Bitcoin is the world’s first successful decentralized cryptocurrency and payment system, launched in 2009 by a mysterious creator known only as Satoshi Nakamoto. The word “cryptocurrency” refers to a group of digital assets where transactions are secured and verified using cryptography – a scientific practice of encoding and decoding data. Those transactions are often stored on computers distributed all over the world via a distributed ledger technology called blockchain (see below.)

Bitcoin can be divided into smaller units known as “satoshis” (up to 8 decimal places) and used for payments, but it’s also considered a store of value like gold. This is because the price of a single bitcoin has increased considerably since its inception – from less than a cent to tens of thousands of dollars. When discussed as a market asset, bitcoin is represented by the ticker symbol BTC.

The term “decentralized” is used often when discussing cryptocurrency, and simply means something that is widely distributed and has no single, centralized location or controlling authority. In the case of bitcoin, and indeed many other cryptocurrencies, the technology and infrastructure that govern the creation, supply, and security of it do not rely on centralized entities, like banks and governments, to manage it.

However, bitcoin’s utility for payments has been stymied somewhat by its price volatility. Volatility is a word used to describe how much an asset’s price changes over a period of time. In the case of bitcoin, its price can change dramatically day to day – and even minute to minute – making it a less than ideal payment option. For example, you wouldn’t want to pay $3.50 for a cup of coffee and 5 minutes later it’s worth $4.30. Conversely, it doesn’t work out great for merchants either if bitcoin’s price falls dramatically after the coffee’s handed over.

In many ways, bitcoin works in the opposite way as traditional money: It is not controlled or issued by a central bank, it has a fixed supply (which means new bitcoins cannot be created at will) and it’s price is not predictable. Understanding these differences is the key to understanding bitcoin.