Bitcoin
Money & proof of work
History, architecture and utility
Bitcoin’s white paper appeared in 2008 and the network launched in 2009. SegWit and Taproot expanded its spending toolkit. The base layer prioritises independently verifiable monetary and transaction rules; Lightning adds a channel-based payment layer.
Follow the chapters below to examine the mechanisms, supply, upgrades, ecosystem and risks. The asset’s usefulness does not guarantee a market price or an investment return.
Inside the system
Bitcoin UTXOs explained
Bitcoin records unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs.
Bitcoin mining and difficulty
A miner constructs a candidate block and searches for a header whose double SHA-256 hash does not exceed the target.
Bitcoin supply, halving and fees
The first transaction in a block, called the coinbase transaction, lets the miner claim the permitted subsidy and transaction fees.
Bitcoin fees, mempool and confirmations
Fees are commonly quoted in satoshis per virtual byte.
Bitcoin Script, SegWit and Taproot
Bitcoin Script specifies spending conditions, such as signatures, multiple signers or time constraints.
Bitcoin wallets, recovery and Lightning
A recovery phrase can reconstruct the keys of a deterministic wallet.
Follow a Bitcoin transaction
Wallet
Select available UTXOs, recipient, change and a fee. This simulation never connects to a wallet.
Sources and references
References for the mechanisms described. Numerical examples are hypothetical unless stated otherwise. Check the applicable version, network and jurisdiction.
- Bitcoin Developer Guide — Block chain
- Bitcoin BIP 341 — Taproot
- Lightning — BOLT protocol specifications
References reviewed on 21 September 2026. All sources →