Who runs Bitcoin?

<aside> 🚨 Almost all money is operated by a country and/or a centralized banking network.

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<aside> ✅ Bitcoin is operated by anyone who wants to participate through a decentralized network.

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What is the Bitcoin network?

Bitcoin’s Network is made up of two key physical components operated by volunteers and network participants:

• Nodes Computers that keep copies of the transactions that have occurred in what are called Blocks; (A Block is like a page in a ledger that tracks the amount of Bitcoin being transacted) and
• Miners Computers that compete to answer an adjustable puzzle that takes about ten minutes on average to solve.

These two components work to ensure network participants are honest.

How does the Bitcoin Network work?

When someone wants to transact on the Bitcoin Network, they broadcast their intention to transact bitcoin.

The Nodes & Miners verify that the sender is not trying to cheat the system., and store the pending transaction in a pool called the Mempool.

Each time Miners solve the puzzle, a set of pending transactions are written to a Block, and broadcast to the other Miners and Nodes so it can be included in their ledgers.

The process then repeats.

It’s this chain of blocks that is referred to as ‘Blockchain’; the technology that ensures the transparent & incorruptible accountability of whatever unit is being used on the network.

Where does the new Bitcoin come from?

Instead of a Central Bank printing Money as required, Bitcoin has a "Controlled Supply" of 21,000,000 that will be created between it's first emission on January 3, 2009, until some time in 2140.

Currently, 6.25 new Bitcoin come onto the network when Miners solve the 10-minute puzzle - called a ‘Block Reward’.

As each block is made up of the transactions that pay the most in network fees to be prioritized, when miners solve the puzzle, they are given the ‘Block Reward’ along with the transaction fees from that block.

Can someone make more Bitcoin whenever they want to?

No - The amount of bitcoin in the Block Reward halves ever 210,000 blocks - on average every four years. The next one will be in 2024, where the Block Reward will half from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125 bitcoin.

How many bitcoin is currently available?

There are just over 19 Million bitcoin currently in circulation, but it is estimated that four to five million were lost by people in the first five to seven years of the network's existence.

This leaves about 15 million in circulation.

How long till the last Bitcoin becomes available?

The last two million bitcoin will be mined over the next 120 years. with the last satoshi being mined around the year 2140.

This page is provided free of charge, and always under development.

<aside> 🙏 Thank you for visiting.

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