Bitcoin Network

On October 31, 2008 a nine page highly-technical 'White Paper' was submitted annoymously to a small mailing list on Metzdowd for cryptographers with the title: Bitcoin. Just sixty-four days later on January 3, 2009 the Official Source-Code was deployed as Free Open-Source Software and the world instantly changed forever: We coordially invite you to invest some time learning about BTC, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Wallets, Bitcoin Blockchain, and the Bitcoin Network.

The Bitcoin Network is a global consensus network functioning as a decentralized monetary network which operates on a cryptographic p2p protocol on top of the Internet established by individual non-economic bitcoin full nodes and bitcoin miners all around the world who run the Bitcoin Core Software [free open-source software] program which enforce "Consensus Rules" through a process called Bitcoin Mining which relay and validate UTXO transactions and "record state" to a global, transparent, immutable, and append-only Distributed Ledger: Bitcoin Blockchain.Bitcoin is a massive breakthrough in Computer Science, a highly-complex technological achievement and advancement for society: the Bitcoin Network is the world's largest super-computer -- the most secure computing network in human history -- which is reinventing both global settlements and instant payments, while simultaneously delivering a revolutionary new and upgraded form of money to all of humanity.

The Bitcoin Network enables censorship-resistant digital value transfer and delivers digital sound money to the world for the first time in human history via its network-native and provably-scarce digital asset; bitcoin or BTC, often referred to as the world's first-and-only decentralized digital currrency, cryptocurrency, or crypto asset. All other heavily-marketed "crypto" coins or "token projects" are not truly decentralized and most are unregistered, illegal securities offerings. Bitcoin is a revolutionary yet peaceful, apolitical, highly-advanced monetary system for our digital-first global economy. Anchored by some of the most brilliant Computer Scientists, Software Engineers, and Entrepreneurs in the world, coupled with BILLIONS of U.S. DOLLARS in venture capital funding, this nascent technology infrastructure yet robust global eco-system has grown year-over-year for FOURTEEN CONSECUTIVE YEARS.

Some people casually describe Bitcoin as money for the Internet, technology experts often refer to it as the 'Internet of Money', and a growing number of financial analysts, venture capitalists, and institutional investors are calling this phenomenon a next-generation Digital Gold. As the world begins to learn about and experiment with 'Programmable Money' and the public-facing top layers of the Bitcoin Network; Bitcoin Wallets and Bitcoin Exchanges, an exciting new $1 TRILLION U.S. Dollar Bitcoin Asset Class has emerged with a potential addressable market of one hundred trillion.

Welcome to the financial technology revolution.

Before we dive deeper, it is extremely important to fully comprehend the most basic and indisputable facts: Bitcoin is NOT a public or private company, a shiny gold physical coin, a MLM 'pyramid', or a ponzi scheme. Bitcoin is a revolutionary new global financial technology invention and social-scaling pheneomenon based on mathematics.

The Bitcoin Network is unlike anything you have ever learned about in your lifetime. For many people, there will be a deep and critical learning curve with both terminology and technology which should be taken seriously to ensure a safe and pleasurable experience with both Bitcoin Wallets and Bitcoin Exchanges. Before you get started learning about the Bitcoin Network and the products and services related this this emerging new industry, it is critical to understand there is no rush to buy bitcoin; BTC. Like anything new or complex, especially when dealing with financial decisions, it is always advisable to invest significant time and energy to thoroughly educate yourself before engaging with any software, hardware, or any brands directly advertising to you. [Note: We do not provide ANY legal, accounting, or financial advice whatosever.]

The invention of Bitcoin proved to be a verifiable solution to the infamous 'Double-Spend' problem in Computer Science after many decades of global research and development: For the first time in human history, any two people around the world can send-and-receive 'digital value' via the Internet - without a middle-man or third-party intermediary: With the click of a button, just like both email and text messages, [both protocols, like Bitcoin] you can move value digitally; instantly, securely, and globally. The Bitcoin Network is actually much more robust and subversive than many realize; you can send and receive BTC via Paper Code [written seed phrase] Bluetooth, NFC, Shortwave Radio, and now there are Orbital Satellites that are transmitting the Bitcoin Blockchain from Outer Space!

Unfortunately, a handful of nefarious bankers, lazy journalists, unethical analysts, and a laundry list of uneducated politicans project and publish click-bait hype and frequent misinformation, and worse, politically motivated disinformation which causes extreme confusion to the facts and fundamental benefits for normal everyday citizens worldwide. For starters, Bitcoin is NOT illegal and the Bitcoin Network is NOT just about quicker, cheaper, and more secure 'digital payments' for lunch, online shopping, or your next vacation getaway. The invention of Bitcoin showcases two main bullet points; decentralized trust and true digital scarcity by way of the native asset; bitcoin or BTC. Ultimately, Bitcoin [BTC] is the miracle discovery of decentralized digital sound money; Each [1] BTC consists of 100,000,000 individual units called 'SATS' [Satoshi's] which are unforgeable digital bearer assets: fixed-supply, showcased within transparent "money supply" issuance schedule within truly decentralized global monetary network. At the core of the invention is a deeply-rooted ideology tied to Austrian-Economics [low vs high-time preference] and the history of money dating back millenia. Bitcoin was created with an extremely ambitious aim of creating a digitally-native global standard of value and a transparent, apolitical global standard of settlement within a decentralized architecture and tamper-proof system protected by mathematics and energy. Ultimately, Bitcoin is the byproduct of decades of relentless global research and development by the niche-yet-extraordinaly brilliant cypherpunk community to create a global, decentralized, provably-scarce, and censorship-resistant digital money: This unprecedented breakthrough is nothing short of Nobel-Prize-worthy, genius.

The invention of Bitcoin has delivered unparalleled financial technology innovation yet remains a highly misunderstood and misrepsented phenomenon, much like the early days of the Internet. Bitcoin was methodically created by combining several complex technologies together into one unique open-source codebase; (1713) Game Theory, (1842) Software (1967) Distributed Computing, (1967) Application Specific Integrated Circuits; ASIC Chips, (1974) TCP/IP, (1976) Public-Key Cryptography, (1986) Elliptic-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm; ECDSA/Secp256k1, and (1993) Proof-of-Work, a consensus algorithm [cryptographic hash functions]; double SHA-256.

Read. Learn. Think. Take your time, enjoy the process!

Bitcoin isn't just free open-source software which fuels a decentralized value transfer network. It's an exciting new chapter of innovation which enables and promotes both financial inclusion and monetary sovereignty for a better tomorrow.

The Bitcoin Network is technically available to any human being on Earth with an Internet connection - and now with mesh networks and full-nodes in space, Bitcoin is showing sparks of its long-term and massively disruptive potential. Many believe Bitcoin is the most important invention since the Internet, while others belive it is actually MORE important than the Internet itself. It is important to keep in mind the Bitcoin Network functions through it's nodes on free open-source software as an opt-in system, sometimes referred to as a public-blockchain network; all nodes are equal and it is truly an open system for society as a public good, like email or the Internet.

The Bitcoin Network does not judge your age, sex, skin color, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and does not have access to your career and salary data, financial status, social security number, or credit score. Bitcoin is not affilated with any political interests or government entities, it does not recognize any geographical borders, and is not monitored, controlled or manipulated by any commerical, investment, or central bank. In plain English, Bitcoin is a revolutionary *decentralized* Internet Protocol which enables individuals worldwide to gain 'instant-access' to the global economy and 'instant-freedom' to manage their own financial decisions and storage of real-time and generational wealth. Leveraging the Bitcoin Network for peer-to-peer value transfer - or wealth storage - are both forms of true independence, financial soverignity, and ultimately, free speech. With the Bitcoin Network there are no prerequsites or abritrary limits: anyone can SEND, RECEIVE, TRADE, or STORE any amount of digital value they choose, anytime and anyplace; [e.g.], $1.47 U.S. Dollars - or - $7.41 BILLION U.S. Dollars, Euro, Yen, Peso, or any fiat currency for that matter. You are essentially upgrading your wealth through digital sound money.

When sending or receiving bitcoin [BTC] there is no bank to call or remittance exchange house to commute to, no intrusive paperwork or permission required, and no inconvenient transfer delays or ridiculously expensive fees from the greedy corporate middle men. The global market for remittances - sending money abroad - has ballooned to $600 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS PER YEAR. Yet unfortunately, in many foreign corridors simple money transfer transactions can prove costly with fees ranging from 5% - 25% of the total amount sent. Even traditional U.S. and European bank wires can be $50 - $150 PER TRANSACTION and are extremely inconvenient and in many countries are often delayed for weeks - or even confiscated leaving both the sender and reciever hopeless. On another note, even in 2020, legacy financial services businesses and payment processing companies can take 3-5 days to clear merchant transactions and have 1-3% fees all while carrying the default risks of fraud, data breaches, and chargebacks. The Bitcoin block chain [global and immutable transparent ledger] displays transactions instantly in near-real-time and settles transactions in just minutes. The Bitcoin Network handels everything for you. Just SEND. Just RECEIVE. Like magic! Sending bitcoin is a 'push transaction', unlike credit cards, which are 'pull-transactions' and require loads of sensitive and personal information which is frequently mismanaged, stolen, and consistently sold to third-parties. Bitcoin puts power back into the hands of everyday people for financial transactions and wealth storage.

Keep in mind the Bitcoin Blockchain [global and immutable transparent ledger] is maintained and secured by independent participants of the Bitcoin Network all around the world. The system itself is fundamentally based on both 'indisputable accuracy' translated as 'mathemathics in motion' as a real-time 'record of transactions' and a subsequent real-time 'record of balances' of the network native [BTC] asset worldwide. The Bitcoin Network is blind and deaf, it merely exists to engage in a digital race and lottery of highly-advanced mathematical calculations to [find a nonce] and validate pending transactions between Bitcoin Wallets and record state of the Bitocin block chain [global and immutable transparent ledger] using highly-advanced software, hardware, and electicity. That's it! Not as scary or confusing as deceitful bankers and lazy journalists would have you believe, right?! As you dive deeper and begin to learn more about the Bitcoin Network and the digital asset bitcoin [BTC], it is important to keep in mind there is no CORRECT or INCORRECT use case: the choice is yours and yours alone. That said, user-education is absolutely critical and is *YOUR* sole responsibility! Take your time and slowly learn more at your own pace and convenience.

Exciting stuff, right? Keep reading to learn more.

Bitcoin[s] are impossible to counterfeit. They can not bounce like checks. They can not be charged-back like credit cards. They can not be delayed, censored, frozen or seized like bank wire and remittance transfers. They can not be inflated or hyper-inflated like political central bank 'fiat' money. Bitcoin[s] are decentralized and provably-scarce digital bearer instruments which represent immediate financial title and soverignity. They are universal money, credits on the Bitcoin Network, not debt: Digital sound money.

There are a few main properties to consider and evalute when analyzing money; Scarcity, Divisibility, Portability, Verifiability, Durability, Recognizability, and Acceptability. Bitcoin - BTC - encapsulates all of these properties and is also programmable, unforgeable, uncensorable, and unseizable, and most importantly - bitcoin is uninflatable by central banks and governments - leading tens of millions of people [who have taken the time to understand it] around the world to suggest it is the 'best form of money ever invented' in the history of mankind. In order to truly comprehend the Bitcoin Network as a revolutionary *decentralized* monetary system based on a globaly-distributed and universally accepted ledger of truth, one should deeply understand the concept of 'MONEY', previous forms of failed MONEY, and the vital importance of both 'scarcity' and 'decentralization'. Before Bitcoin - this did not exist!

For thousands of years civilizations all around our beautiful Planet Earth have invented various forms of money which were driven by curiosity, necessity, and established through social consensus, through free markets - although mostly through authoritarian rule, law from powerful strangers with big weapons - which slowly evolve through ingenuity and innovation to serve as 'economic ledger systems' for BOTH physical trade and wealth storage. Histocially, 'money' has taken many sizes and shapes to arrive at the brink of our digital revolution where we are today; cattle, cowrie shells, knives and spades, turtoise shells, salt, silk, rai stones, beaver and squirrel pelts, grains, spices, tobacco, crosses, as well as 'coinage' [coins] made of both base-and-precious metals; copper, lead, tin, aluminum, iron, bronze, silver, gold, and platnium.

Money is a social construct, an essential economic tool, a transferable credit. And ultimately, money is an abstraction, it is constantly evolving. But not all 'money' is created equal, easily and fairly accessible, adopted by free markets, or considered hard or sound money. History has proven time-and-time again that most forms of money fail - and typically after just two or three decades as we have seen with dozens of government and central bank issued money worldwide. In modern times, post-gold and bimetallic standards in both the United States and around the world, our ink-and-paper 'political money' that you're used to today is worth less each and every year through inflation - and in many countries - highly destructive hyper-inflation as central banks and governments use their position of 'indisuptable authority' to print trillions upon trillions of dollars in unbacked 'fiat currency' to stimulate lagging economies, to win short-term political trade and tariff battles, and to finance atrocious and deadly wars in far-off lands with complete strangers. These acts are made possible through the 'easy' money printing and the manipulation of digital ledgers by central banks and governments.

Although not widely understood by the general public, the 'fiat' political money we work for, use in commerce, and safely store away for our families *IS NOT BACKED BY ANYTHING* other than [in some countries] the demand-for-taxes and a blind 'floating trust' and faith in the system. This reality of 'fiat money' as the defacto-system worlwide leaves citizens completley hopeless and praying that the secretive individuals and entities in control of our monetary system won't print more money which DIRECTLY AFFECTS YOUR PURCHASING POWER and DIRECTLY ERODES YOUR WEALTH. Our current system is parsitic in nature and is ultimatelty, many would argue, a form of monetary and societial enslavement. And this is not merely confined to a United States specific issue, but rather an unfortunate global phenomenon bywhich governments worldwide continue to intentionally debase their fiat currencies year over year, decade over decade, and century over century. Theft by taxation and currency debasement isn't widely understood or challenged but has been common practice for millenia, literally since the beginning of recorded history. People lie. People steal. People cheat. This reality runs paralell with central banks and governments. They lie. They steal. They cheat. Central banking was quite literally an organized and strategic political measure created to finance and fuel wars with the aim of global influence and power. These are the facts. This unsettling truth and new realization for many does NOT mean that you should hate your government, intentionally break laws, commit crimes, or ruthlessly disrupt society and order. Bitcoin simply provides a very inspiring and peacful alternative for the world to consider.

There is no rush to buy bitcoin. Education comes first.

With great power comes great responsibility! Bitcoin provides you the opportunity to become your own global bank: You are the exclusive owner-gatekeeper over of your digital wealth through digital sound money. As the responsible custodian of your own assets in the digital realm, you must evaluate your individual goals, invest time learning about Bitcoin Wallets, and follow global best practices to safeguard your BTC.

When you 'own bitcoin' you own a provably-scarce 'digital asset' via 'computer code' [typically provided to you in a string of 12-24 random words] which is protected by the laws of mathematics and the world's largest super computer. Bitcoin [BTC] is represented digitally on the Bitcoin Blockchain [global and transparent public ledger] - which is distributed among nodes within a decentralized computer network - and uses Public-Key Cryptography and Digital Signatures. The system itself is based on 'transactions', or UTXO; Unspent [TX] Outputs. When you 'buy' bitcoin [BTC] through one of the many 'Bitcoin Exchanges', or when someone sends you bitcoin via 'Bitcoin Wallets', the Bitcoin block chain updates to record state of the ledger: Bitcoin Wallets query the ledger which displays the new 'spendable balances' based on recent activity from senders and receivers worldwide. Transactions are broadcast in real-time to the Bitcoin Network yet the 'BTC' digital asset can not be sent or spent twice.

Bitcoin uses 'Addresses' for transactions on the Bitcoin Network. You can have unlimited addresses - they are instantly and securely generated within your Bitcoin Wallet, and always free of charge. Bitcoin Wallets are merely a collection of your individual 'addresses' which you have used or will use later. Some wallets will generate one. Others will automatically generate ten upon downloading the mobile wallet application [or hardware wallet device]. Ironically, Bitcoin Wallets do not actually store bitcoin or BTC, they safeguard your 'Public and Private-Keys' which enable you to send and recieve value - and which enable you to verify your BTC funds based on real-time data from the Bitcoin block chain. If you do not own any BTC, your balance is obviously zero: 0.00000000 [$0.00] on both the ledger - and zero: 0.00000000 [$0.00] within your Bitcoin Wallet. If you do not own any BTC, you obviously can not send any BTC to anyone else! You can not own a piece of the amazing Email / SMS-TEXT / FTP / VOIP communications and internet-based protocols, but you can own a piece of the Bitcoin Network by owning the digital asset; BTC.

On a more technical level, all bitcoin 'addresses' are mathematically derived from your 'Private-Keys' which are 'secret pieces of data' used to 'sign transactions, [digital signatures], essentially the technical mechanism to 'authorize the ownership change' of your BTC digital assets from one 'address' within your Bitcoin Wallet to another 'address' which is within someone else’s Bitcoin Wallet. As a global best practice, you should never use a bitcoin address twice - always generate a new address for each bitcoin transaction. It is 100% safe to show someone your 'bitcoin address' during a transaction: they will need to 'type in your address' into their wallet - or scan your bitcoin address from unique 'QR Code' to initiate the transaction and broadcast it to the Bitcoin Network.

Ultimately, the Bitcoin Network acts as a global yet decentralized financial clearinghouse infrastructure and 'public-utilty' which is secured and maintained by highly-incentivized participants all around the world who support change via a *decentralized* monetary system. It is important to note that you can not interact with the Bitcoin Network without Bitcoin Wallets - this is the default technological design and method by which the BTC digital asset ownership is sent, received, and recorded. It is important to reiterate there is no CORRECT or INCORRECT use-case with BTC or Bitcoin Wallets although there are several types or categories of Bitcoin Wallets and a wide range of brands which will we discuss in the next section. [Coming soon!] At the end of the day, there are millions of transactions processed by the Bitcoin Network using true 'Bitcoin Wallets' and on Bitcoin Exchanges [Custodial: 'Accounts'] which equate to billions of dollars in value exchanging hands EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DAY all around the world. These are facts: Eleven years and running strong.

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Starting to make more sense? Bitcoin is truly amazing.