The cryptocurrency was created by a person who wanted to stay anonymous, which is why he only got known by his alias – Satoshi Nakamoto. To this day, no one knows who this guy is. However, it was designed in 2008 as an electronic payment system that is based on mathematical proof.

The main idea behind the conceptualization of the digital asset was to produce a means of exchange that is independent of any central authority and one that could be transferred electronically in a secure, verifiable and immutable way.

When it comes to the motive behind creating Bitcoin BTC, it is simple…Bitcoins can be used to pay for the same things that can be paid with money, if both parties are willing. In this sense, it is much like conventional money with the only difference that it is traded digitally.

There are many features that make Bitcoin ideal as a digital currency. The three main ones include:

1. Decentralization – This is probably the most important thing about Bitcoin. In other words, it means that no single institution controls the Bitcoin network – but it is instead maintained by a group of volunteer coders. Without any authority and with a completely open network of dedicated computers spread around the world, Bitcoin solves the “double spending problem” and gives no control to authorities like banks in the traditional currency system.
2. Limited Supply – Bitcoin’s supply is very much different to fiat currencies – it is limited. This way, Bitcoin cannot be manipulated and holders of the currency are the ones who control it. A small number of new Bitcoins come out every hour, and will do so until a maximum of 21 million has been reached.
3. Pseudonymity – Senders of Bitcoins have complete anonymity over the way they spend their money. Since there is no central “validator” controlling things, users do not need to identify themselves when sending Bitcoin to another user.

Also, there is the immutability, divisibility, freedom of spending and many other things that make Bitcoin special.

Unlike fiat (paper) money which is printed, Bitcoins are “mined” using computers which solve complex math puzzles. At the time of creation, Satoshi Nakamoto (founder of Bitcoin) decided that there can only be 21 million Bitcoins.

It is not easy to create a Bitcoin and requires a lot of computing power and electricity. However, miners are incentivized to do so because if they solve a mathematical puzzle the forms a new Bitcoin BTC, they get rewarded with 12.5 Bitcoins – and that is a lot of money.

Bitcoin can be bought from cryptocurrency exchanges which are the best places to buy or sell Bitcoins with different currencies. Some of the most reputable and trusted Bitcoin exchanges are Binance, Bittrex, Poloniex, Kraken, Bitstamp and Gemini.

Once you purchase your Bitcoins on an exchange, you need to store them in a “digital wallet”. This is basically a collection of addresses and keys that unlock the funds within your Bitcoin. Therefore, a digital wallet is just like a virtual bank account which allows users to send or receive Bitcoins.

There are many alternative uses for Bitcoin BTC wallets – you can use yours to pay for goods or save money to finance something in the future (for example, buying a new car). There are different types of wallets which users can have – and all of them come with different security levels.

There are hardware wallets which are basically something like USB devices made for storing your Bitcoin BTC – and desktop wallets which enable software to be downloaded and installed on a laptop where users can store their coins and have complete control over them. 

When setting up a Bitcoin wallet, you will also create a public Bitcoin BTC address which will look something like this – 1HF4LCfpkM9V2vBxvCKV5oFSQs.

A Bitcoin address is similar to an email or physical address – and is usually the only information that you need for someone to pay you with Bitcoin BTC. It is also the only public facing data that you will share as part of a transaction.

So, to spend Bitcoin BTC, you simply share your BTC address for the recipient to decode using their wallet. This is when a transaction is recorded on the blockchain for all other Bitcoin users to see.