It is an innovative digital currency and payment system, presented in 2009 by a man who appeared under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. This idea was proposed to the world as open-source.
Bitcoin is completely different from classic conventional currencies, so it's important to understand the key properties of Bitcoin, which are:
Full decentralization. Bitcoins are issued and managed without a central authority, which means that there is no power, company or bank that could affect the currency in any way. It is therefore completely impossible to falsify the currency, block accounts, control cash flow or cause inflation. There is no central point in the network or anyone who can make decisions about the network.
Bitcoins are a specialized software programmed in such a way that new coins are released in a stable but still decreasing pace. The number of coins in circulation is set to reach 21 million, which is expected to be around 2140.
Payment transactions are made without any or minimum fees.
Unlike most currencies, Bitcoin is not dependent on the trust of its issuer or intermediary (bank, state ...). A distributed database in peer-to-peer network nodes is used to conduct transactions.
You can send and receive any amount of money anywhere and with anyone in the world.
Bitcoins can be stored on a personal computer in the form of a wallet file or on a special HW (hardware). Alternatively, they can also be stored using the third party service. However, it is possible to have a completely offline wallet (on paper).
Each Bitcoin is divided into 8 decimal places, which enables Bitcoin to split into large amounts of currency units. The smallest unit is therefore 0.000.000 01 BTC, which is called Satoshi. Even if this unit is not enough, it is possible to move this decimal point as opposed to the final amount of Bitcoins.
In 2012, the Bitcoin Foundation was established, which takes care of Bitcoin infrastructure. In practice, this means that they monitor potential threats and, on the contrary, seek to improve the source code. They organize conferences and currency promotion. Due to the decentralized nature of the network, the Foundation has no special rights.