Geobtc

Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public dispersed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.

Bitcoin has been a subject of scrutiny amid concerns that it can be used for illegal activities. In October 2013, the FBI seized roughly 26,000 bitcoins from website Silk Road during the arrest of alleged owner Ross William Ulbricht.

The word bitcoin first occurred and was defined in the white paper that was published on 31 October 2008. It is a compound of the words bit and coin. The white paper proposes a new electronic currency system where bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining.

Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.