Bitcoin is the first widely adopted cryptocurrency and the largest digital asset by market value. It was designed as a peer-to-peer form of money that can be sent online without relying on banks, payment companies, or a central issuer.
How It Works
Bitcoin runs on a public blockchain maintained by a global network of computers. Transactions are grouped into blocks, and miners use computing power to secure the network and add new blocks to the chain.
The supply of bitcoin is limited by code. No more than 21 million BTC can ever exist, and new coins are issued through mining rewards that decrease over time.
Why It Matters In Crypto
Bitcoin matters because it introduced digital scarcity at global scale. It gave users a way to hold and transfer value through an open network rather than a closed financial system.
In crypto markets, Bitcoin is often treated as the benchmark asset. When Bitcoin moves sharply, the rest of the market usually pays attention.
