a miner presents a block to the network for verification and the network approves the verification, the block is added to the blockchain and the miner is rewarded with currently 6.25 BTC. Over time the immutable and trustless Bitcoin ledger is more perceived as a settlement network and store of value that enables peer-to-peer cash through 2nd layer solutions.

Bitcoin’s governance model is implemented through emergent consensus. Anyone can submit Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs). These are discussed, peer-reviewed and may lead to a soft or hard fork. Bitcoin Core developers have been responsible for the majority of development on the Bitcoin protocol, maintain Bitcoin’s codebase and only a few have commit access to the code base. Individuals must choose which Bitcoin client to run based on the protocol rules it enforces.

More about Bitcoin governance can be found here

The Bitcoin ecosystem is among the largest. The Bitcoin core development is decentralized and supported by various companies and individuals. Bitcoin mining pools have a large say in the network. Bitcoin does not have one official representative organization but 1000+ parties that work on exchanges, payment gateways, applications and some on second layer solutions.

The Bitcoin core developers focus on performance improvements, security and enabling 2nd layer solutions for privacy and cheap transactions. The ecosystem is specifically focusing on usability and onboarding more merchants, payment processors, institutional investors and users.

Insights to the Bitcoin Roadmap can be found in this Twitter thread and here.

The following readings are highly recommended by the Bitcoin community and offer insights to Bitcoin, potential research topics and future improvements.

You can use a custodian service – a trusted third party like a bank – or take self-custody of your Bitcoins. Make sure to backup your keys and pick a storage solution that fits your use: Cold storage is the best for long-term holding. Remember: Not your keys – not your Bitcoin!

Decentralization in blockchain is a complex topic. Bitcoin has a large team of contributors, core developers, and very large node network. BTC are held by thousands of people. Criticism is often expressed about mining centralization but that does not matter much as even 51% attacks could be neutralized.