Bitcoin: Difference between revisions
From Cibernética Americana
Jump to navigationJump to search
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
'''Bitcoin''' is a [[digital currency]] created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. The name also refers to the [[open source]] software he designed that uses it, and the peer-to-peer network that it forms. Unlike most currencies, bitcoin does not rely on trusting any central issuer. Bitcoin uses a [[distributed database]] spread across nodes of a [[peer-to-peer]] network to journal transactions, and uses [[cryptography]] in order to provide basic security functions, such as ensuring that bitcoins can only be spent by the person who owns them, and never more than once. | '''Bitcoin''' is a [[digital currency]] created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. The name also refers to the [[open source]] software he designed that uses it, and the peer-to-peer network that it forms. Unlike most currencies, bitcoin does not rely on trusting any central issuer. Bitcoin uses a [[distributed database]] spread across nodes of a [[peer-to-peer]] network to journal transactions, and uses [[cryptography]] in order to provide basic security functions, such as ensuring that bitcoins can only be spent by the person who owns them, and never more than once. | ||
Bitcoin's design allows for anonymous ownership and transfers of value. Bitcoins can be saved on a personal computer in the form of a ''wallet file'' or kept with a third party ''wallet service'', and in either case Bitcoins can be sent over the Internet to anyone with a ''Bitcoin address''. Bitcoin's peer-to-peer topology and lack of central administration make it infeasible for any authority, governmental or otherwise, to manipulate the value of bitcoins or induce [[inflation]] by producing more of them.{{ | Bitcoin's design allows for anonymous ownership and transfers of value. Bitcoins can be saved on a personal computer in the form of a ''wallet file'' or kept with a third party ''wallet service'', and in either case Bitcoins can be sent over the Internet to anyone with a ''Bitcoin address''. Bitcoin's peer-to-peer topology and lack of central administration make it infeasible for any authority, governmental or otherwise, to manipulate the value of bitcoins or induce [[inflation]] by producing more of them.{{fact}} | ||
Bitcoin is one of the first implementations of a concept called 'cryptocurrency', first described in 1998 by Wei Dai on the [[Cypherpunk#Cypherpunk mailing list|cypherpunk]]s mailing list.<ref>http://weidai.com/bmoney.txt</ref>{{ | Bitcoin is one of the first implementations of a concept called 'cryptocurrency', first described in 1998 by Wei Dai on the [[Cypherpunk#Cypherpunk mailing list|cypherpunk]]s mailing list.<ref>http://weidai.com/bmoney.txt</ref>{{fact}} | ||
== Economics == | == Economics == | ||
