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History

Background
2008–2009: Creation
2010–2012: Early growth
2013–2014: First regulatory actions
2015–2019
2020–present
Design

Units and divisibility

Blockchain
Addresses and transactions
Mining
Privacy and fungibility
Wallets
Scalability and decentralization challenges
Economics and usage

Bitcoin's theoretical roots and ideology

Recognition as a currency and legal status
Use for payments
Use for investment and status as an economic bubble
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
Bitcoin

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Extended-protected article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the colloquial expression for coinage, see Bit (money).
"₿" redirects here. Not to be confused with "฿" for Thai baht.
Bitcoin
Prevailing bitcoin logo
Commonly used logo of bitcoin
Denominations
Plural bitcoins
Symbol ₿
(Unicode: U+20BF ₿ BITCOIN SIGN)[1]
Code BTC
Precision 10−8
Subunits
1⁄1000 millibitcoin
1⁄1000000 microbitcoin
1⁄100000000 satoshi[a][2]
Development
Original author(s) Satoshi Nakamoto
White paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System"
Implementation(s) Bitcoin Core
Initial release 0.1.0 / 9 January 2009 (16 years ago)
Latest release 28.1 / 9 January 2025 (2 months ago)[3]
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 (16 years ago)
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 2024)
Block time 10 minutes
Circulating supply ₿19,591,231 (as of 6 January 2024)
Supply limit ₿21,000,000[b]
Valuation
Exchange rate Floating
Demographics
Official user(s) El Salvador[4]
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 by an unknown entity
under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto.[5] Use of bitcoin as a currency began in
2009,[6] with the release of its open-source implementation.[7]: ch. 1 In 2021, El
Salvador adopted it as legal tender.[4] It is mostly seen as an investment and has
been described by some scholars as an economic bubble.[8] As bitcoin is
pseudonymous, its use by criminals has attracted the attention of regulators,
leading to its ban by several countries as of 2021.[9]

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, making it
practically impossible for one person to spend another person's bitcoin, as long as
the owner of the bitcoin keeps certain sensitive data secret.[7]: 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
typically performed by purpose-built computers called miners. These 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.[7]: ch. 12 It is
also used to regulate the rate at which new bitcoin is issued and enters
circulation. Mining consumes large quantities of electricity and has been
criticized for its environmental impact.[10]

History
Main article: History of bitcoin
Background
Before bitcoin, several digital cash technologies were released, starting with
David Chaum's ecash in the 1980s.[11] The idea that solutions to computational
puzzles could have some value was first proposed by cryptographers Cynthia Dwork
and Moni Naor in 1992.[12][11] The concept was independently rediscovered by Adam
Back who developed Hashcash, a proof-of-work scheme for spam control in 1997.[11]
The first proposals for distributed digital scarcity-based cryptocurrencies came
from cypherpunks Wei Dai (b-money) and Nick Szabo (bit gold) in 1998.[13] In 2004,
Hal Finney developed the first currency based on reusable proof of work.[14] These
various attempts were not successful:[11] 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.[11]

2008–2009: Creation
External image
image icon Cover page of The Times 3 January 2009 showing the headline used in the
genesis block

Bitcoin logos made by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 (left) and 2010 (right).
The domain name bitcoin.org was registered on 18 August 2008.[15] 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.[16]
Nakamoto implemented the bitcoin software as open-source code and released it in
January 2009.[6] Nakamoto's identity remains unknown.[5] According to computer
scientist Arvind Narayanan, all individual components of bitcoin originated in
earlier academic literature.[11] 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.
[11][17] Nakamoto's paper was not peer reviewed and was initially ignored by
academics, who argued that it could not work.[11]
On 3 January 2009, the bitcoin network was created when Nakamoto mined the starting
block of the chain, known as the genesis block.[18] 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.[6] Nine days later,
Hal Finney received the first bitcoin transaction: ten bitcoins from Nakamoto.[19]
Wei Dai and Nick Szabo were also early supporters.[18] 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".[20]

2010–2012: Early growth

Blockchain analysts estimate that Nakamoto had mined about one million bitcoins[21]
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,[22][23] an organization founded in September 2012 to promote
bitcoin.[24]

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.[25]: 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.[26] In
May 2013, US authorities seized the unregistered exchange Mt. Gox.[27] 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.[28] The FBI seized about ₿30,000 in October
2013 from Silk Road, following the arrest of its founder Ross Ulbricht.[29]

In December 2013, the People's Bank of China prohibited Chinese financial

institutions from using bitcoin.[30] After the announcement, the value of bitcoin
dropped,[31] and Baidu no longer accepted bitcoins for certain services.[32] Buying
real-world goods with any virtual currency had been illegal in China since at least
2009.[33]

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.[34] In August 2017, the SegWit software upgrade was activated. Segwit was
intended to support the Lightning Network as well as improve scalability.[35]
SegWit opponents, who supported larger blocks as a scalability solution, forked to
create Bitcoin Cash, one of many forks of bitcoin.[36]

In December 2017, the first futures on bitcoin was introduced by the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange (CME).[37]

In February 2018, the price crashed after China imposed a complete ban on bitcoin
trading.[38] The percentage of bitcoin trading in the Chinese renminbi fell from
over 90% in September 2017 to less than 1% in June 2018.[39] During the same year,
bitcoin prices were negatively affected by several hacks or thefts from
cryptocurrency exchanges.[40]

2020–present
Bitcoin price[41]
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,[42]
Square, Inc., $50 million,[43] and MassMutual, $100 million.[44] In November 2020,
PayPal added support for bitcoin in the US.[45]

In February 2021, bitcoin's market capitalization reached $1 trillion for the first
time.[46] In November 2021, the Taproot soft-fork upgrade was activated, adding
support for Schnorr signatures, improved functionality of smart contracts and
Lightning Network.[47] Before, bitcoin only used a custom elliptic curve with the
ECDSA algorithm to produce signatures.[48]: 101 In September 2021, bitcoin became
legal tender in El Salvador, alongside the US dollar.[4] 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.[49]

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.[50][51] Proponents highlighted
bitcoin's use as a tool for fundraising in situations where access to conventional
financial systems may be restricted.[52][53] In May and June 2022, the bitcoin
price fell following the collapses of TerraUSD, a stablecoin,[54] and the Celsius
Network, a cryptocurrency loan company.[55][56]

In 2023, ordinals—non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—on bitcoin, went live.[57] As of June

2023, River Financial estimated that bitcoin had 81.7 million users, about 1% of
the global population.[58] 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.[59][60] 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.[61] The same month, BlackRock, the
world's largest asset manager, recommended investors to allocate up to 2% of their
portfolio to bitcoin.[62]

In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic

bitcoin reserve.[63]

Design
Main article: Bitcoin protocol
Units and divisibility
The unit of account of the bitcoin system is the bitcoin. It is most commonly
represented with the symbol ₿[1] and the currency code BTC. However, the BTC code
does not conform to ISO 4217 as BT is the country code of Bhutan,[64] and ISO 4217
requires the first letter used in global commodities to be 'X'.[64] XBT, a code
that conforms to ISO 4217 though not officially part of it,[64] is used by
Bloomberg L.P.[65]

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.[66] The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the Oxford Advanced
Learner's Dictionary use the capitalized and lowercase variants without
distinction.[67][68]

One bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places.[7]: ch. 5 Units for smaller
amounts of bitcoin are the millibitcoin (mBTC), equal to 1⁄1000 bitcoin, and the
satoshi[a] (sat), representing 1⁄100000000 (one hundred millionth) bitcoin, the
smallest amount possible.[2] 100,000 satoshis are one mBTC.[69]
Blockchain
Further information: Blockchain § Structure and design
As a decentralized system, bitcoin operates without a central authority or single
administrator,[70] so that anyone can create a new bitcoin address and transact
without needing any approval.[7]: ch. 1 This is accomplished through a specialized
distributed ledger called a blockchain that records bitcoin transactions.[71]

The blockchain is implemented as an ordered list of blocks. Each block contains a

SHA-256 hash of the previous block,[71] chaining them in chronological order.[7]:
ch. 7 [71] The blockchain is maintained by a peer-to-peer network.[25]: 215–219
Individual blocks, public addresses, and transactions within blocks are public
information, and can be examined using a blockchain explorer.[72]

Nodes validate and broadcast transactions, each maintaining a copy of the

blockchain for ownership verification.[73] 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.[7]: ch. 5

Addresses and transactions

Simplified chain of ownership. In practice, a transaction can have more than one
input and more than one output.[74]
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.[7]: 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.[7]: 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.[7]: ch. 7

Bitcoin transactions use a Forth-like scripting language,[7]: 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.[74] 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.[74] Unallocated input
satoshis in the transaction become the transaction fee.[74]

Losing a private key means losing access to the bitcoins, with no other proof of
ownership accepted by the protocol.[25] 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.[75] It is estimated that around 20% of all bitcoins are lost.[76] 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.[7]: ch. 10 [77] As of December 2017,
approximately ₿980,000 had been stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges.[78]

Mining
See also: Bitcoin protocol § Mining

Bitcoin mining facility with large amounts of mining hardware

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.[71] Each block must contain a proof of work (PoW)
to be accepted,[71] involving finding a nonce number that, combined with the block
content, produces a hash numerically smaller than the network's difficulty target.
[7]: ch. 8 This PoW is simple to verify but hard to generate, requiring many
attempts.[7]: ch. 8 PoW forms the basis of bitcoin's consensus mechanism.[79]

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.[7]: ch. 8 [80]

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.[81]
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.[7]: ch. 8 This reward is halved every 210,000
blocks until ₿21 million[b] 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.[82][74][7]: 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.[83]
[71] In case of disagreement, nodes trust the longest chain, which required the
greatest amount of effort to produce.[79] To tamper or censor the ledger, one needs
to control the majority of the global hashrate.[79] The high cost required to reach
this level of computational power secures the bitcoin blockchain.[79]

Bitcoin mining's environmental impact is controversial and has attracted the

attention of regulators, leading to restrictions or incentives in various
jurisdictions.[84] As of 2022, a non-peer-reviewed study by the Cambridge Centre
for Alternative Finance (CCAF) estimated that bitcoin mining represented 0.4% of
global electricity consumption.[85] Another 2022 non-peer-reviewed commentary
published in Joule estimated that bitcoin mining was responsible for 0.2% of world
greenhouse gas emissions.[86] About half of the electricity used is generated
through fossil fuels.[87] Moreover, mining hardware's short lifespan results in
electronic waste.[88] The amount of electrical energy consumed, and the e-waste
generated, is comparable to that of Greece and the Netherlands, respectively.[88]
[86]

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.[89] Bitcoin exchanges might also need to collect personal data as
per legal requirements.[90] For enhanced privacy, users can generate a new address
for each transaction.[91]

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.[92] For example, in 2012, Mt. Gox froze accounts containing
bitcoins identified as stolen.[93]

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.[94][7]: 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.[6] Bitcoin Core
is among the best known clients. Forks of Bitcoin Core exist such as Bitcoin
Unlimited.[95] Wallets can be full clients, with a full copy of the blockchain to
check the validity of mined blocks,[7]: ch. 1 or lightweight clients, just to send
and receive transactions without a local copy of the entire blockchain.[96] Third-
party internet services, called online wallets or hot wallets, store users'
credentials on their servers, making them susceptible of hacks.[97] Cold storage
protects bitcoins from such hacks by keeping private keys offline, either through
specialized hardware wallets or paper printouts.[98][7]: ch. 4

Scalability and decentralization challenges

Main article: Bitcoin scalability problem
Nakamoto limited the block size to one megabyte.[99] The limited block size and
frequency can lead to delayed processing of transactions, increased fees and a
bitcoin scalability problem.[100] The Lightning Network, second-layer routing
network, is a potential scaling solution.[7]: ch. 8

Research shows a trend towards centralization in bitcoin as miners join pools for
stable income.[25]: 215, 219–222 [101]: 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.[70] 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.[102] A few entities also dominate other parts of the
ecosystem such as the client software, online wallets, and simplified payment
verification (SPV) clients.[70]

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.[103]: 22 Sociologist Nigel Dodd argues that the
essence of the bitcoin ideology is to remove money from social, as well as
governmental, control.[104] 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".[105] These
philosophical ideas initially attracted libertarians and anarchists.[106] Economist
Paul Krugman argues that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are only used by bank
skeptics and criminals.[107]

Recognition as a currency and legal status

Legal status of bitcoin

 Legal tender (bitcoin is officially recognized as a medium of exchange)
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)
vte
Money serves three purposes: a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of
account.[108] According to The Economist in 2014, bitcoin functions best as a
medium of exchange.[108] 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".[109] However, a 2018 assessment by The Economist stated that
cryptocurrencies met none of these three criteria.[105] Per some researchers, as of
2015, bitcoin functions more as a payment system than as a currency.[25] 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".[110] François R. Velde, Senior Economist at the Chicago Fed, described
bitcoin as "an elegant solution to the problem of creating a digital currency".
[111] David Andolfatto, Vice President at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,
stated that bitcoin is a threat to the establishment, which he argues is a good
thing for the Federal Reserve System and other central banks, because it prompts
these institutions to operate sound policies.[112]

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.[113] The use of bitcoin by criminals has attracted the attention of
financial regulators, legislative bodies, and law enforcement.[114] Nobel-prize
winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says that bitcoin's anonymity encourages money
laundering and other crimes.[115] This is the main justification behind bitcoin
bans.[9] As of November 2021, nine countries applied an absolute ban (Algeria,
Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, and Tunisia) while another
42 countries had an implicit ban.[116][needs update] Bitcoin is only legal tender
in El Salvador.[4]

Use for payments

Café in Delft accepting Bitcoin

As of 2018, bitcoin is rarely used in transactions with merchants,[117] but it is
popular to purchase illegal goods online.[118][119] Prices are not usually quoted
in bitcoin and trades involve conversions into fiat currencies.[25] 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).[117][120] Bloomberg reported that bitcoin was
being used for large-item purchases on the site Overstock.com and for cross-border
payments to freelancers.[121] As of 2015, there was little sign of bitcoin use in
international remittances despite high fees charged by banks and Western Union who
compete in this market.[25][122] Despite associated risks and costs, in 2022, a
growing use of bitcoin, alongside cash and cards, was reported in restaurant
business.[123]

In September 2021, the Bitcoin Law made bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador,
alongside the US dollar.[4] The adoption has been criticized internationally and
within El Salvador.[4][124] In 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged El
Salvador to reverse its decision.[125] As of 2022, the use of Bitcoin in El
Salvador remains low: 80% of businesses refused to accept it.[126] In April 2022,
the Central African Republic (CAR) adopted bitcoin as legal tender alongside the
CFA franc,[127] but repealed the reform one year later.[128]

Bitcoin is also used by some governments. For instance, the Iranian government
initially opposed cryptocurrencies, but later saw them as an opportunity to
circumvent sanctions.[129] 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.[130] Some constituent states also accept tax payments in bitcoin,
including Colorado (US)[131] and Zug (Switzerland).[132] As of 2023, the US
government owned more than $5 billion worth of seized bitcoin.[133][134]

Use for investment and status as an economic bubble

Further information: Cryptocurrency bubble

Government website with El Salvador reserves

As of 2018, the overwhelming majority of bitcoin transactions took place on
cryptocurrency exchanges.[117] Since 2014, regulated bitcoin funds also allow
exposure to the asset or to futures as an investment.[135][136] Bitcoin is used as
a store of value:[137][138] individuals and companies such as the Winklevoss
twins[139] and Elon Musk's companies SpaceX and Tesla have massively invested in
bitcoin.[140][141] Bitcoin wealth is highly concentrated, with 0.01% holding 27% of
in-circulation currency, as of 2021.[142] A 2024 survey from the Pew Research
Center found that 17% of American adults have invested in, traded or used a
cryptocurrency.[143]

As of September 2023, El Salvador had $76.5 million worth of bitcoin in its

international reserves.[144]

In 2018, research published in the Journal of Monetary Economics concluded that

price manipulation occurred during the Mt. Gox bitcoin theft and that the market
remained vulnerable to manipulation.[145] Research published in The Journal of
Finance also suggested that trading associated with increases in the amount of the
Tether cryptocurrency and associated trading at the Bitfinex exchange accounted for
about half of the price increase in bitcoin in late 2017.[146][147]

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,[148] James Heckman,[8] and Paul Krugman.[107] 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.[149] 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's impossible to predict
whether bitcoin will collapse like other financial bubbles or become the new gold.
[150] 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.[151]

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.[152] 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.[153]
The term hodl was created in December 2013 for holding bitcoin rather than selling
it during periods of volatility.[154][155]

Other economists, investors, and the central bank of Estonia have described bitcoin
as a potential Ponzi scheme.[156][157][158] Legal scholar Eric Posner disagrees,
however, as "a real Ponzi scheme takes fraud; bitcoin, by contrast, seems more like
a collective delusion".[159] A 2014 World Bank report also concluded that bitcoin
was not a deliberate Ponzi scheme.[160]

See also
Alternative currency
List of cryptocurrencies
Notes
Named after Satoshi Nakamoto
The exact number is ₿20,999,999.9769.[7]: ch. 8
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Bradbury, Danny (November 2013). "The problem with Bitcoin". Computer Fraud &
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Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
"Bitcoin Core 28.1". 9 January 2025. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
"El Salvador's dangerous gamble on bitcoin". The editorial board. Financial Times.
7 September 2021. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7
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asset. It's like gold, it's just like gold, only it's virtual, it's digital. People
are not using it as a form of payment or a store of value," he said. "It's highly
volatile. It's not a competitor for the dollar; it's really a competitor for gold."
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Nakamoto, Satoshi (31 October 2008). "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash
System" (PDF). bitcoin.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2014.
Retrieved 28 April 2014.
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