Bitcoin - Wikipedia

Bitcoin - Wikipedia
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Decentralized digital cryptocurrency
For the colloquial expression for coinage, see
Bit (money)
"₿" redirects here. Not to be confused with "฿" for
Thai baht
For other uses, see
Bitcoin (disambiguation)
Bitcoin
Commonly used logo of bitcoin
Denominations
Plural
bitcoins
Symbol
(Unicode:
U+20BF
BITCOIN SIGN
Code
BTC
Precision
10
−8
Subunits
1000
millibitcoin
000
000
microbitcoin
100
000
000
satoshi
Development
Original author
Satoshi Nakamoto
White paper
"Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System"
Implementation
Bitcoin Core
Initial release
0.1.0 / 9 January 2009
(17 years ago)
2009-01-09
Latest release
31.0.0 / 19 April 2026
(3 days ago)
2026-04-19
Code repository
github
.com
/bitcoin
/bitcoin
Development status
Active
Written in
C++
Source model
Free and open-source software
License
MIT License
Ledger
Ledger start
3 January 2009
(17 years ago)
2009-01-03
Timestamping scheme
Proof of work
(partial hash inversion)
Hash function
SHA-256
(two rounds)
Issuance schedule
Decentralized (block reward)
Initially ₿50 per block, halved every 210,000 blocks
Block reward
₿3.125 (as of 2025
[update]
Block time
10 minutes
Circulating supply
₿19,934,271 (as of 14 October 2025
[update]
Supply limit
₿21,000,000
Valuation
Exchange rate
Floating
Website
Website
bitcoin
.org
This article contains
special characters
Without proper
rendering support
, you may see
question marks, boxes, or other symbols
Bitcoin
(abbreviation:
BTC
sign
) is the first
decentralized
cryptocurrency
. Based on a
free-market
ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown person published a
white paper
under the pseudonym of
Satoshi Nakamoto
Use of bitcoin as a
currency
began in 2009,
with the release of its
open-source implementation
: ch. 1
From 2021 to 2025,
El Salvador adopted it as legal tender currency before revoking it
As bitcoin is
pseudonymous
its use by criminals
has attracted the attention of regulators, leading to
its ban by several countries
10
Bitcoin works through the collaboration of computers, each of which acts as a
node
in the
peer-to-peer
bitcoin network
. Each node maintains an independent copy of a public
distributed ledger
of transactions, called a
blockchain
, without central oversight. Transactions are validated through the use of
cryptography
, preventing one person from spending another person's bitcoin, as long as the owner of the bitcoin keeps certain sensitive data secret.
: ch. 5
Consensus
between nodes about the content of the blockchain is achieved using a
computationally intensive
process based on
proof of work
, called
mining
, which is performed by purpose-built computers.
: ch. 12
Mining consumes large quantities of electricity and has been criticized for
its environmental impact
11
History
Main article:
History of bitcoin
Background
Before bitcoin, several
digital cash technologies
were released, starting with
David Chaum
's
ecash
in the 1980s.
12
The idea that solutions to computational puzzles could have some value was first proposed by cryptographers
Cynthia Dwork
and
Moni Naor
in 1992.
13
12
The concept was
independently rediscovered
by
Adam Back
who developed
Hashcash
, a
proof-of-work
scheme for
spam control
in 1997.
12
The first proposals for distributed digital scarcity-based
cryptocurrencies
came from
cypherpunks
Wei Dai
(b-money) and
Nick Szabo
bit gold
) in 1998.
14
In 2004,
Hal Finney
developed the first currency based on reusable proof of work.
15
These various attempts were not successful:
12
Chaum's concept required centralized control and no banks wanted to sign on, Hashcash had no protection against
double-spending
, while b-money and bit gold were not resistant to
Sybil attacks
12
2008–2009: Creation
External image
Cover page of
The Times
3 January 2009 showing the headline used in the genesis block
The domain name
bitcoin.org
was registered on 18 August 2008.
16
On 31 October 2008, a link to a
white paper
authored by
Satoshi Nakamoto
titled
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
was posted to a cryptography mailing list.
17
Nakamoto's identity remains unknown.
According to computer scientist
Arvind Narayanan
, all individual components of bitcoin originated in earlier academic literature.
12
Nakamoto's innovation was their complex interplay resulting in the first decentralized,
Sybil resistant
Byzantine fault
tolerant digital cash system, that would eventually be referred to as the first blockchain.
12
18
Nakamoto's paper was not
peer reviewed
and was initially ignored by academics, who argued that it could not work.
12
Nakamoto released bitcoin as
open-source software
19
On 3 January 2009, the bitcoin network was created when Nakamoto mined the starting block of the chain, known as the
genesis block
20
Embedded in this block was the text "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of
second bailout for banks
", which is the date and headline of an issue of
The Times
newspaper.
Nine days later, Hal Finney received the first bitcoin transaction: ten bitcoins from Nakamoto.
21
Wei Dai and Nick Szabo were also early supporters.
20
On May 22, 2010, the first known
commercial transaction
using bitcoin occurred when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two
Papa John's
pizzas for ₿10,000, in what would later be celebrated as "Bitcoin Pizza Day".
22
Satoshi tasked Finnish developer and early Bitcoin contributor
Martti Malmi
fi
with creating content for the bitcoin.org website.
23
24
2010–2012: Early growth
Blockchain analysts
estimate that Nakamoto had mined about one million bitcoins
25
before disappearing in 2010 when he handed the network alert key and control of the
code repository
over to
Gavin Andresen
. Andresen later became lead developer at the
Bitcoin Foundation
26
27
an
organization
founded in September 2012 to promote bitcoin.
28
After early "
proof-of-concept
" transactions, the first major users of bitcoin were
black markets
, such as the
dark web
Silk Road
. During its 30 months of existence, beginning in February 2011, Silk Road exclusively accepted bitcoins as payment, transacting ₿9.9 million, worth about $214 million.
29
: 222
2013–2014: First regulatory actions
In March 2013, the US
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
(FinCEN) established regulatory guidelines for "decentralized virtual currencies" such as bitcoin, classifying American bitcoin miners who sell their generated bitcoins as
money services businesses
, subject to registration and other legal obligations.
30
In May 2013, US authorities seized the unregistered
exchange
Mt. Gox
31
In June 2013, the US
Drug Enforcement Administration
seized ₿11.02 from an individual attempting to use them to purchase illicit drugs. This marked the first time a government agency had seized bitcoins.
32
The FBI seized about ₿30,000 in October 2013 from Silk Road, following the arrest of its founder
Ross Ulbricht
33
In December 2013, the
People's Bank of China
prohibited Chinese financial institutions from using bitcoin.
34
After the announcement, the value of bitcoin dropped,
35
and
Baidu
no longer accepted bitcoins for certain services.
36
Buying real-world goods with any virtual currency had been illegal in China since at least 2009.
37
2015–2019
Research produced by the
University of Cambridge
estimated that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a
cryptocurrency wallet
, most of them using bitcoin.
38
In August 2017, the
SegWit
software upgrade was activated. Segwit was intended to support the
Lightning Network
as well as improve
scalability
39
SegWit opponents, who supported larger blocks as a scalability solution,
forked
to create
Bitcoin Cash
, one of many
forks of bitcoin
40
In December 2017, the first
futures
on bitcoin was introduced by the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
(CME).
41
In February 2018, the price crashed after China imposed a complete ban on bitcoin trading.
42
The percentage of bitcoin trading in the Chinese
renminbi
fell from over 90% in September 2017 to less than 1% in June 2018.
43
During the same year, bitcoin prices were negatively affected by several hacks or thefts from cryptocurrency exchanges.
44
2020–present
Bitcoin price
45
December 1, 2014 –
December 4, 2024
In 2020, some major companies and institutions started to acquire bitcoin:
MicroStrategy
invested $250 million in bitcoin as a
treasury reserve asset
46
Square, Inc.
, $50 million,
47
and
MassMutual
, $100 million.
48
In November 2020,
PayPal
added support for bitcoin in the US.
49
In February 2021, bitcoin's
market capitalization
reached $1 trillion for the first time.
50
In November 2021, the
Taproot
soft-fork
upgrade was activated, adding support for
Schnorr signatures
, improved functionality of
smart contracts
and
Lightning Network
51
Before, bitcoin only used a custom
elliptic curve
with the
ECDSA
algorithm to produce
signatures
52
: 101
In September 2021, bitcoin became
legal tender
currency
in El Salvador
, alongside the US dollar.
In October 2021, the first bitcoin futures
exchange-traded fund
(ETF), called BITO, from
ProShares
was approved by the
SEC
and listed on the
CME
53
In early 2022, during the
Canadian trucker protests
opposing
COVID-19 vaccine mandates
, organizers turned to bitcoin to receive donations after traditional financial platforms restricted access to funding.
54
55
Proponents highlighted bitcoin's use as a tool for fundraising in situations where access to conventional financial systems may be restricted.
56
57
In May and June 2022, the bitcoin price fell following the collapses of
TerraUSD
, a
stablecoin
58
and the
Celsius Network
, a cryptocurrency loan company.
59
60
In 2023, ordinals—
non-fungible tokens
(NFTs)—on bitcoin, went live.
61
As of June 2023, River Financial estimated that bitcoin had 81.7 million users, about 1% of the global population.
62
In January 2024, the first 11 US
spot
bitcoin
ETFs
began trading, offering direct exposure to bitcoin for the first time on American stock exchanges.
63
64
In December 2024, bitcoin price reached $100,000 for the first time, as US president-elect
Donald Trump
promised to make the US the "crypto capital of the planet" and to stockpile bitcoin.
65
The same month,
BlackRock
, the world's largest
asset manager
, recommended investors to allocate up to 2% of their
portfolio
to bitcoin.
66
As of 2025, the Salvadoran government continues to describe Bitcoin as legal tender under the 2021 Bitcoin Law; however, a January 2025 reform removed obligations for businesses and the government to accept it, so many analysts regard its legal-tender status as effectively ended in practice.
In March 2025,
President Trump
signed an
executive order
to establish a
strategic bitcoin reserve
67
Later that year, some U.S. states, such as
Texas
and
New Hampshire
also instituted strategic bitcoin reserves,
68
and the
Czech National Bank
bought less than €1 million in a "test portfolio".
69
Design
Main article:
Bitcoin protocol
Units and divisibility
Bitcoin logos made by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 (left) and 2010 (right).
The
unit of account
of the bitcoin system is the
bitcoin
. It is most commonly represented with the
symbol
₿ designed in 2010
and the
currency code
BTC. However, the BTC code does not conform to
ISO 4217
as BT is the country code of Bhutan,
70
and ISO 4217 requires the first letter used in global commodities to be 'X'.
70
XBT, a code that conforms to
ISO 4217
though not officially part of it,
70
is used by
Bloomberg L.P.
71
No uniform
capitalization
convention exists; some sources use
Bitcoin
, capitalized, to refer to the technology and
network
, and
bitcoin
, lowercase, for the unit of account.
72
The
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
and the
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
use the capitalized and lowercase variants without distinction.
73
74
One bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places.
: ch. 5
Units for smaller amounts of bitcoin are the millibitcoin (mBTC), equal to
1000
bitcoin, and the satoshi
(sat), representing
100
000
000
(one hundred millionth) bitcoin, the smallest amount possible.
100,000 satoshis are one mBTC.
75
Blockchain
Further information:
Blockchain § Structure and design
As a
decentralized
system, bitcoin operates without a central authority or single administrator,
76
so that anyone can create a new bitcoin address and transact without needing any approval.
: ch. 1
This is accomplished through a specialized
distributed ledger
called a
blockchain
that records bitcoin transactions.
77
The blockchain is implemented as an ordered list of
blocks
. Each block contains a
SHA-256
hash
of the previous block,
77
chaining them in chronological order.
: ch. 7
77
The blockchain is maintained by a
peer-to-peer
network.
29
: 215–219
Individual blocks, public addresses, and transactions within blocks are public information, and can be examined using a blockchain explorer.
78
Nodes validate and broadcast transactions, each maintaining a copy of the blockchain for ownership verification.
79
A new block is created every 10 minutes on average, updating the blockchain across all nodes without central oversight. This process tracks bitcoin spending, ensuring each bitcoin is
spent only once
. Unlike a traditional ledger that tracks physical currency, bitcoins exist digitally as
unspent outputs of transactions
: ch. 5
Addresses and transactions
Simplified chain of ownership. In practice, a transaction can have more than one input and more than one output.
80
In the blockchain, bitcoins are linked to specific
strings
called addresses. Most often, an address encodes a
hash
of a single
public key
. Creating such an address involves generating a random private key and then computing the corresponding address. This process is almost instant, but the reverse (finding the private key for a given address) is nearly impossible.
: ch. 4
Publishing such a bitcoin address does not risk its private key, and it is extremely unlikely to accidentally generate a used key with funds. To use bitcoins, owners need their private key to
digitally sign
transactions, which are verified by the network using the public key, keeping the private key secret.
: ch. 5
An address may encode the hash of a bitcoin script that specifies more complex requirements to spend the funds. One common example is "multisig", in which multiple distinct private keys must mutually sign any transaction that attempts to spend the funds.
: ch. 7
Bitcoin transactions use a
Forth
-like
scripting language
: ch. 5
involving one or more inputs and outputs. When sending bitcoins, a user specifies the recipients' addresses and the amount for each output. This allows sending bitcoins to several recipients in a single transaction. To prevent double-spending, each input must refer to a previous unspent output in the blockchain.
80
Using multiple inputs is similar to using multiple coins in a cash transaction. As in a cash transaction, the sum of inputs can exceed the intended sum of payments. In such a case, an additional output can return the change back to the payer.
80
Unallocated input satoshis in the transaction become the transaction fee.
80
Losing a private key means losing access to the bitcoins, with no other proof of ownership accepted by the
protocol
29
For instance, in 2013, a user lost ₿7,500, valued at US$7.5 million, by accidentally discarding a
hard drive
with the private key.
81
It is estimated that around 20% of all bitcoins are lost.
82
The private key must also be kept secret as its exposure, such as through a
data breach
, can lead to theft of the associated bitcoins.
: ch. 10
83
As of December 2017
[update]
, approximately ₿980,000 had been stolen from
cryptocurrency exchanges
84
Mining
See also:
Bitcoin protocol § Mining
Bitcoin mining
facility
with large amounts of mining hardware
Miners don't directly act as nodes, but do communicate with nodes. The mining process is primarily intended to prevent
double-spending
and get all nodes to agree on the content of the blockchain, but it also has desirable side-effects such as making it infeasible for adversaries to stifle valid transactions or alter the historical record of transactions, since doing so generally requires the adversary to have access to more mining power than the rest of the network combined.
: ch. 12
The mining process in bitcoin involves maintaining the blockchain through computer
processing power
. Miners group and broadcast new transactions into blocks, which are then verified by the network.
77
Each block must contain a proof of work (PoW) to be accepted,
77
involving finding a
nonce
number that, combined with the block content, produces a
hash
numerically smaller than the network's
difficulty target
: ch. 8
This PoW is simple to verify but hard to generate, requiring many attempts.
: ch. 8
PoW forms the basis of bitcoin's
consensus mechanism
85
The difficulty of generating a block is
deterministically adjusted
based on the
mining power on the network
by changing the difficulty target, which is recalibrated every 2,016 blocks (approximately two weeks) to maintain an average time of ten minutes between new blocks. The process requires significant computational power and specialized
hardware
: ch. 8
86
Miners who successfully create a new block with a valid nonce can collect transaction fees from the included transactions and a fixed reward in bitcoins.
87
To claim this reward, a special transaction called a
coinbase
is included in the block, with the miner as the payee. All bitcoins in existence have been created through this type of transaction.
: ch. 8
This reward is halved every 210,000 blocks until ₿21 million
have been issued in total, which is expected to occur around the year 2140. Afterward, miners will only earn from transaction fees. These fees are determined by the transaction's size and the amount of data stored, measured in satoshis per byte.
88
80
: ch. 8
The proof of work system and the chaining of blocks make blockchain modifications very difficult, as altering one block requires changing all subsequent blocks. As more blocks are added, modifying older blocks becomes increasingly challenging.
89
77
In case of disagreement, nodes trust the longest chain, which required the greatest amount of effort to produce.
85
To tamper or censor the ledger, one needs to control the majority of the global
hashrate
85
The high cost required to reach this level of computational power
secures
the bitcoin blockchain.
85
The
environmental impact of bitcoin mining
is controversial and has attracted the attention of regulators,
leading to restrictions or incentives in various jurisdictions
90
As of 2025
[update]
, a
non-peer-reviewed
study by the
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance
(CCAF) estimated that bitcoin mining represented 0.5% of
global electricity consumption
and 0.08% of world
greenhouse gas emissions
, comparable to Slovakia's emissions.
91
About half of the electricity used is generated through
fossil fuels
92
Moreover, mining hardware's short lifespan results in
electronic waste
93
In October 2025, the US was the largest mining country with 38% of the global bitcoin mining market share, followed by Russia (16%) and China (14%, despite all cryptocurrency trading and mining being banned there in 2021).
94
95
Privacy and fungibility
Bitcoin is
pseudonymous
, with funds linked to addresses, not real-world identities. While the owners of these addresses are not directly identified, all transactions are public on the blockchain. Patterns of use, like spending coins from multiple inputs, can hint at a common owner. Public data can sometimes be matched with known address owners.
96
Bitcoin exchanges
might also need to collect personal data as per legal requirements.
97
For enhanced
, users can generate a new address for each transaction.
98
In the bitcoin network, each bitcoin is treated equally, ensuring basic
fungibility
. However, users and applications can choose to differentiate between bitcoins. While wallets and software treat all bitcoins the same, each bitcoin's transaction history is recorded on the blockchain. This public record allows for
chain analysis
, where users can identify and potentially reject bitcoins from controversial sources.
99
For example, in 2012, Mt. Gox froze accounts containing bitcoins identified as stolen.
100
Wallets
For broader coverage of this topic, see
Cryptocurrency wallet
Screenshot of
Bitcoin Core
A paper wallet with the address as a
QR code
while the private key is hidden
A hardware wallet which processes bitcoin transactions without exposing private keys
Bitcoin wallets were the first
cryptocurrency wallets
, enabling users to store the information necessary to transact bitcoins.
101
: ch. 1, glossary
The first wallet program, simply named
Bitcoin
, and sometimes referred to as the
Satoshi client
, was released in 2009 by Nakamoto as
open-source software
19
Bitcoin Core
is among the best known
clients
Forks
of Bitcoin Core exist such as
Bitcoin Unlimited
102
Wallets can be full clients, with a full copy of the blockchain to check the validity of mined blocks,
: ch. 1
or lightweight clients, just to send and receive transactions without a local copy of the entire blockchain.
103
Third-party internet services, called online wallets or
hot wallets
, store users' credentials on their servers, making them susceptible of hacks.
104
Cold storage
protects bitcoins from such hacks by keeping private keys offline, either through specialized hardware wallets or paper printouts.
105
: ch. 4
Scalability and decentralization challenges
Main article:
Bitcoin scalability problem
Nakamoto limited the block size to one
megabyte
106
The limited block size and frequency can lead to delayed processing of transactions, increased fees and a bitcoin scalability problem.
107
The
Lightning Network
, a
second-layer
routing
network, is a potential scaling solution.
: ch. 8
Research shows a trend towards centralization in bitcoin as miners join
pools
for stable income.
29
: 215, 219–222
108
: 3
If a single miner or pool controls more than 50% of the
hashing power
, it would allow them to censor transactions and double-spend coins.
76
In 2014, mining pool
Ghash.io
reached 51% mining power, causing safety concerns, but later voluntarily capped its power at 39.99% for the benefit of the whole network.
109
A few entities also dominate other parts of the ecosystem such as the client software, online wallets, and simplified payment verification (SPV) clients.
76
Economics and usage
Main article:
Economics of bitcoin
Bitcoin's theoretical roots and ideology
According to the
European Central Bank
, the decentralization of money offered by bitcoin has its theoretical roots in the
Austrian school of economics
, especially with
Friedrich Hayek
's
The Denationalisation of Money
, in which he advocates a complete
free market
in the production, distribution and management of money to end the monopoly of
central banks
110
: 22
Sociologist
Nigel Dodd
argues that the essence of the bitcoin ideology is to remove money from social, as well as governmental, control.
111
The Economist
describes bitcoin as "a
techno-anarchist
project to create an online version of cash, a way for people to transact without the possibility of interference from malicious governments or banks".
112
These philosophical ideas initially attracted
libertarians
and
anarchists
113
Recognition as a currency and legal status
Legal status of bitcoin
Permissive (legal to use bitcoin, with minimal or no restrictions)
Restricted (some legal restrictions on the usage of bitcoin)
Contentious (interpretation of old laws, but bitcoin is not directly prohibited)
Prohibited (full or partial prohibition on the use of bitcoin)
No data (no information available)
Money
serves three purposes: a
store of value
, a
medium of exchange
, and a
unit of account
114
According to
The Economist
in 2014, bitcoin functions best as a medium of exchange.
114
In 2015,
The Economist
noted that bitcoins had three qualities useful in a currency: they are "hard to earn, limited in supply and easy to verify".
115
However, a 2018 assessment by
The Economist
stated that cryptocurrencies met none of these three criteria.
112
Per some researchers, as of 2015
[update]
, bitcoin functions more as a
payment system
than as a currency.
29
In 2014, economist
Robert J. Shiller
wrote that bitcoin has potential as a unit of account for measuring the relative value of goods, as with Chile's
Unidad de Fomento
, but that "Bitcoin in its present form... doesn't really solve any sensible economic problem".
116
In 2017, François Velde, senior economist at the
Chicago Fed
, described bitcoin as "unlikely by itself to replace monies in well-functioning monetary systems."
117
The
legal status of bitcoin
varies substantially from one jurisdiction to another. Because of its decentralized nature and its global presence, regulating bitcoin is difficult. However, the use of bitcoin can be criminalized, and shutting down exchanges and the peer-to-peer economy in a given country would constitute a
de facto
ban.
118
The
use of bitcoin by criminals
has attracted the attention of financial regulators, legislative bodies, and law enforcement.
119
Nobel-prize winning economist
Joseph Stiglitz
says that bitcoin's anonymity encourages
money laundering
and other crimes.
120
This is the main justification behind bitcoin bans.
10
As of November 2021
[update]
, nine countries applied an absolute ban (Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, and Tunisia) while another 42 countries had an implicit ban.
121
needs update
Use for payments
Café in
Delft
accepting Bitcoin
According to Harvard Professor
Kenneth Rogoff
as of 2025
[update]
, bitcoin is rarely used in regular transactions with merchants, but is popular in the
informal economy
and for criminal activities.
122
123
Prices are not usually quoted in bitcoin and trades involve conversions into
fiat
currencies.
29
Commonly cited reasons for not using bitcoin include high costs, the inability to process
chargebacks
, high
price volatility
, long transaction times, and
transaction fees
(especially for small purchases).
124
125
Bloomberg
reported that bitcoin was being used for large-item purchases on the site
Overstock.com
and for cross-border payments to
freelancers
126
As of 2015
[update]
, there was little sign of bitcoin use in international
remittances
despite high fees charged by banks and
Western Union
29
127
From September 2021 until January 2025, the
Bitcoin Law
made bitcoin a
legal tender
currency in
El Salvador
, alongside the US dollar.
The adoption had been criticized internationally and within El Salvador.
128
In 2022, the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) urged El Salvador to reverse its decision.
129
As of 2022
[update]
, the use of
Bitcoin in El Salvador
remained low: 80% of businesses refused to accept it.
130
In 2025, El Salvador's government revoked bitcoin's status as legal tender currency in order to comply with conditions set by the IMF for a loan. El Salvador still describes bitcoin as "legal tender", but its acceptance is no longer obligitory (as it is with the US dollar) and the El Salvador government no longer accepts bitcoin for payment of taxes or fees.
In April 2022, the
Central African Republic
(CAR) adopted bitcoin as legal tender alongside the
CFA franc
131
but repealed the reform one year later.
132
Bitcoin is also used by some governments. For instance, the
Iranian government
initially opposed cryptocurrencies, but later began using them to circumvent
sanctions
133
Since 2020, Iran has required local bitcoin miners to sell bitcoin to the
Central Bank of Iran
, allowing the central bank to use it for imports.
134
Some
constituent states
and
local governments
also accept tax payments in bitcoin, including
Colorado
in the US
135
and
Zug
and
Lugano
in Switzerland.
136
137
As of 2023, the US government owned more than $5 billion worth of seized bitcoin.
138
139
Use for investment and status as an economic bubble
Further information:
Cryptocurrency bubble
Government website with El Salvador reserves
As of 2018
[update]
, the overwhelming majority of bitcoin transactions took place on
cryptocurrency exchanges
124
Since 2014, regulated bitcoin funds also allow
exposure
to the asset or to
futures
as an investment.
140
141
Bitcoin is used as a
store of value
142
143
individuals and companies such as the
Winklevoss twins
144
and
Elon Musk
's companies
SpaceX
and
Tesla
have each bought and sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin.
145
146
147
Bitcoin wealth is highly concentrated, with 0.01% holding 27% of in-circulation currency, as of 2021.
148
As of March 2025, El Salvador had $550 million worth of bitcoin in its
international reserves
, about 6,102 coins.
149
Bitcoin, along with other cryptocurrencies, has been described as an
economic bubble
by several economists, including
Nobel Prize in Economics
laureates, such as
Joseph Stiglitz
150
James Heckman
151
and
Paul Krugman
152
Another recipient of the prize,
Robert Shiller
, argues that bitcoin is rather a
fad
that may become an
asset class
. He describes its price growth as an "epidemic", driven by
contagious narratives
153
In 2024,
Jean Tirole
, also Nobel laureate, described bitcoin as a "pure bubble" as its
intrinsic value
is zero. According to him, some bubbles are long-lasting such as gold and fiat currencies, and it is impossible to predict whether bitcoin would implode like other financial bubbles or become an alternative to gold.
154
The same year,
Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell
described bitcoin as a digital competitor to gold but not to the dollar as he argued it is a highly volatile
speculative
asset not used as a form of payment.
155
In 2025,
Kenneth Rogoff
claimed that Krugman was wrong and that Bitcoin had value as it is competing with the dollar to become the
means of exchange
of the
underground economy
which represents 20% of the world's
GDP
122
123
According to Rogoff, bitcoin is "the ideal currency for a more fragmented and uncertain global landscape" and it could become appealing to
emerging-market
central banks as a "politically neutral"
reserve
currency
156
In 2025, the nominee for the Chair of the Federal Reserve,
Kevin Warsh
, described Bitcoin as the "new gold."
156
According to research published in the
International Review of Financial Analysis
in 2018, bitcoin as an asset is highly volatile and does not behave like any other conventional asset.
157
According to one 2022 analysis published in
The Journal of Alternative Investments
, bitcoin was less volatile than
oil
silver
US Treasuries
, and 190 stocks in the
S&P 500
during and after the
2020 stock market crash
158
The term
hodl
was created in December 2013 for
holding
bitcoin rather than selling it during periods of volatility.
159
160
In 2014, economist
Nouriel Roubini
described bitcoin as a
Ponzi scheme
161
Legal scholar
Eric Posner
disagrees, however, as "a real Ponzi scheme takes fraud; bitcoin, by contrast, seems more like a collective
delusion
".
162
A 2014
World Bank
report also concluded that bitcoin was not a deliberate Ponzi scheme.
163
Market characteristics
Bitcoin markets operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, contrasting with traditional financial markets that have fixed trading hours. Bitcoin prices show much higher volatility and respond strongly to both regulatory changes and market events.
164
The volume of bitcoin trading can fluctuate considerably among various exchanges and geographic regions. The daily transaction volume of bitcoin across all exchanges typically reaches $50 billion as of 2025.
165
See also
Alternative currency
– Medium of exchange complementing national currencies
Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
List of cryptocurrencies
Notes
Named after
Satoshi Nakamoto
The exact number is ₿20,999,999.9769.
: ch. 8
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Nakamoto, Satoshi (31 October 2008).
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(PDF)
. bitcoin.org. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 20 March 2014
. Retrieved
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2014
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