The design is published.
Satoshi Nakamoto releases Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, describing a way to prevent double spending without a central clearing institution.
Digital money · Peer-to-peer protocol
Bitcoin
Global · Open-source network
An open-source, peer-to-peer monetary network that lets users transfer scarce digital value without a central operator, using cryptographic signatures, a public ledger, and proof of work.
The protocol
Digital value without a central operator.
Bitcoin began with a deceptively direct proposal: allow online payments to move from one party to another without relying on a financial institution as the trusted intermediary. Satoshi Nakamoto's original paper combined digital signatures, a public transaction record, and proof of work into a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
For a user, Bitcoin appears as a wallet that can send and receive value. Behind it is a network of independent computers sharing and verifying the same ledger. Private keys authorize transactions, nodes enforce the protocol's rules, and miners group valid transactions into blocks whose order is protected by proof of work.
Bitcoin is not a company and has no central owner. Its software and design are public, while changes depend on voluntary adoption and consensus across the network. Its predictable scarcity is fundamental to the system, but it does not remove risk: payments are generally irreversible, activity is recorded publicly, market prices are volatile, and control of funds depends on protecting private keys.
Network modelPeer-to-peer
Supply limit21 million BTC
Smallest unit100,000,000 satoshis per BTC
Block targetApprox. 10 minutes
Halving intervalEvery 210,000 blocks
ControlDistributed user consensus
Chronology
From a paper to a global network.
The network begins.
The first Bitcoin specification and proof of concept are released as open-source software, turning the paper into an operating peer-to-peer network.
An open community continues the work.
Satoshi steps away from the project without revealing a verified identity. Developers and users continue maintaining the software through public review and network consensus.
Taproot activates.
The Taproot upgrade adds Schnorr signatures and new scripting capabilities, extending what can be built while preserving Bitcoin's consensus-led model of change.
Introduction · Bitcoin.org
A short introduction to Bitcoin.
The original document
The protocol on paper.
