Crypto 101 with Jonathan · Lesson 2 of 8
What is Bitcoin, really?
The first cryptocurrency, created from a short paper and run by a network rather than a company.
In this lesson
- Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, described in a nine-page paper and launched in 2009.
- No company, CEO or headquarters runs it. Computers around the world follow the same rules.
- Many other cryptocurrencies came after it, with different purposes. Bitcoin is the first and the largest.
Lesson notes
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. It started with a short paper, about nine pages, describing how digital money could work without a bank in the middle. The network went live in 2009.
Here is the part most people miss: Bitcoin is not a company. There is no headquarters, no CEO and no customer-service line. It is a network. Computers all over the world run the same software, follow the same rules and check each other’s work.
Thousands of other cryptocurrencies came after Bitcoin, built for different purposes. Bitcoin remains the first, the largest and the one most people mean when they say “crypto.”
Next, a story that shows how far it has come: the two pizzas.