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| [[Category:Cryptocurrency Project]]
| | fucking trash that only fucking dipshitheads buy, it also causes fucking hardware for computers that people need to fucking use. |
| {{Crypto info template
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| | name = Bitcoin
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| | logo = File:Bitcoin-logo.svg
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| | type = Coin
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| | ticker_symbol = BTC, XBT
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| | author = [[Satoshi Nakamoto]]
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| | initial_release_date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2009|1|9|p=y}}
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| | consensus_mechanism = Proof-of-Work (PoW)
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| | total_supply = 21.000.000
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| | website = {{URL|https://bitcoin.org}}
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| | white_paper = [https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System"]
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| | status = Active
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| |programming language=None}}
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| Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency. Released in early 2009, it is a new form of internet money that is fundamentally different from existing currencies.
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| It is [[decentralised]], meaning it isn’t controlled by any single company or person, and all [[Transaction (Tx)|transactions]] are [[Peer-to-Peer network|peer-to-peer]]. The history of all [[transactions]] is continually being verified by [[Miners|powerful computers]], so it is practically impossible to change once a transaction has been accepted.
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| This means that anybody in the world is able to buy bitcoin and send money to anybody else, which has never been possible before in such a [[Public Blockchains|permissionless]] manner.
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| == History ==
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| * For a comprehensive history you can go the Wikipedia's page [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bitcoin here] and [[Bitcoin.com]] also has a nice history series which you can find [https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-history-part-1-in-the-beginning/ here].
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| * The [[COIN|coin]] [https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-history-part-20-btc-reaches-1/?utm_source=Bitcoin%20History%20Part%2020%3A&utm_medium=telegram&utm_campaign=Telegram%20Channel found parity] with the US dollar on February 9, 2011. Six years later, it would trade [https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-02/bitcoin-reaches-parity-gold at parity] with an ounce of gold.
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| * The Father of cryptos, Bitcoin is considered the most secure of the cryptos, partly because it has been around the longest and therefore has the most commercial proof of security, and partly because the amount of computing power and number of [[nodes]] providing the protection is the largest.
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| * When [[Satoshi Nakamoto|Satoshi]] first created the Bitcoin protocol 10 years ago, the program was created with the [[C++]] programming language. However, the original [[client|client’s]] binary data can conform to any programming language standard, as long as it adheres to the [[blockchain|blockchain’s]] [[consensus]] rules.
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| * On the [https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-history-part-2-the-bitcoin-symbol/ origin] of the logo: “I propose that we adopt the Thai baht currency symbol, ฿, as the official bitcoin currency symbol and BTC as the official bitcoin three letter currency code,” [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=41.0 wrote] [[Bitcointalk.org|Bitcointalk]] forum member “NewLibertyStandard” on Feb 5, 2010. (Four months earlier, the same individual made the first [https://news.bitcoin.com/eight-historic-bitcoin-transactions/ bitcoin purchase] using fiat currency, paying $5.02 for 5,050 BTC.)
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| A poll in mid-2011, saw forum users [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28741.0 vote] overwhelmingly in favor of ฿, ahead of such [[options]] as β, Ƃ, and Ƀ. It wasn’t until years later, in June of 2017, that Bitcoin would finally gain its own unicode symbol and become ₿.
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| * [[Sourceforge]] was the very first Bitcoin forum ever. Which soon was followed up with [[Bitcointalk.org]].
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| * [[Bitcoinmarket.com]] was the very first Bitcoin exchange, it was proposed on Bitcointalk.org.
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| * [[Slush]] was the very first [[mining pool]]. For an in depth look into BTC [[mining pools]], read [https://coinmetrics.io/mining-pool-mapping/ this piece], by [[Coinmetrics]].
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| == Audits & Exploits ==
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| *[[Bug bounty]] program can be found [insert here].
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| *Bitcoin got launched without audits.
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| === Bugs/Exploits ===
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| * From a [[Delphi Digital]] report on Bitcoin (12-2018):
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| ''"Just like any software, Bitcoin is vulnerable to software bugs and in a worst [[case]] scenario, protocol failure. Below, we highlight a few of the bugs that have been discovered within Bitcoin as well as how these were resolved. ''
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| '''''September 2018: DDoS Attack Vulnerability '''''
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| ''Discovered by [[Bitcoin Cash]] developer [[Awemany]], this vulnerability could have allowed malicious miners to artificially inflate Bitcoin's supply via a simple type of double input. Once acknowledged, [[Bitcoin Core]] Developers decided it was best to [[keep]] this bug a secret while they fixed the exploit and had time to urge miners and users to upgrade their software. Fortunately, in less than two days over half of bitcoin's mining [[hash rate]] was upgraded - meaning the attack could no longer be used. ''
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| '''''March 2013: Two Versions '''''
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| ''When Bitcoin Core version 0.8 was released, it allowed for larger blocksizes than older versions could handle. Given that some of the network was still using version 0.7 or older, while other network participants had upgraded there was a chance there would be different two different ledgers going forward. Fortunately, the community pointed this out quickly and forced a hard [[fork]] back to version 0.7. ''
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| '''''August 2010: Value Overflow Incident '''''
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| ''Over 184 billion bitcoins were created in a transaction within block 74638 because the code used for checking transactions would not work if the outputs were so large that they overflowed when summed. Noticed almost immediately, a code fix was put into place within 5 hours by [[Satoshi Nakamoto]]. It was implemented via a fork and the bad transaction no longer exists."''
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| == Governance ==
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| * Has no clear [[on-chain governance]] model. Code changes are submitted by developers and after review implemented. Bitcoin development has slowed down with the years.
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| * A deep dive into Bitcoin's [[governance]] by [[Justin Bons]] can be read [https://medium.com/cyber-capital/theory-on-bitcoin-governance-three-stage-model-v-1-0-98a8b83095b0 here] (12-9-2020).
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| *[https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-node-count-falls-to-3-year-low-despite-price-surge From] [[CoinDesk]] (6-5-2020):
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| "''[[Bitcoin’s]] total [[node]] count fell below 47,000 on Monday, a level not seen since 2017, based on estimates determined by well-regarded Bitcoin developer [[Luke Dashjr]]. His numbers show a steady decline in the number of operational nodes from a peak of over 200,000 in January 2018."''
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| * From [https://mirror.chorus.one/liquid-staking-report.pdf this report] by [[Chorus One]] (6-2020):
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| "''Some governance power [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin resides] with the developers who control the [[Bitcoin Core]] repo on [[Github]] and some with the [[miners]] who choose what software to run. The lack of a clear process by which decisions are reached or conflicts resolved was the main reason why the argument whether the Bitcoin [[block size]] should be increased resulted in years of stalemate and ultimately the [[Block Size Debate|split]] of the network into Bitcoin and [[Bitcoin Cash]]. It should be noted that [[MANY|many]] in the Bitcoin community see the complicated governance process as an advantage since the extremely high barrier to changes creates security and predictability."''
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| * At the start of 2021 [[Wladimir J. van der Laan]] wrote a [https://laanwj.github.io/2021/01/21/decentralize.html blog post] in which he expressed his views and wants towards [[decentralising]] the developers process of [[Bitcoin]], including using [[IPFS]] for code distribution, moving away from [[Github]] and handing over more tasks he is doing to a more wider group of people.
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| == Coin ==
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| === Launch ===
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| * No [[Premine]] or Presale
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| === Coin allocation ===
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| * Network Security Costs: 10% [[mining]] inflation.
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| === Utility ===
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| * Money or store of value. No [[Proof-of-Stake (PoS)|staking]] or revenue sharing, [[On-Chain Governance|governance]] rights or other more common utility aspects of later cryptocurrencies.
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| === Coin Details ===
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| * [[Block]] production time 10 min, worst case for [[confirmation]] time: 120 [[blocks]]
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| == Coin Distribution ==
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| * Presumably [[Satoshi Nakamoto|Satoshi]] holds over a million BTC, but has never moved any [[COIN|coin]] and most consider these coins [http://fortune.com/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins/ lost].
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| * Besides [[Satoshi]]'s million BTC, another 2-3M are [http://fortune.com/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins/ speculated] lost due to losing [[private keys]].
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| * [[Craig Wright]] claims to be Satoshi, and therefor [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/8v1a2q/beware_everyone_to_bitcoin_communityespecially/ claims] to have huge amounts of BTC. When asked in court he changed his stance and [https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-inventor-craig-wright-claims-he-cant-access-coins-in-court-testimony/?utm_source=Bitcoin%20%E2%80%98Inventor%E2%80%99%20Craig%20Wright&utm_medium=telegram&utm_campaign=Telegram%20Channel said he couldn't] access the coins due to a complicated blind trust fund he and other created at the start of [[mining]].
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| * [[Roger Ver]] was a very early investor and even though he switched sides [https://bitcoinist.com/roger-ver-bitcoin-cash-lightning/ dramatically] towards [[Bitcoin Cash (BCH)|Bitcoin Cash]], he still [https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-cash-bch-roger-ver-admits-to-still-holding-bitcoin-in-his-portfolio/ claims] (4-2019) to hold BTC as a hedge.
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| * [[Grayscale]] (owned by [[DCG]]) [https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/12/05/institutions-still-bullish-on-crypto-grayscale-owns-1-of-all-bitcoin/ owns] 1% of the BTC supply. "Since the start of 2018, Grayscale has seen its Bitcoin coffers swell by 30,600 BTC to 203,000 total, now accounting for more than 1% of the asset’s total circulating supply." [https://decrypt.co/43089/grayscale-adds-186-million-of-bitcoin-to-its-reserves Update] (28-9-2020): ''"the GBTC Bitcoin trust, which was created in 2013, now amounts to nearly 450,000 BTC—or $4.7 billion. This corresponds to 2.5% of the amount of Bitcoin in circulation."''
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| * [https://news.bitcoin.com/104-addresses-hold-70-of-tether-research-reveals/ From] a [[Bitcoin.com]] article (18-10-2019):
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| "''Various studies have noted the wealth disparity in the crypto space with one recent piece of research claiming that around 2% of BTC [[addresses]] control approximately 80% percent of the cryptocurrency."''
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| * [https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-2d3 From] [[Coin Metrics]] #38 (18-2-2020):
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| ''"BTC supply was initially held by a few individuals, but over time it has gradually been [[distributed]] to millions of different addresses.''
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| ''The percentage of BTC supply held by large addresses (with a [[balance]] of at least 1/1K of total supply) peaked at about 33% in February 2011. As of February 2020, those addresses hold about 11% of total supply. Conversely, the percentage of supply held by smaller addresses with balances of 1/10M and lower has been steadily increasing since 2011.''
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| ''There was a relatively large decrease in percentage of supply held large addresses [[near]] the end of 2011 through early 2013, before large price increases. Additionally, there was a decrease in December 2018 that was likely caused by [[Coinbase]] redistributing its [[Cold wallet|cold wallets]]."''
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| * From a [[twitter]] [https://twitter.com/AdamScochran/status/1255332313241706498 thread] by [[Adam Cochran]] (29-4-2020): Bitcoin's Top 10k Holders: 10.54M BTC (57.44%).
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| * A total of 13 publicly listed companies now [https://decrypt.co/44696/6-7-billion-in-bitcoin-is-now-held-by-public-companies possess] (12-10-2020) almost $7 billion in Bitcoin. [[Microstrategy]], [[Galaxy Digital]], [[Square]], and [[Grayscale]] are among the biggest companies looking after or owning this Bitcoin. This is 2.85% of the total supply of Bitcoin.
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| * From [[Decrypt]] (14-10-2020):
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| "''[[Coinbase (Company)|Coinbase]] holds approximately 994,904 Bitcoin in [[cold storage]], according to [https://chain.info/exchanges ChainInfo], a Bitcoin analytics platform. By today’s prices, this amounts to over $11 billion. In December 2019, it was [https://beincrypto.com/coinbase-holds-a-whopping-966230-bitcoin-7b-in-cold-wallet/ reported] that Coinbase was holding 966,230 Bitcoin."''
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| * [http://intotheblock-5494544.hs-sites.com/a-deep-dive-into-bitcoin-ownership?ecid=ACsprvvCMX8P_MzKu_GkWMkjEkKv_QuEBNZFNnnS6C7mWeothJQcWpsCiMIYCLGTlhPkPS0azklP&utm_campaign=ITB%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=102643020&utm_content=102643020&utm_source=hs_email From] [[IntoTheBlock|Into The Block]] (11-12-2020):
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| ''"When you take a closer look at Bitcoin, you can see that there are no [[whales]], as no address owns 1% of the outstanding [[tokens]], and it only has 38 addresses that hold between 0.1% and 1% (which at [[IntoTheBlock]] we call investors). They hold 9.31% of the circulating supply, but one important thing to consider is that of those 42 addresses, only 9 of them are actively trading, which means that a large amount of Bitcoin is not being moved.''
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| ''As can be seen in [[The Graph|the graph]] above, the largest concentration of addresses currently holding Bitcoin (more than 16 million) have a balance of less than 0.001 BTC, aggregating a total of 3,269 tokens. Moreover, close to 30% of the current circulating supply of Bitcoin is held by wallets holding between 1000-10000 BTC."''
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| * [https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-5d4?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzk3OTAwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNTY3OTM5NiwiXyI6InRxYSs5IiwiaWF0IjoxNjIwMDM0MDg0LCJleHAiOjE2MjAwMzc2ODQsImlzcyI6InB1Yi02MjY5Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.vyafF2bGoeo From] [https://coinmetrics.substack.com/p/coin-metrics-state-of-the-network-5d4?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzk3OTAwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNTY3OTM5NiwiXyI6InRxYSs5IiwiaWF0IjoxNjIwMDM0MDg0LCJleHAiOjE2MjAwMzc2ODQsImlzcyI6InB1Yi02MjY5Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.vyafF2bGoeo Coin Metrics] (27-4-2021):
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| ''"The top 1% of BTC addresses (including exchanges) hold about 91% of total supply. Addresses holding less than 1 BTC collectively hold about 5% of total BTC supply. Bitcoin [[Miner|miners]] collectively hold 4.57M BTC, about 25% of total supply."''
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| * [https://decrypt.co/88852/despite-rising-adoption-27-of-bitcoin-supply-is-held-in-10000-whale-wallets From] [[Decrypt (DCPT)|Decrypt]] (21-12-2021):
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| ''“0.01% of Bitcoin holders control 27% of the currency in circulation.” The top 1,000 investors control about 3 million, or 16%, of all circulating Bitcoin, and the top 10,000 investors own around 5 million, or 27%, of Bitcoin, according to authors Igor Makarov of the London School of Economics and Antoinette Schoar of MIT’s Sloan School of Management.''
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| == Tech ==
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| *[[Whitepaper]] can be found [https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf here] (2008).
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| * Code can be viewed [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin here].
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| === Transaction Details ===
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| * Capacity ([[TPS]]): 7
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| *[[Latency]]:
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| === How it works ===
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| === Mining ===
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| * Uses [[Proof-of-Work (PoW)|PoW]]
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| === Fees ===
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| === Upgrades ===
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| * An overview of upgrades and proposals for 2020 can be viewed [https://bitcoinops.org/en/newsletters/2020/12/23/ here] (23-12-2020). It is mainly [[LN]] centred, stuff with atomic [[swaps]] and of course Schnorr signatures and [[Taproot]].
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| *Taproot went [https://twitter.com/pwuille/status/1459778730369368067?s=20 live] on 14-11-2021.
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| === Schnorr/Taproot ===
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| *[https://cryptobriefing.com/bitcoin-makes-headway-implementing-smart-contracts-most-complicated-part-of-upgrade-complete/ From] [[Crypto Briefing]] (14-9-2020):
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| "''The [[Schnorr Signature|Schnorr]]/[[Taproot]] [[soft fork]] will expand BTC’s functionality immensely: increased privacy, scaling, [[multi-sig]] applications, and even better transaction speed are all made possible by the upgrade."''
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| *[https://www.coindesk.com/taproot-merged-bitcoin-core From] [[CoinDesk]] (15-10-2020):
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| ''"In the works since [[Gregory Maxwell]] [https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2018-January/015614.html proposed] Taproot in the first month of 2018, the upgrade is perhaps the most anticipated soft-fork in Bitcoin since [[Segwit]] was activated in 2016. The codebase for the [[Smart contract|smart-contract]] upgrade to Bitcoin’s blockchain [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/19953 has been merged] into the [[Bitcoin Core]] library. This comes about a month after [[Pieter Wuille]] created a pull [[request]] to merge the feature.''
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| ''Now that Taproot’s code has been included in Bitcoin Core’s coding library, the upgrade is only waiting to be deployed at this point. For the new upgrade to activate network-wide, [[node]] operators must adopt Taproot's new ruleset in place of the older code's [[consensus]] rules. This could take weeks or months, depending on how the review process unfolds for the two leading implementation proposals."''
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| *[https://www.coindesk.com/locked-in-bitcoin-taproot-upgrade-gets-activation-mandate From] [[CoinDesk (DESK)|CoinDesk]] (12-6-2021):
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| ''"According to the parameters set forward by “[https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-taproot-activation-begun-miners-3-months-onboard Speedy Trial],” if at least 90% of the blocks [[mined]] in any of the designated two-week [[difficulty]] periods “signal” their support for the upgrade, then the activation process can begin. Now that the Taproot soft fork upgrades are locked in, the next phase of activation is basically a five-month waiting period. During this time, miners and nodes will have ample opportunity to update their software to [https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.21.1/ Bitcoin Core 0.21.1,] the newest version of Bitcoin Core that contains activation logic for the Taproot soft fork (and some other improvements).''
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| ''Finally, in November, when Bitcoin reaches a specified “block height” (Bitcoin block 709,632), Taproot will activate; that is, the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) relevant to Taproot and contained in Bitcoin Core 0.21.1 will automatically kick in."''
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| === Scaling ===
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| * Scaling of the Bitcoin blockchain has been a long debate, ever since 2015. There are people who advocate scaling [[On Chain|on-chain]], often proposing bigger [[Block|blocks]], and there are people advocating [[Off Chain|off-chain]] scaling, through [[sidechain]] technology, like [[Liquid Network|Liquid]] or through [[custodial]] ways, like the [[Lightning Network]].
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| *From a [[Delphi Digital]] report on Bitcoin (12-2018):
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| "''Bitcoin's current scalability is limited by its low [[on-chain]] throughput, and because every [[full node]] stores an entire history of the chain and processes each [[transaction]]."''
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| === Projects / upgrades working on scaling: ===
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| *[[SegWit]] was brought forward as a scaling solution. Big blockers thought this [[soft fork]] was a bad idea which lead to the [[hard fork]] of [[BCH]].
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| ====[[Lightning Network]]====
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| [[Status]]: Beta Implemented March 2018
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| Description: Enables users to open channels with another party to transact "[[off-chain]]" until the channel is closed out.
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| ====[[Liquid|Liquid Network]]====
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| Status: Went Live in September 2018
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| Description: [[Sidechain]] built on the [[Bitcoin Network|Bitcoin network]], which facilitates faster BTC transactions between businesses and individuals.
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| ====[[Schnorr Signature|Schnorr Signatures]]====
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| Status: Under development since 2012
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| Description: Replace BTC's current digital [[signature]] algorithm with a more efficient one. Allows for aggregation of multiple tx signatures into a single signature.
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| ==== MAST (Merklized Abstract Syntax Tree) ====
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| Status: No final release date announced.
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| Description: Reduces size of [[smart contracts]] (complex scripts) & increases their privacy. Moves portion of smart [[contract]] processing & storage [[Off-Chain|off-chain]].
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| === Different Implementations ===
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| * From [https://blog.bitmex.com/bitcoin-cores-competition/ this post]
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| "''Prior to 2013, there was no software project named Bitcoin Core. The [[Satoshi Nakamoto|Satoshi]] [[client]] was sometimes just called the reference implementation or [[Bitcoin-Qt|Bitcoin-QT]]/Bitcoind. ''
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| ''Then in February 2013, [[Gavin Andresen]], a prominent Bitcoin developer, [http://archive.is/kWqW0 posted] to the [[Bitcoin Foundation]] forum asking: There was some discussion about renaming [[Bitcoin-Qt]] and the reference implementation in general in IRC today; I thought some of you smart people might have good name ideas.''
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| ''[[Mike Hearn]], another developer, then responded: Oh good, about time. This has irritated me for a while. How about Bitcoin Core?"''
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| Since then [[MANY|many]] [[clients]] have popped up, the most well known (8-2019) are:
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| #[[Bitcoin Core]]
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| #[https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd BTCD]
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| #[https://github.com/libbitcoin/libbitcoin Libbitcoin]
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| #[[Bitprim]]
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| #[https://github.com/bcoin-org/bcoin bcoin]
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| #[https://github.com/bitsofproof Bits of Proof]
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| #[https://github.com/samrushing/caesure Ceasure]
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| #[[Bitcoinj]]
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| #[http://ufasoft.com/coin/ Ufasoft Coin]
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| #[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128055.0 Picocoin]/libcoin
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| #[[Parity Bitcoin]]
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| #[https://github.com/tomasvdw/bitcrust Bitcrust]
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| === Interoperability ===
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| * Bitcoin is being [https://btconethereum.com/ ported over] to [[Ethereum]] at a rapid pace. It has almost reached 1B in value. (14-9-2020).
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| === Other Details ===
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| ==== Bitcoin Script / Smart Contracts ====
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| * From [https://kalis.me/smart-contracts-eth-btc-bch/ this article] (12-12-2019):
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| ''"This is the biggest difference between [[Ethereum]]'s [[smart contracts]] and Bitcoin's. Ethereum's model is [[State|stateful]], while Bitcoin is stateless. Ethereum can be considered analogous to the common imperative mutable-data programming [[paradigm]], while Bitcoin is analogous to the functional [[immutable]]-data paradigm.''
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| ''Bitcoin's model allows transactions to be verified independently and much more efficiently, which makes it easier to parallelise and [[Sharding|shard]] transactions. But without any mutable data storage, it is more difficult to create the complex smart [[contracts]] that Ethereum allows. [[ERC20]] contracts, for example, have to keep track of [[token]] balances and change them.''
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| ''Besides these differences in [[state]], there are other things limiting complexity in Bitcoin's smart contracts. Notably, Bitcoin Script lacks support for some arithmetic functions and any form of looping or recursion. Contracts also have an effective size limit of 520 bytes and can contain 201 opcodes at most.''
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| ''Most smart contracts on Bitcoin fall in a few categories of simple contracts. Examples are [[multisig]] contracts that can be spent by multiple participants, or [[Hash Time-Locked Contract (HTLC)|Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLCs)]] that can be spent by revealing a secret or reclaimed after time has passed. And because these contracts are very simple, most of the value is gained from combining different contracts with additional [[off-chain]] application logic. That way simple contracts can be combined to create complex solutions such as the [[Lightning Network]] or [[cross-chain]] auctions.''
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| ''While Ethereum has multiple high-level languages that compile to EVM bytecode, there is less of a focus on this with Bitcoin. Although the systems that can be built with them are complex, the contracts themselves are usually quite simple. Because of Bitcoin contracts' size limits and high costs per added bytes, it is important to keep contracts as small as possible.''
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| ''While these kinds of high-level languages are less important in Bitcoin, they do exist. The most elaborate high-level language for Bitcoin is [https://github.com/ivy-lang/ivy-bitcoin Ivy], which was created in 2017 by [[Dan Robinson]]."''
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| == Oracle Method ==
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| * Since Bitcoin does not have the technology to facilitate [[Smart Contract (SC)|Smart Contracts]], [[Oracle|oracles]] are not used on the Bitcoin [[blockchain]] as they are on most other [[Layer One|L1s]].
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| == Privacy Method ==
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| * There a multiple [[Coin-mixer|coin mixers]] on BTC available.
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| == Compliance ==
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| == History of BTC Forks ==
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| * A map of the main [[consensus]] [[forks]] (2009-2019) of Bitcoin can be [https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/e1p3ki/a_map_of_the_main_consensus_forks_of_bitcoin/ found here] (11-2019).
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| * Since Bitcoin's [[Genesis Block|genesis]] in 2009, there have been approximately [https://mapofcoins.com/bitcoin 436] [[hard forks]]—of which, around 250 are defunct as of writing (23-9-2020).
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| * Bitcoin has had the following [[Soft Fork|soft]] and [[hard forks]]:
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| 2010-08-15: Value Overflow Incident ([[Soft Fork]])
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| 2010-10-12: 1MB [[Block Size]] Limit (Soft Fork)
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| 2012-04-01: Pay-to-Script-[[Hash]] (Soft Fork)
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| 2013-05-15: Migration from Berkely DB to LevelDB ([[Hard Fork]])
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| 2013-07-04: Strict DER Encoding for Signatures (Soft Fork)
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| 2015-12-14: OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY (Soft Fork)
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| 2016-07-04: OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY (Soft Fork)
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| After this the more well known forks happened.
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| 2017-08-01: User Activated Hard Fork (Block size limit to 8MB) which created [[Bitcoin Cash]] (the hard forks that happened on the BCH chain can be viewed on their page or on [https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/e1p3ki/a_map_of_the_main_consensus_forks_of_bitcoin/ this map])
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| 2017-08-24: [[SegWit]] (Soft Fork)
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| After this, BTC has had multiple [[chain splits]], of which [[Bitcoin Cash]] and [[Bitcoin Gold]] are the most famous. [[BCH]] has also split in two, creating [[Bitcoin SV]] (on 2018-11-15).
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| *[https://ournetwork.substack.com/p/our-network-issue-10 From] [[Our Network]] (29-2-2020):
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| "''There have been [[MANY|many]] forks of Bitcoin over the years, but Bitcoin still remains the dominant chain by most measures. Compared to [[Bitcoin Cash (BCH)]] and [[Bitcoin SV (BSV)]], the two largest Bitcoin forks, Bitcoin accounts for about 94% of the aggregated miner revenue (i.e. [[block rewards]] + [[fees]]).''
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| ''Similarly, most usage has remained on Bitcoin. As of February 25th, Bitcoin has about 90% of the combined total daily active addresses for the three chains."''
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| == Roadmap ==
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| * Can be found [Insert [[LINK|link]] here].
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| == Usage ==
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| === Projects that use or built on it ===
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| *[https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-defi-a-response From] [[CoinDesk]] (22-10-2020):
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| "''The Bitcoin-[[sidechain]] called [[RSK]] is host to a growing number of Bitcoin [[DeFi]] services that provide the core financial functions. [[Money-on-Chain]] creates a bitcoin-backed [[stablecoin]], giving [[Bitcoiners]] access to U.S. dollar-denominated funds, without having to touch [[fiat]]. [[Sovryn]] will soon provide [[permissionless]] and uncensorable spot trading, leveraged trading, borrowing and lending."''
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| *[https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuela-pays-imports-iran-turkey-bitcoin-evade-sanctions/ From] [[Bitcoin.com]] (9-12-2020):
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| "''Venezuela is reportedly paying companies in allied countries, including Iran and Turkey, with bitcoin to mitigate the effects of U.S. sanctions on its economy. The Venezuelan government is also planning to increase bitcoin usage now that it has a dedicated cryptocurrency [[mining]] center."''
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| * [https://lnmarkets.substack.com/p/27-bitcoin-finance-building-and-much?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzk3OTAwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNzEyNTk5MSwiXyI6IitrN3VtIiwiaWF0IjoxNjI1MjkzNzM5LCJleHAiOjE2MjUyOTczMzksImlzcyI6InB1Yi0zNTcyNiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.RCIu63bLHQ3D From] [[LN Markets]] (2-7-2021):
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| # ''"[https://cryptogarage.co.jp/en Crypto Garage] with their P2PDerivatives application written in [[C++]], which enables users users to enter into [[DLCs]] with each others.''
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| # ''[https://suredbits.com/ Suredbits] which are implementing DLCs on bitcoin-s, the [[Open Source|open source]] bitcoin library in Scala they support, and have developed several services (such as their [[Oracle|oracles]] [[Block Explorer|explorer]]) and types of DLCs. Their [https://suredbits.com/category/discreet-log-contracts/ blog] is a great resource to find out more!''
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| # ''[[Atomic Finance]] which [https://atomic.finance/ aims] to provide a transparent way to [[earn]] yield on Bitcoin with DLCs."''
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| == Competition ==
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| *[[Fiat]]
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| * Any other [[blockchain]] project that aims to become the new global money standard.
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| === Bitcoin vs. Ethereum ===
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| * The following information comes from [https://media.consensys.net/answers-to-the-40-most-asked-questions-about-blockchain-2b69d1191801 this post] by [[Consensys]] (5-9-2019):
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| "''The key element that distinguishes Ethereum from [[Bitcoin]] is [[smart contracts]] — agreements that are embedded in code so that they can automatically execute.''
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| ''Among the other fundamental differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum are their programming languages. Bitcoin uses a [[stack]]-based language while Ethereum uses a [[Turing Complete|Turing-complete language]]. Their [[block]] times and [[Hashing Algorithm|hashing]] [[algorithms]] are also different. Ethereum’s core developers believe that moving Ethereum to a [[Proof of Stake]] system will make its [[Smart Contract|smart contract]]-based network more efficient and secure."''
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| == Tether and Bitcoin price correlation ==
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| * "''The issuance of new [[tether]] tokens is helping Bitcoin prices rise, [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/bitcoin-gains-correlate-with-tether-issuance-researcher-says according] ''(4-10-2019)'' to new research by [[TokenAnalyst]]. The company found up to 70% of the time there is an issuance of Tether, the price of bitcoin also rises, a significant discovery when we’re remind there was more than 2 million tether minted this year. The numbers also change depending on which kind of Tether is gonna be minted. It rises 70% of the time there is tether being issued as an [[ERC20 token]], and 50% of the time it is issued on their native [[Omni]] chain."''
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| == Pros and Cons ==
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| === Pros ===
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| * First mover advantage
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| * Largest network effects
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| * Largest due diligence around changes due to the number of stakeholders and value in the currency
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| === Cons ===
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| * Scalability. Bitcoin can typically handle 5–7 [[transactions]] per second, with [[Transaction Fee|fees]] from a few cents to a few dollars. When the transaction volume on the network increases, fees skyrocket and transactions take a long time to clear. In contrast, [[Visa]] and [[Mastercard]] can reportedly handle around 2000 [[transactions per second]]. In order to be a global payments system, Bitcoin needs to improve on this dramatically.
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| * Competition
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| * Dependent on scaling solutions
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| * Hackers & Nation State attacks
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| * Long term sustainability without [[block reward]] (after the 21m limit is reached, how are miners incentivized without fees skyrocketing?)
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| * [[PoW]] energy consumptions
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| * Disagreements between [[Miner|miners]] may cause instability
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| * Political spotlight
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| * Currencies with superior technology may overtake it in the future as it has been very slow to adapt.
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| * Government may enforce regulations to prevent the conversion of [[FIAT]] to bitcoin (although this may apply to all cryptocurrencies which don’t have compliance as a central aim)
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| * The [[Transaction (Tx)|transaction]] backlog has been growing and it is yet to be seen whether [[Segregated Witness|Segwit]] will solve the issue (2017). By 2021, this backlog seems to have cleared most of the time. Tx volumes on Bitcoin have slowed down and more users have moved to other [[Smart Contract|smart contract]] chains.
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| * Possibility of a chain reaction occurring as miners switch between Bitcoin and other more profitable mined cryptos leading to longer block times, larger backlogs and uncertainty creeping in.
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| * [[Miner]] [[centralisation]]; ''"At the [https://news.bitcoin.com/5-mining-50-btc-hashrate/ time of publication] (4-2-2020), between [[F2pool]], [[Poolin]], [[Btc.com]], [[Viabtc]], and [[Antpool]], the pools are hashing more than 49% of the BTC network [[hashrate]]."''
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| * From an [https://thedefiant.substack.com/p/im-not-super-bullish-on-defi-were-caa?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzk3OTAwLCJwb3N0X2lkIjoxNDUzNDAxMiwiXyI6ImM5eFJuIiwiaWF0IjoxNjAzNzk1ODIxLCJleHAiOjE2MDM3OTk0MjEsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xMTI1OSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.TvfhB0-kAyga-omYrpK2t4AXLNvGVjrV1kFLhVw6p34 interview] with [[The Defiant]] (27-10-2020):
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| ''"Building out [[DeFi]] on Bitcoin is extremely difficult, and there are a bunch of development and user experience challenges to doing it. I'm not saying it's impossible, but typically, the lead time to launch a Bitcoin product is two to three times longer than the lead time to launch an [[Ethereum]] [[smart contract]]. I've spent a significant amount of time building out Ethereum and Bitcoin [[wallets]] and integrating them and it's much, much quicker to bring an Ethereum product to market. That's why I am not immediately optimistic about [[Defi|DeFi]] on Bitcoin. Right now, none of the Bitcoin [[Layer 2]] stuff is going to compete with Ethereum. The work that's being done on [[Lightning Network|Lightning]] right now is really interesting, but we haven't seen as much [[Lightning]] adoption as we've seen of Ethereum [[dapps]]."''
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| == Team, Funding, Partners ==
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| === Team ===
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| * Has loads of full-time/part-time/independent developers working on it. And also bigger companies like [[Blockstream]] who pay developers.
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| * [[Satoshi Nakamoto]]; the anonymous creator of the Bitcoin [[whitepaper]] and the entity that launched it's [[Genesis Block|genesis block]] on Jan. 3, 2009.
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| * [[Martti Malmi|Martti ‘Sirius’ Malmi]]; The second developer that started working on the Bitcoin code and who helped and talked with Satoshi
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| * [[Hal Finney]]; early Bitcoin dev and took part in the first ever BTC transaction with Satoshi only a couple days after the launch.
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| * [[Gavin Andresen]]; early well known developer that started to interact with the code and Satoshi. Satoshi handed over the keys of the [[github]] code page to Gavin.
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| * [[Jeff Garzik]]; early Bitcoin dev who now (2020) works on [[DApps]] on [[Ethereum]].
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| * [[Checkmate]] — Full-time Engineer and spare-time [[On-chain]] analyst for Bitcoin.
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| * [[Carla Kirk-Cohen]]; dev
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| * [[Anthony Towns]]; dev
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| * [[Amiti Uttarwar]]; [[Bitcoin Core|Core]] dev
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| * [[Felix Weis]]; dev
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| * [[João Barbosa]]; dev (gets [https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-awards-first-round-bitcoin-developer-grants funded] by [[Coinbase (Company)|Coinbase]], after [[Bitmain]] cut his [https://twitter.com/_jonasschnelli_/status/1333704973486600192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1333704973486600192%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coindesk.com%2Fcoinbase-awards-first-round-bitcoin-developer-grants funding], 24-12-2020)
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| === Funding ===
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| * [https://decrypt.co/50302/winklevoss-gemini-bitcoin-developers From] [[Decrypt]] (3-12-2020):
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| "[[Gemini|''Gemini'']]'' today announced the launch of a $200,000 Bitcoin development fund. Called the [[Gemini]] Opportunity Fund, $150,000 of the money, in Bitcoin of course, will go straight to Brink, a London non-profit fellowship program to sponsor Bitcoin developers. The developers will work with [[John Newbery]], Brink’s co-founder and executive director, and a [[Bitcoin Core]] contributor. [[Mike Schmidt]], another Bitcoin core contributor. [[Square]], the Human Rights [[Foundation]] and Kraken are among other donors. [[Kraken]] also [https://decrypt.co/49339/independent-nonprofit-set-to-support-bitcoin-protocol-development donated] $150,000. So far, the only fellow is [[Gloria Zhao]], a Bitcoin Core contributor fresh from University of California, [[Berkeley]], where she sat as president of its blockchain club."''
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| == Bitcoin Foundation ==
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| === Basics ===
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| * Founded in september 2012
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| * Attender of [[Satoshi Roundtable]]
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| === Team ===
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| * [[Gavin Andresen|Adresen, Gavin]]; founder; board of directors, chief scientist
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| * [[Andreas Antonopoulos|Antonopoulos; Andreas]]; head of anti-poverty committee until 2014
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| * [[Llew Claasen|Claasen, Llew]]; Executive Director
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| * [[Mark Karpeles|Karpeles, Mark]]; founding member until 2014
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| * [[Bobby Lee|Lee, Bobby]]; board of directors
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| * [[Micky Malka|Malka, Micky]]; board of directors
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| * [[Jon Matonis|Matonis, Jon]]; board of directors
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| * [[Patrick Murck|Murck, Patrick]]; founder
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| * [[Brock Pierce|Pierce, Brock]]; board of directors
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| * [[Elizabeth Ploshay|Ploshay, Elizabeth]]; board of directors
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| * [[Charlie Shrem|Shrem, Charlie]]; Former Vice Chairman
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| * [[Peter Vessenes|Vessenes, Peter]]; founding member, board of directors
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| * [[Amy Weiss|Weiss, Amy]]; Media Consultant
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| * [[Jim Harper|Harper, Jim]]; Global Policy Counsel (Resigned in 12-2015)
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| * [[Oliver Janssens|Janssens, Olivie]]r; Board Member (removed in 12-2015)
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| * [[Elizabeth McCauley]]; [https://cryptocurrencyhub.io/10-women-leading-the-way-in-blockchain-industry-913ebc5c0d61 board of directors] (13-7-2020)
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| === Members ===
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| * [[Nexo (NEXO)|Nexo]] (9-2019)[[Category:Coins/Tokens]]
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| == (: ==
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| Knowledge empowers us all and will help us get closer to the [[decentralised]] world we all want to live in!
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| Making these free wiki pages is fun but takes a lot of effort and time.
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| If you have enjoyed reading, tips are appreciated :) This will help us to keep expanding this archive of information.
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| BTC tip [[address]]: 19KUy2yeVTYVcPijP8KxejKz63s2QAzARP
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