Crypto Basics #2 — Understanding Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is where the entire crypto market began. It launched in 2009 as the first working example of digital money that doesn't need a bank or a government standing behind it. Everything that came afterward is, in some way, a response to it.

What Bitcoin introduced was a way to move and store value over the internet without a middleman. A global network of computers verifies every transaction and records it on the blockchain. No single company runs it, and no single party can switch it off.

The detail that sets Bitcoin apart from regular currencies is its fixed supply. There will only ever be 21 million coins. A central bank can print more of a national currency when it chooses to; Bitcoin's limit is written into its code and can't be changed on a whim. That scarcity is why many people now describe it as digital gold: an asset designed to hold value while traditional money supply keeps expanding.

For the market as a whole, Bitcoin still sets the tone. When its price moves sharply, most other coins tend to follow. That's why people watching crypto usually watch Bitcoin first.

In short: Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency: decentralized digital money with a hard supply limit of 21 million coins.

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