What is Bitcoin?
GUIDE
Bitcoin is a consensus network and a completely digital currency that offers us a new payment system. It is the first peer-to-peer payment method that has no owner and no central authority and takes its power from its users. From a user's perspective, Bitcoin is like shopping online with regular money. Bitcoin is also considered the most prominent triple entry accounting system.
Who made the Bitcoin?
Bitcoin was first coined by Wei Dai in 1998 on the “cypherpunks” mailing list as the idea of money created and operated using cryptography rather than a centralized system. The first Bitcoin definition and concept was published in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto on the cryptography mailing list. Satoshi left the project towards the end of 2010 without revealing much about himself. Since then, the community has grown with many developers working with Bitcoin.
The fact that Satoshi was not well known has often led to unjustified concerns, many of which have to do with a misunderstanding of the open-source nature of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin protocol and software are published openly, and any developer in the world can review the code or publish their own modified version of the Bitcoin software. Just like current developers, Satoshi's influence depended on the acceptance of his changes by others, and therefore he was not in control of Bitcoin. Therefore, who created Bitcoin today is only as important as who found the paper. Click for Bitcoin's manifesto.
Who controls the Bitcoin network?
No one owns the Bitcoin network, just as no one owns the email technology. Bitcoin is controlled by all Bitcoin users in the world. Even if developers make additions to the software, they cannot forcefully change the Bitcoin protocol because all users are free to choose which software and version to use. To stay compatible with each other, all users must use software that follows the same rules. Bitcoin can only work if there is consensus from all users. So all users and developers follow consensus.
How does Bitcoin work?
From a user's point of view, Bitcoin is no different from an application or computer program that gives a personalized Bitcoin wallet and sends and receives bitcoins between users with this wallet. This is how many people know Bitcoin.
Behind the scenes, the Bitcoin network shares a main ledger called the “blockchain”. This ledger covers all transactions made and allows the user's computer to verify the validity of a transaction. The authenticity of each transaction is protected by virtual signatures corresponding to the sending address, allowing all users to send bitcoins from their own Bitcoin address. Also, anyone can help process transactions with the help of the processing power of special hardware and receive a reward in the form of bitcoins in return. This is commonly referred to as "mining".
Source: bitcoin.org