Bitcoin is the world’s first decentralized cryptocurrency – a type of digital asset that uses public-key cryptography to record, sign and send transactions over the Bitcoin blockchain – all done without the oversight of a central authority.
The Bitcoin network (with an upper-case “B”) was launched in January 2009 by an anonymous computer programmer or group of programmers under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto.” The network is a peer-to-peer electronic payment system that uses a cryptocurrency called bitcoin (lower case “b”) to transfer value over the internet or act as a store of value like gold and silver .