Bitcoin is the first blockchain and the respective cryptocurrency, it is public and using proof of work. Its sequel, Ethereum is a more modern blockchain platform enabled for smart contracts and distributed applications from the start. Bitcoin is largely criticized for energy consuming proof of work, big latency and small number of transaction per second; its crypticurrency, also called bitcoin is rather unstable and often used for speculation and even money laundering, rather than for transactions/settlement. Now more efficient third generation distributed ledger projects exist, see high performance DLs.
Description from coindesk:
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency which isn’t managed by a bank or agency but in which transactions are recorded in the blockchain that is public and contains records of each and every transaction that takes place. The cryptocurrency is traded by individuals with cryptographic keys that act as wallets. Bitcoin was first invented in 2009 by an anonymous founder known as Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoins are moved in blocks every 10 minutes on a decentralized ledger that connects blocks into a coherent chain dating back to the first genesis block. It was originally described as a peer-to-peer electronic cash but the technology has evolved to emphasize being a settlement layer rather than a payment network. This has left integrated second layer solutions, like Lightning Network, to prioritize that use case. It has remained the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
See also blockchain, lab:blockchain, blockchain regulation, blockchain security, privacy on blockchain, Ethereum, Cardano, hyperledger, smart contract, high performance DLs, fintech
C++ implementation of bitcoin uses Doxygen comments to explain the code.
Bitcoin is quite centralized, see top-100-richest-bitcoin-addresses.
Last revised on June 14, 2019 at 12:56:47. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.