Bitcoin (ticker BTC) was designed by a developer (or a group of developers) under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, known as the creator of bitcoins. This started a multi-trillion dollar cryptocurrency industry powered by blockchain technology and decentralization. BTC price is now $31,7.
People consider Bitcoin as digital gold and a “payment currency” due to its excellent liquidity and lower volatility than other coins.
Bitcoin runs on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. It requires miners to solve complex cryptographic tasks before they can add a block to the blockchain. Miners compete with each other, using their computing power to create a new block and receive rewards in BTC coins.
The primary purpose of mining is to enable Bitcoin nodes to reach a secure, hack-resistant consensus. The “cryptographic puzzle” miners solve is a mathematical equation that is hard to calculate but easy to verify. The solution to a mathematical equation is known as a “hash”. The larger the network, the more hash power is needed to solve the task and receive a reward.
Initially, it was possible to use the processor power to mine coins for a BTC wallet. However, as the network expanded, users switched to more resource-intensive and complex hardware. Currently, Bitcoin can only be mined using ASICs (mining equipment).
Price of Bitcoins
Let’s consider the history of BTC rate changes:
- On October 5, 2009, you could get 1309 BTC for one dollar. At that time, the price of one coin was around $0.000764.
- In the summer of 2010, the BTC rate was almost a hundred times higher ($0.08), and by mid-autumn, it reached $0.50.
- The next parabolic rise in the BTC price occurred in 2013 when it boosted to almost $1200.
- In December 2017, the price skyrocketed again to $20,000, followed by a correction up to $3,200.
- In the spring of 2021, BTC crossed the $60,000 mark.
- In the first half of 2022, the BTC rate dropped by over 50%, and now (June 2022) reaches about $31,7.
No matter how low the BTC rate falls, it still remains the most promising asset for investment. Now that the BTC price has fallen, it’s a great chance to buy it. Although many projects have tried to copy the success of BTC by designing coins that are much more scalable and technologically advanced, Bitcoin remains the most dominant cryptocurrency on the market.