A Beginner’s Guide to Bitcoin

9 min readAug 24, 2021

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the world’s first decentralized digital cryptocurrency and payment system, launched in 2009 by an anonymous creator known as Satoshi Nakamoto. “Cryptocurrency” refers to digital assets where exchanges are secured and authenticated utilizing cryptography — a scientific practice of encoding and decoding information. Those exchanges are put away on a network of computers distributed worldwide through a sort of ledger technology called the blockchain.

Bitcoin can be partitioned into smaller units known as “satoshis” (up to eight decimal places) and utilized for payments, but on the other hand, it’s viewed as a store of significant worth like gold. That is because the cost of one bitcoin has expanded extensively since its launch — from not precisely a cent to thousands of dollars today. When examined as a market resource, bitcoin is addressed by the ticker symbol BTC.

“Decentralized” is utilized frequently while examining digital currency and basically implies something broadly distributed and has no single, centralized area or controlling authority. On account of bitcoin, and in reality numerous other cryptographic forms of money, the innovation and foundation that oversee the creation, supply, and security of it don’t depend on any centralized or single authorities, similar to banks and governments, to control it.

All things being equal, Bitcoin is planned so that users can trade value with each other directly through a peer-to-peer network — a sort of network where all users have equal access, authorization, power and are associated directly with one another without a central entity or intermediary organization acting as a middleman. This permits information to be shared and stored or bitcoin transactions to be sent and received consistently without any interference or interruptions between parties.

The Bitcoin network (capital “B”, when alluding to the network, technology, and innovation, lower-case “b” when refers to the real digital cash, bitcoin) is totally open, which means anybody across the globe with internet access and a gadget that enables to use the internet seamlessly, without limitation can access bitcoin. It’s likewise open-source, which means anybody can view or share the source code Bitcoin was based upon.

Maybe the most effortless approach to comprehend Bitcoin is to consider it the internet for cash. The internet is absolutely computerized, digital, no single individual possesses or controls it, it’s borderless (which means anybody with power and a gadget can associate with it), it runs all day, every day. Individuals who use it can undoubtedly impart information to each other. Presently envision in case there was a “digital cash or internet currency,” where every individual who utilized the internet could assist with getting it, issue it, and pay each other directly with it without including a bank. That is basically what bitcoin is!

Bitcoin: Alternative to Physical Cash

Nakamoto initially created bitcoin as an option in contrast to fiat currency, with the objective for it to ultimately turn into an all-around world acknowledged legitimate accepted legal tender so that individuals could utilize it to buy goods and services.

In any case, Bitcoin’s utility for payments has been frustrated to some extent by its value instability or volatility. Unpredictability and volatility is a word used to portray how much an asset’s value changes throughout some undefined time frame. On account of bitcoin, its value can change significantly every day — and surprisingly moment to the minute — making it a not great ideal payment. For instance, you wouldn’t want to pay $3.50 for some espresso, and after 5 minutes, it’s valued at $4.30. Then again, it doesn’t turn out extraordinary for vendors either in case bitcoin’s value falls significantly after the espresso’s given over.

From numerous points of view, bitcoin works in a contrary way to traditional money:

It isn’t controlled or issued by a central bank.
It has a proper inventory (which implies new bitcoins can’t be made freely).
Its cost isn’t unsurprising.

Understanding these distinctions is the way to comprehend bitcoin.

How does Bitcoin work?

Comprehend there are three separate parts to Bitcoin, all of which join together to make a decentralized payment system:

The Bitcoin network
The native cryptographic money of the Bitcoin network called bitcoin (BTC)
The Bitcoin blockchain

Bitcoin runs on a shared network where users — typically individuals or entities who need to trade bitcoin with others on the network — don’t need the support of go-betweens to execute and validate exchanges. Users can decide to associate their PC directly to this network and download its public record, wherein all the authentic bitcoin exchanges are recorded.

This public ledger utilizes an innovation known as “blockchain,” also called “distributed ledger technology.” Blockchain innovation is the thing that permits digital money exchanges to be verified, stored, and ordered in an immutable, transparent way. Immutability nature and transparency are crucially significant credentials for a payment system that is confirmed and verified openly without a confided-in outsider in control.

At whatever point new transactions are affirmed and added to the record, the network updates each user’s copy of the record to reflect the most recent changes. Consider it an open Google document that updates automatically when anybody with access makes any kinds of changes to the document.

As its name infers, the Bitcoin blockchain is an advanced line of sequentially ordered “blocks” — chunks of code that contain bitcoin exchange information. Notice, notwithstanding, that validating transactions and bitcoin mining are independent processes. Mining can, in any case, happen if exchanges are added to the blockchain. Moreover, a blast in Bitcoin exchanges doesn’t really build the rate at which diggers discover new blocks.

Regardless of the volume of transactions holding back to be affirmed and verified, the Bitcoin network is programmed to permit new blocks to be added to the blockchain around once at regular intervals.

In light of the public idea of the blockchain, all network members can track, evaluate and assess bitcoin exchanges in real-time. This infrastructure reduces the chance of an online payment issue known as double-spending. Double spending happens when users attempt to spend a similar cryptocurrency twice.

For instance, John, who has 1 BTC, may attempt to send it to both Christine and Arturo simultaneously and trust the system doesn’t spot it.

Double spending is forestalled in the traditional banking system since a central authority performs reconciliation. It likewise isn’t an issue with actual money since you can’t hand two individuals a similar single dollar bill.

Bitcoin, in any case, has a large number of copies of the same ledger. Thus it requires the whole network of users to collectively concede to the legitimacy of every single exchange that happens. This understanding between all parties is the thing that’s known as “consensus.”

Similarly, as banks constantly update their users’ balances, everybody who has a copy of the Bitcoin record is responsible for affirming and confirming the balances of all bitcoin holders. Now the question is how does the Bitcoin network guarantee that consensus is accomplished, even though there are innumerable copies of the public ledger stored everywhere across the globe? This is done through a process called “proof-of-work.”

What is proof-of-work?

PCs in the Bitcoin network utilize a process called proof-of-work (PoW) to approve and validate transactions and secure the network. of-work is the Bitcoin blockchain’s “agreement component.”

While proof-of-work was the first and is by and large the most well-known kind of consensus mechanism for digital forms of money or cryptocurrencies that sudden spike in demand for blockchains, there are others — most prominently proof-of-stake (PoS), which will, in general, consume less computing power (and thusly less energy).

Proof-of-work lifts certain network supporters of the role of “validators” — all the more generally known as “miners” — solely after they have demonstrated their obligation to the network by devoting an enormous amount of computing power to finding new blocks — a cycle that ordinarily requires roughly 10 minutes.

At the point when another block is found, the miner who discovered it through the mining process will fill it with 1 megabyte of validated transactions. This new block is then added to the chain, and everybody’s copy of the ledger is updated to reflect the new information. In return for their efforts, the miner is permitted to keep any fees attached to the transactions they add, in addition to they’re given a measure of recently minted bitcoin. The new coins created and gave to effective miners are known as a “block reward.”

All Bitcoin users need to pay a network fee each time they make a transaction (typically dependent on its size) before the payment can be lined for verification. Consider it purchasing a stamp to mail a letter.

The objective while adding a transaction fee is to coordinate or surpass the normal fee paid by other network members, so your exchange is handled in an ideal way. Miners need to cover their own electricity and upkeep costs when running their machines practically the entire day to validate the bitcoin network; thus they focus on exchanges with the most noteworthy charges joined to get the most cash-flow conceivable when filling new blocks.

You can see the normal charges on the Bitcoin mempool, which can be compared to a lounge area where unverified exchanges are held until they are chosen and added to the blockchain by miners.

How is bitcoin created?

The Bitcoin network consequently delivers recently minted bitcoin to miners when they find and add new blocks to the blockchain. The total supply has a cap of 21 million, which means once the quantity of virtual coins available for use arrives at 21 million, the network will quit minting new coins. As it were, Bitcoin mining doubles as both the exchange validation and the issuance process (until every one of the coins is mined, and afterward, it will just function as the transaction validation measure).

Critically, expanding the amount of computing power devoted to bitcoin mining won’t mean more bitcoins are mined. Miners with more computing power just increment their shots at being reimbursed with the next block, so the measure of bitcoin mined remaining parts is somewhat stable over the long run.

The Bitcoin network utilizes a coin strategy known as “bitcoin halving” that guarantees the amount of bitcoin distributed to miners lessens after some time. By continuously diminishing the supply of new bitcoin entering circulation, the thought is it will assist with supporting the asset’s cost (in light of the fundamental principles of supply and demand.

A bitcoin halving (here and there called a “halvenings”) happens every 210,000 blocks or about four years. At the point when the network was originally created in 2009, each miner got 50 bitcoin (BTC) as a block award. Fast forward to 2021, block rewards are presently 6.25 BTC, a decrease from 12.5 BTC before the bitcoin dividing in May 2020.

The following halving is relied upon to happen at some point in 2024 and will see block rewards drop once more to 3.125 BTC. The process will proceed until, ultimately, there are no more coins left to be mined.

Today, more than 18.7 million BTC are available for use, which means there are simply 2.25 million BTC left to enter circulation. In any case, thinking about the halving principle and other network factors like mining difficulty, it’s assessed the last bitcoin will be mined at some point around the year 2140.

What is a bitcoin wallet?

A bitcoin wallet is a software program that sudden spikes in demand for a PC or a dedicated device that provides the functionality required to secure, send and get bitcoin. Irrationally, the digital currency itself isn’t stored in a wallet. All things considered, the wallet secures the cryptographic keys — basically a highly particular kind of secret key — that demonstrates the ownership for an explicit measure of bitcoin on the network.

Whenever a bitcoin exchange is executed, the ownership for bitcoin transfers from the sender to the recipient. The network assigns the recipient’s keys as the new “secret key” for accessing the bitcoin.

Bitcoin utilizes a system called public-key cryptography (PKC) to protect the trustworthiness of its blockchain. Initially used to encrypt and decrypt messages, PKC is presently usually utilized on blockchains to secure exchanges. This system permits just individuals with the right set of keys to access specific coins.

There are two kinds of keys needed to possess and execute bitcoin exchanges: Private and public keys. Both keys are strings of arbitrarily created alphanumeric characters used to encrypt and decrypt exchanges. On the Bitcoin network, PKC carries one-way mathematical functions that are not difficult to address in one manner and practically difficult to turn around.

The blockchain utilizes the one-way mathematical algorithm to make a public key from a private key. With this, it is basically challenging to recover the private key from the public key, which means you would be wise not to lose your keys (or fail to remember your secret key to get to them). Additionally, you will get a public location, which is basically the hashed or more limited type of your public key. This location capacities also to a house address and is shared to get bitcoin. Then again, the private key should be kept stowed away from meddlesome eyes, similarly as your check card’s PIN is intended for your eyes alone.

To execute exchanges, you are needed to utilize your private key and public key to encrypt and sign your Bitcoin exchanges. Additionally, you need to incorporate the public address of the beneficiary. With this, lone the beneficiary with the correct private key can unlock or claim the transferred bitcoin.